Shaun Williamson
Encyclopedia
Shaun Williamson is an English
actor
, singer, media personality and occasional presenter
, best known for his former role as Barry Evans
in soap opera
EastEnders
and as a version of himself in BBC
sitcom Extras.
, he is widely known for his portrayal of foolish and hapless Barry Evans
in the BBC
soap opera
EastEnders
, a role that he played from 1994 to 2003. This was Williamson's second role in the hit soap, he previously had a brief role as a paramedic earlier in 1994. He has recently stated that he has no regrets about leaving the show.
Other television roles have included parts in the detective series Inspector Morse
and the BBC sitcom Waiting for God
. In 2005 and 2006 he played a comically unemployable version of himself in Ricky Gervais
' and Stephen Merchant
's BBC sitcom, Extras. He also took part in the Five programme Gender Swap, where he was dressed as a woman and was given a prosthetic makeover before being sent speed-dating
in his new persona, and presented the short-lived ITV
gameshow 24 Hour Quiz
. He also appeared in the BBC Three comedy Funland
. Shaun also made a guest appearance in ITV 1 show The Bill
. He played gang leader Dave Monks, who comes under scrutiny during an international drugs smuggling investigation. The two episodes were aired in August 2008. In 2009 and 2010 he recorded episodes of children's programme Scoop on CBBC
(Children's BBC) with Hacker T Dog
.
Stage roles have included Monty the DJ in the West End
run and UK tour of Saturday Night Fever
and appearing at Canterbury
's Marlowe Theatre
in December 2003-January 2004 in a pantomime
production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
, alongside Toyah Willcox
. In 2006 he starred in the pantomime Dick Whittington at The Playhouse
in Weston-super-Mare
. He returned to the Marlowe Theatre
December 2007-January 2008, in Aladdin, alongside Stephen Mulhern
. During 2008 he played Nathan Detroit in the touring production of Guys and Dolls, having already appeared in the part in the West End. In the 2008-2009 he was again appearing in Aladdin, this time at the Wyvern Theatre
, Swindon
. In May 2006, Williamson played the lead in the play Road to Nirvana at The King's Head Theatre
London and in October 2006, appeared in a sketch as part of the charity benefit The Secret Policeman's Ball which was staged at the Royal Albert Hall
.
Williamson was third in the 2007 series of Comic Relief does Fame Academy
. Before Comic Relief he had won a hit New Zealand
singing show representing England
.
In 2007, he appeared in the British film Daylight Robbery
.
From 2009 to 2011 Williamson has played the leading role in Scoop (TV Show)
, a children's comedy drama series on the BBC.
From September 2009, Shaun will be touring the UK playing "habitual criminal" Norman Stanley Fletcher in a stage version of the classic TV comedy, Porridge
. The script has been newly written by the series' co-authors, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. He also appeared, alongside Stephen Merchant
, in the 2009 Ricky Gervais film The Invention of Lying
. As of April 2009, Williamson was appearing as Ron Freeman in the Take That
musical, Never Forget.
In 2011 he again played a fictionalised version of himself in the Gervais/Merchant series Life's Too Short
in a recurring role. Episode 1 aired on the tenth of November 2011.
on the outskirts of Faversham
.
In 2005 he publicly declared that he has undergone cosmetic surgery at the Farjo Medical Centre in order to restore his receding hairline
.
Interviews
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, singer, media personality and occasional presenter
Presenter
A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...
, best known for his former role as Barry Evans
Barry Evans (EastEnders)
Barry Evans is a fictional character played by Shaun Williamson. He appeared in the BBC soap opera EastEnders between 1994 and 2004. The character was portrayed as a "buffoon." Williamson controversially left the serial after ten years in 2003 after executive producer Louise Berridge refused to...
in soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
and as a version of himself in BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
sitcom Extras.
Career
A former student of the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic ArtWebber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art
The Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, formerly the Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art, was a drama school, and originally a singing school, in London. It was one of the leading drama schools in Britain, and offered comprehensive training for those intending to pursue a...
, he is widely known for his portrayal of foolish and hapless Barry Evans
Barry Evans (EastEnders)
Barry Evans is a fictional character played by Shaun Williamson. He appeared in the BBC soap opera EastEnders between 1994 and 2004. The character was portrayed as a "buffoon." Williamson controversially left the serial after ten years in 2003 after executive producer Louise Berridge refused to...
in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, a role that he played from 1994 to 2003. This was Williamson's second role in the hit soap, he previously had a brief role as a paramedic earlier in 1994. He has recently stated that he has no regrets about leaving the show.
Other television roles have included parts in the detective series Inspector Morse
Inspector Morse (TV series)
Inspector Morse is a detective drama based on Colin Dexter's series of Chief Inspector Morse novels. The series starred John Thaw as Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis. Dexter makes a cameo appearance in all but three of the episodes....
and the BBC sitcom Waiting for God
Waiting for God (TV series)
Waiting for God was a British sitcom that ran on BBC1 for five series from 1990 to 1994. It starred Stephanie Cole and Graham Crowden as two spirited residents of a retirement home who spend their time running rings around the home's oppressive management and their own families. It was written by...
. In 2005 and 2006 he played a comically unemployable version of himself in Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais is an English comedian, actor, director, radio presenter, producer, musician, and writer.Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator...
' and Stephen Merchant
Stephen Merchant
Stephen James Merchant is an English writer, director, radio presenter, comedian, and actor. He is best known for his collaborations with Ricky Gervais, as the co-writer and co-director of the popular British sitcom The Office, as the co-writer, co-director and a co-star of Extras, and as the...
's BBC sitcom, Extras. He also took part in the Five programme Gender Swap, where he was dressed as a woman and was given a prosthetic makeover before being sent speed-dating
Speed-Dating
Speed-Dating is a 2010 film written and directed by Joseph A. Elmore Jr.-Plot:Best friends Dog and Beaver have difficulty ever meeting women. No matter what they do, nothing ever goes right for them...
in his new persona, and presented the short-lived ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
gameshow 24 Hour Quiz
24 Hour Quiz
24 Hour Quiz was a British game show broadcast on ITV in early 2004, presented by Shaun Williamson and Matt Brown. It was shown from 5pm to 6pm. Several protest groups complained after several nude scenes appeared and a contestant was ejected due to offensive behaviour.ITV2 provided live streaming...
. He also appeared in the BBC Three comedy Funland
Funland
Funland is a comedy / thriller serial, produced by the BBC that was first screened from Sunday 23 October 2005 to Monday 7 November 2005 , on the digital channel BBC Three...
. Shaun also made a guest appearance in ITV 1 show The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
. He played gang leader Dave Monks, who comes under scrutiny during an international drugs smuggling investigation. The two episodes were aired in August 2008. In 2009 and 2010 he recorded episodes of children's programme Scoop on CBBC
CBBC
CBBC is one of two brand names used for the BBC's children's television strands. Between 1985 and 2002, CBBC was the name given to all the BBC's programmes on TV for children aged under 14...
(Children's BBC) with Hacker T Dog
Hacker T Dog
Hacker T. Dog is a children's comedy puppet. He stars in children's TV show Scoop and Hacker Time. He is currently a CBBC presenter for the weekday afternoons on the CBBC Channel with stand-up comedian Iain Stirling. He has been performed by Phil Fletcher since late 2009. While Hacker is filming...
.
Stage roles have included Monty the DJ in the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
run and UK tour of Saturday Night Fever
Saturday Night Fever (musical)
This is an article about the stage musical. For the article on the 1977 film, see Saturday Night FeverSaturday Night Fever is a musical with a book by Nan Knighton and music and lyrics by the Bee Gees.Based on Nik Cohn's 1975 New York Magazine article "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night" and...
and appearing at Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
's Marlowe Theatre
Marlowe Theatre
The Marlowe Theatre is a major 1200-seat theatre in Canterbury, England.It closed in March 2009 for redevelopment and a brand-new Marlowe Theatre re-opened to audiences on 4 October 2011.-Name:...
in December 2003-January 2004 in a pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Snow White
"Snow White" is a fairy tale known from many countries in Europe, the best known version being the German one collected by the Brothers Grimm...
, alongside Toyah Willcox
Toyah Willcox
Toyah Ann Willcox is an English actress and singer. In a career spanning more than thirty years Toyah has had 13 top 40 singles, released 22 studio albums, written two books, appeared in over forty stage plays and ten feature films, as well as voicing and presenting numerous television shows...
. In 2006 he starred in the pantomime Dick Whittington at The Playhouse
The Playhouse, Weston-Super-Mare
The Playhouse is a 664 seat theatre in Weston-super-Mare, England that hosts a largely entertainment based programme of shows all year round including opera, ballet, comedy, music and pantomime performances....
in Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare is a seaside resort, town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, which is within the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. It is located on the Bristol Channel coast, south west of Bristol, spanning the coast between the bounding high ground of Worlebury...
. He returned to the Marlowe Theatre
Marlowe Theatre
The Marlowe Theatre is a major 1200-seat theatre in Canterbury, England.It closed in March 2009 for redevelopment and a brand-new Marlowe Theatre re-opened to audiences on 4 October 2011.-Name:...
December 2007-January 2008, in Aladdin, alongside Stephen Mulhern
Stephen Mulhern
Stephen Daniel Mulhern is a British TV presenter, entertainer, and former magician. He began presenting in the studio on CITV in May 1998 and became a leading presenter until he left in August 2002. He has presented a number of shows, including SMTV Live, Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown and...
. During 2008 he played Nathan Detroit in the touring production of Guys and Dolls, having already appeared in the part in the West End. In the 2008-2009 he was again appearing in Aladdin, this time at the Wyvern Theatre
Wyvern Theatre
The Wyvern Theatre in Swindon, Wiltshire is named after the mythical wyvern which was once the emblem of the Kings of Wessex. It was opened on 7 September 1971 by Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness Prince Philip....
, Swindon
Swindon
Swindon is a large town within the borough of Swindon and ceremonial county of Wiltshire, in South West England. It is midway between Bristol, west and Reading, east. London is east...
. In May 2006, Williamson played the lead in the play Road to Nirvana at The King's Head Theatre
The King's Head Theatre
The King's Head Theatre, founded in 1970 by Dan Crawford, is an Off-West End venue in London. It was the first pub theatre in the UK. Adam Spreadbury-Maher became Artistic Director in March 2010 .-Background:...
London and in October 2006, appeared in a sketch as part of the charity benefit The Secret Policeman's Ball which was staged at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
.
Williamson was third in the 2007 series of Comic Relief does Fame Academy
Comic Relief Does Fame Academy
Comic Relief Does Fame Academy is a spin-off of the original Fame Academy show where celebrities sing as students of the Academy. The programme was launched in 2003 to help raise money for the charities supported by Comic Relief, with the final of the show occurring on Red Nose Day...
. Before Comic Relief he had won a hit New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
singing show representing England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
In 2007, he appeared in the British film Daylight Robbery
Daylight Robbery (2008 film)
Daylight Robbery is a 2008 English film directed by Paris Leonti and stars Paul Nicholls and Geoff Bell.-Plot:Alex masterminds an ambitious plan to steal millions of untraceable cash that is stacked in the underground vaults of The London Exchange Bank, waiting for its last journey, Incineration....
.
From 2009 to 2011 Williamson has played the leading role in Scoop (TV Show)
Scoop (TV Show)
Scoop is a children's TV series first broadcast by the BBC from January 2009 to presentand is written by Julian Dutton, Tom Jamieson and Nev Fountain, Martin Hughes & Rory Clark. It is currently on its third season....
, a children's comedy drama series on the BBC.
From September 2009, Shaun will be touring the UK playing "habitual criminal" Norman Stanley Fletcher in a stage version of the classic TV comedy, Porridge
Porridge (TV series)
Porridge is a British situation comedy broadcast on BBC1 from 1974 to 1977, running for three series, two Christmas specials and a feature film. Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, it stars Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale as two inmates at the fictional HMP Slade in Cumberland...
. The script has been newly written by the series' co-authors, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. He also appeared, alongside Stephen Merchant
Stephen Merchant
Stephen James Merchant is an English writer, director, radio presenter, comedian, and actor. He is best known for his collaborations with Ricky Gervais, as the co-writer and co-director of the popular British sitcom The Office, as the co-writer, co-director and a co-star of Extras, and as the...
, in the 2009 Ricky Gervais film The Invention of Lying
The Invention of Lying
The Invention of Lying is a 2009 fantasy romantic comedy film that is written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson. This film is the directorial debut of Gervais. The film stars Ricky Gervais as the first human with the ability to lie...
. As of April 2009, Williamson was appearing as Ron Freeman in the Take That
Take That
Take That are a British five-piece vocal pop group comprising Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange, Mark Owen and Robbie Williams. Barlow acts as the lead singer and primary songwriter...
musical, Never Forget.
In 2011 he again played a fictionalised version of himself in the Gervais/Merchant series Life's Too Short
Life's Too Short
Life's Too Short is an observational sitcom series, created and written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, from an idea by Warwick Davis, and is described by Gervais as being about "the life of a showbiz dwarf", with Davis playing a fictionalised version of himself. Gervais and Merchant appear...
in a recurring role. Episode 1 aired on the tenth of November 2011.
Personal life
Williamson married his wife Melanie in 1997, and they have two children, Sophie Mae and Joseph.Sophie Mae goes to QEGS (Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School) in Kent. They live in Selling, KentSelling, Kent
Selling is a village and civil parish south of Faversham in southeast England. The population is roughly 500.-Primary school:In Selling is a small primary school, Selling C of E Primary School for years 1-6 .-Railway stations:...
on the outskirts of Faversham
Faversham
Faversham is a market town and civil parish in the Swale borough of Kent, England. The parish of Faversham grew up around an ancient sea port on Faversham Creek and was the birthplace of the explosives industry in England.-History:...
.
In 2005 he publicly declared that he has undergone cosmetic surgery at the Farjo Medical Centre in order to restore his receding hairline
Hair transplantation
Hair transplantation is a surgical technique that involves moving individual hair follicles from one part of the body to bald or balding parts . It is primarily used to treat male pattern baldness. It this case, grafts containing hair follicles that are genetically resistant to balding are...
.
External links
Interviews
- Shaun Williamson interview
- Shauny's show The ObserverThe ObserverThe Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
interview