David Walliams - Television and Film Career

Television and Film Career

After leaving university, his first job was writing for The Ant & Dec Show, a children's show that aired on CBBC from 1995 to 1997. His first appearance on screen was as "Lesley Luncheonmeat" on Sky1's show Games World in 1993. He appeared alongside Alex Verrey, who played Big Boy Barry, every Tuesday evening. He went on to be "The Lift" on the first series of the CBBC gameshow Incredible Games in 1994. In 1998 he wrote and starred in Barking, a late night sketch show broadcast on Channel 4 and featuring a host of then unknown stars such as Catherine Tate, Peter Kay and Mackenzie Crook. He appeared with The League of Gentlemen's Mark Gatiss, who wrote and appeared in Doctor Who parodies The Pitch of Fear, The Web of Caves and The Kidnappers for BBC Two's "Doctor Who Night" in 1999. He later performed in the Big Finish Productions Doctor Who audio play Phantasmagoria, written by Gatiss. Walliams appeared with Matt Lucas in the video of the Fat Les song "Vindaloo" (the unofficial anthem for the England national football team at the 1998 FIFA World Cup) and had a cameo role in a 1999 episode of Simon Pegg's Spaced (1x3 "Art") as Vulva, an artist/collaborator from Brian's past and now a self-proclaimed artist of impressionism.

He played Jake Plaskow in the BBC's Attachments, set in an internet start-up company. In 2001 he was one of the leads in Cruise of the Gods. In 2003 he appeared in EastEnders and Marple.

From 2003 to 2005, Walliams co-wrote and co-starred in three series of the BBC TV character sketch show Little Britain with Matt Lucas. The programme first aired on BBC3 before moving to the more mainstream BBC1. A successful live stage show of the series, Little Britain Live, was produced in 2006. A number of seasonal and charity specials followed, up to 2009. A spin-off series produced in the USA by HBO, Little Britain USA, followed in 2008.

In 2005, Walliams starred in the video for Charlotte Hatherley's single Bastardo along with Simon Pegg, Lucy Davis and Lauren Laverne. In 2006, he made an appearance in the film A Cock and Bull Story. Later in the year, he presented a documentary on James Bond, entitled David Walliams: My Life with James Bond. In 2007, he returned to non-comedy television, garnering excellent reviews for his portrayal of a suave and dangerous manipulator in Stephen Poliakoff's Capturing Mary as well as appearing in the film Virgin Territory. In September 2007, Walliams appeared in the comedy film Run, Fat Boy, Run. Walliams portrayed comedian Frankie Howerd in the BBC4 TV film Rather You Than Me. On 26 August 2008 he made his stage debut at the Gate Theatre in Dublin opposite Michael Gambon in Harold Pinter's No Man's Land, in front of an audience that included Pinter himself. The production transferred to London later in the year. In 2010, Walliams appeared alongside Paul Rudd and Steve Carell in the comedy Dinner for Schmucks. In April 2012 he appeared in ITV Perspectives Episode 4 "David Walliams: The Genius of Dahl".

Walliams appeared in series 7, episode 6 of Top Gear.

He also plays the mole-like alien, Gibbis, in the eleventh episode of the sixth series of Doctor Who, entitled "The God Complex". He is the narrator of Are You Having a Laugh? TV and Disability, which was shown on BBC 2 on 25 June 2010. In early 2011, he hosted new panel show Wall of Fame on Sky1. He will star as Uncle Pumblechook in Great Expectations.