Alistair McGowan

McGowan was born in Evesham, Worcestershire, to Marion and George McGowan. Although they knew that their father had been born in Calcutta, India, Alistair and his sister Kay were unaware that their father had an ethnically Anglo-Indian background until McGowan explored his ancestry on BBC One's Who Do You Think You Are? programme in an episode broadcast on 26 October 2007,[4] four years after his father's death.

McGowan attended the Simon de Montfort Middle School in Evesham, where he took lead roles in school productions, and went on to Evesham High School.[5] He graduated from the University of Leeds with a BA English degree in 1986.[6] He then went to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, graduating in 1989.

McGowan was in a relationship for seven years with fellow television comedian Ronni Ancona. In August 2013 McGowan married his girlfriend Charlotte Page alongside whom he had performed in The Mikado.[7]

McGowan is a supporter of Leeds United, even claiming that he decided to study at Leeds partly because of its proximity to Elland Road,[8] and Coventry City, the team closest to the area where he spent his late teens,[9] and his interest in football forms the basis of his 2009 book A Matter of Life and Death.[10] On 17 December 2012 edition of Countdown, Susie Dent revealed that McGowan neither owns a car nor drives.

McGowan found work as a comedian, and performed some of the voices for the ITV television series Spitting Image. His sporting impressions were showcased on the BBC 2 football magazine programme Sick as a Parrot. He also appeared as the recycling man in the BBC show Think about Science.

Later he took over from Stephen Tompkinson playing Spock in the Tim Firth comedy drama, Preston Front. In his early career, McGowan had minor roles in shows such as Children's Ward, and in the pilot episode of Jonathan Creek. He also was a series regular in the first season of Dead Ringers.

McGowan also appeared in the Scottish football sketch show Only an Excuse? from 1996 to 1998. He also hosted and starred in a sporting impressions show on Radio 5 live called The Game's Up in the late 1990s.

In 1998, McGowan provided all of the voice characterisation in the 1998 revival of James the Cat for Channel 5 and later in the 2000s, went onto provide guest voices for Yoko! Jakamoko! Toto! and Planet Sketch both for CITV (Yoko! Jakamoko! Toto! later went onto air on both the BBC and CBeebies in 2008).

Since 2 June 2012, McGowan has hosted and written ITV comedy show You Cannot Be Serious! Impressions include England manager Roy Hodgson, Eurovision Duo Jedward and TV personality Louie Spence.

McGowan was a part of the BBC TV series 24 Hours in the Past, along with Colin Jackson, Miquita Oliver, Ann Widdecombe, Tyger Drew-Honey and Zöe Lucker. The four-part series was aired from 28 April till 19 May 2015 on BBC 1.

In 2013 McGowan explained in a piece for The Guardian that he had "... hero-worshipped the French composer Erik Satie for many years. Not only was he a hugely innovative and visionary composer – but he was also a man with a passion for all forms of art."[20]

In October 2014 McGowan narrated, in the guise of Satie, a concert of surrealist ballet music from Paris in the 1920s, given by the BBC Concert Orchestra at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London and broadcast live by BBC Radio 3.[21]

In September 2017 he released a debut album on Sony Classical. featuring piano performances of several short classical pieces, all chosen and learned by him. Previously McGowan could only ever play two pieces, but then practised for up to six hours a day, over a nine-month period, despite already being in his early 50s.[22]

McGowan serves as an ambassador to WWF-UK, part of the global World Wide Fund for Nature, and campaigns on a number of environmental issues. He is a patron of the urban tree-planting charity Trees for Cities.

In 2004 he launched 'the BIG recycle' national recycling campaign.[23] In August 2006 he appeared on Steve Wright's BBC Radio 2 show to appeal to listeners to be more energy aware. In June 2007 he appeared on the James Whale Show on Talksport to also talk this issue.

In January 2009 it was announced that McGowan in partnership with three other Greenpeace activists, including actress Emma Thompson, had bought land near Sipson, Middlesex, a village under threat from the proposed third runway for Heathrow Airport.[24] It is hoped that the area of ground, half the size of a football pitch, will prevent the government from carrying through its plan to expand Heathrow. The field, bought for an undisclosed sum from a local land owner, will be split into small squares and sold across the globe. When interviewed Mr McGowan said: "BAA were so confident of getting the Government's go ahead, but we have cunningly bought the land they need to build their runway."[25]

In 2009 he attended the Bromley Environmental Awards and was the celebrity guest at Bromley Civic Centre where the awards were presented to various schools in the borough.

In June 2011 it was announced that McGowan had become a Patron of the Friends of Brandwood End Cemetery, where over 30 members of his extended family are interred.[26]

• ElvenQuest, radio 2009, as Lord Darkness

• Alistair McGowan News, Biography and CV – Official Web site
• Alistair McGowan at IMDb
• Alistair McGowan at British Comedy Guide