Sean Lock

Lock attended St John the Baptist School, Woking, Surrey. Before becoming a comedian, he was a labourer[3] on building sites.[4] During this time, he developed skin cancer.[5] He also worked a series of odd jobs, including three months as a goatherder for a hippie in the mountains of central France.[6] Lock has stated that he was raised Catholic but became atheist at 14.[7]

Lock's early television work included a supporting role alongside Rob Newman and David Baddiel in the 1993 series Newman and Baddiel in Pieces including touring with them as their support act. Lock credits Frank Skinner and Eddie Izzard as major influences on his comedy. A popular belief is that Lock was the first stand-up comedian to perform at Wembley Stadium , as he was the support act for David Baddiel. However while on the show 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown David Baddiel revealed that these beliefs are false and while Lock was his support act he only featured in skits in the middle of the show.

Lock made regular appearances on various radio panel shows, script-edited for Bill Bailey's 1998 BBC2 series, Is It Bill Bailey? and had his own show on BBC Radio 4, 15 Minutes of Misery.

As the title suggested, these shows filled a 15-minute time-slot and also featured Kevin Eldon and Hattie Hayridge. The premise involved Lock eavesdropping on his neighbours in his south London tower block (all played by Lock, Eldon and Hayridge) using a bugging device fitted by his plumber, "Hot Bob" (Eldon), which was known as "The Bugger King" (and had "nothing to do with meat or sex").

15 Minutes of Misery lasted for one series of six programmes in late 1998 and early 1999, and would later be expanded into the half-hour series 15 Storeys High. From ostensibly the same tower block, Lock's character was now given a flatmate (the hapless Errol) and a job at the local swimming baths, as well as a somewhat dour and intolerant demeanour.

The bugging device was no longer used, but the antics of Lock's neighbours still featured heavily in the show. The plots for this series were more linear in a "traditional" sitcom style, although they still showed Lock's brand of dark, surreal humour.

15 Storeys High would transfer to television after two radio series, with Lock's character renamed 'Vince', for a further two series in 2002 and 2004.

In 1995, Lock played an escaped murderer in an episode of The World of Lee Evans, alongside Lee Evans and Phil Daniels.

Lock wrote the screenplay for Andrew Kötting's 2001 feature film This Filthy Earth, based on the novel La Terre by Émile Zola.

In 2004, Lock had a guest appearance in television's first ever "dope opera", Top Buzzer, written by Johnny Vaughan. In 2005 he became a regular team captain on the panel game 8 Out of 10 Cats.

In spring 2006, he hosted his own entertainment show on Channel 4 called TV Heaven, Telly Hell. Lock narrated the BBC production World Cup Goals Galore in 2006. In 2008 he appeared on The Big Fat Quiz of the Year, on a team with James Corden. Lock has also appeared on many popular British TV panel shows including Have I Got News for You, QI and They Think It's All Over. He was also a celebrity guest in The Last Leg. Lock became "The Curator" for the second radio series of The Museum of Curiosity, in 2009, taking over from Bill Bailey. During an interview on This Morning in 2013, Lock announced he would now only appear on 8 Out of 10 Cats, as he felt he had become typecast for appearing on panel shows, joking that people had started approaching him in the street asking "Are you Dave?"

In 2010, Lock took part in Channel 4's Comedy Gala, a benefit show held in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, filmed live at The O2 Arena. He has also appeared in a spoof video produced by Shelter, the housing charity, to highlight the problem of rogue landlords.[8] In 2011, Sean Lock took over from John Sergeant as the host of the Dave comedy panel show, Argumental.

In 2019, Lock featured in episode 4 of Mandy, a television series on the BBC. In the episode he goes on a date with Mandy after getting her fired from a Japanese sushi restaurant, which doesn't end well.

Sean Lock has also been a team captain on 8 Out of 10 Cats (2005–2015) and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown (2012–present).

Lock has three siblings.[9] He and his wife, Anoushka, have two daughters and one son, who is named after Lock's father.[1]

• Official website
• Sean Lock at the British Film Institute
• Sean Lock at IMDb
• Sean Lock writes the foreword for the novel Nappy Rash by Mark Kotting on Wrecking Ball Press ISBN 1-903110-16-5
• ShortList.com – Exclusive Sean Lock Interview 2008-12-12