Paul Whitehouse

While watching a preview tape of highlights from Enfield's programme, Whitehouse and Higson were inspired to create a rapid-fire delivery comedy series, which would evolve into The Fast Show (when shown in the United States on BBC America, the show was titled Brilliant). Whitehouse's characters included:

• Rowley Birkin QC
• The 13th Duke of Wymbourne
• Archie ("hardest game in the world")
• Chris Jackson
• Unlucky Alf
• Arthur Atkinson
• Brilliant Kid
• Ron Manager
• Ken, one of the "Suit You" tailors
• Lindsey, one of the Rubbish Offroaders
• Poutremos Poutra-Poutremos, anchor of the foreign TV station Chanel 9 sketch
• Ted

An online series of The Fast Show commissioned by Fosters led to six weekly episodes launched on 10 November 2011.[9]

In 2001 and 2002, Whitehouse wrote and performed in two series of the BBC comedy drama Happiness, in which he played a voice-over actor with a mid-life crisis.

Whitehouse wrote, produced and appeared with Chris Langham in the 2005 comedy drama Help, also for the BBC. In this series he took 25 roles, all patients of Langham's psychotherapist (except one, who is Langham's psychotherapist's psychotherapist). The pair's collaboration resulted in Whitehouse taking the witness stand on 24 July 2007 in the trial of Langham, in regard to the charge of holding explicit images and videos of minors. Langham claimed he downloaded this material as research for a character in the second series of Help, but Whitehouse's testimony only partially corroborated this explanation.[10]

Whitehouse appeared in the BBC sketch series Harry & Paul (formerly Ruddy Hell! It's Harry and Paul), starring alongside Harry Enfield.[11]

Whitehouse starred alongside Charlie Higson in the BBC2 comedy series Bellamy's People, with the first episode broadcast on 21 January 2010. The comedy evolved from the BBC Radio 4 program Down the Line.[12] The show originally had the working title of Bellamy's Kingdom.

In October 2014, Harry Enfield and Whitehouse returned to the characters of Frank and George in a sketch for Channel 4's testicular cancer awareness comedy series The Feeling Nuts Comedy Night.

In 2015, his sitcom Nurse, based on his Radio 4 series of the same name (see below), debuted on BBC2 on 10 March.[13]

In August 2015, Whitehouse, alongside Enfield, in celebration of their 25-year partnership, presented An Evening With Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse.[14]

In June and July 2018 Whitehouse appeared with his long time friend and fellow comedian Bob Mortimer in a BBC2 six part comedy series, Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing. The two friends, who both suffer from heart conditions, share their thoughts and experiences while fishing at a variety of locations around the UK.[15]

Whitehouse and Charlie Higson produced and appeared in a spoof phone-in show Down the Line on BBC Radio 4. The first series was broadcast May–June 2006. A second series was broadcast 16 January–20 February 2007, during which they won a Sony Radio Academy Award.[16] A third series was broadcast in January 2008, a fourth in January 2011 and a fifth in May 2013. In February 2014, Radio 4 broadcast Nurse, written by Whitehouse and David Cummings and starring Esther Coles in the title role, with Whitehouse playing a variety of characters, including Graham Downs who had previously appeared in Down the Line.

He also starred alongside Eddie Large and Russ Abbot in episode 4 of Horne & Corden. Comic Relief 2011 contained a new parody video of Newport (Ymerodraeth State of Mind) directed by MJ Delaney featuring Whitehouse and other Welsh celebrities lip-syncing to the song.[17] It is available to download via iTunes.

Johnny Depp described Whitehouse as "the greatest actor of all time".[18]

Whitehouse and John Sullivan's son, Jim Sullivan, have written Only Fools and Horses The Musical, which launched on 9 February 2019 at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, London. Whitehouse stars as Grandad.[19]