Keith Allen

Keith Howell Charles Allen (born 2 September 1953) is a British actor, pantomime star, and television presenter.

He is the father of singer Lily Allen and actor Alfie Allen, and brother of actor and director Kevin Allen.

Allen was born on 2 September 1953 in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Wales, the second of three children of Edward Charles Owen, a Royal Navy petty officer submariner.

His younger brother is actor Kevin Allen.

He spent his early years near Swansea and in Malta, and most of his childhood in Gosport, Hampshire, while his father served in Portsmouth.

At the age of 11, when his father was posted to Singapore, he was sent to board at Brentwood School, a public school in Essex.

He was expelled from the school at the age of 13.

At 15 he was sent to a borstal after repeatedly being caught stealing, later saying that he "had a great time" there.

After having several jobs during the 1970s, including a job as a stagehand from which he was sacked after joining Max Bygraves' chorus line on stage naked, Allen worked as a stand-up comedian and vocalist, opening for punk bands such as The Clash.

He appeared in a number of films in the series The Comic Strip Presents... on Channel 4 in the 1980s after becoming one of the breakthrough acts of the Comedy Store in 1979.

Notable episodes featuring Allen include The Bullshitters (a parody of The Professionals), and The Yob (a parody of The Fly), which he also co-wrote.

Allen would also appear alongside fellow Comic Strip alumni as Pestilence in The Young Ones episode "Interesting."

Allen has performed both straight and comedy acting.

Allen presented the TV show Whatever You Want in 1982, during the early days of Channel Four and has presented television documentaries for Victor Lewis-Smith's Associated-Rediffusion Television Productions: Little Lady Fauntleroy (2004), which saw Allen interview Lauren Harries and her family, You're Fayed (2005) and on Michael Carroll – King of Chavs (2006).

In 1985 The Comic Strip hit the big screen with The Supergrass starring Allen, Adrian Edmondson, Peter Richardson, Jennifer Saunders and Robbie Coltrane, directed by Comic Strip actor Peter Richardson.

In 1986, he appeared in Comrades, a film about the Tolpuddle Martyrs.

During the brief period of British Satellite Broadcasting as an alternative satellite broadcaster to Sky, he had a regular comedy show of his own I Love Keith Allen on the Galaxy channel, a mix of stand-up and sketches.

He appeared in the final Carry On film Carry On Columbus (1992) playing Pepi The Poisoner.

It was directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers.

Allen made a cameo appearance in the black comedy Twin Town, directed by his brother Kevin, and the Channel 4 adaptation of A Very British Coup. He played the lodger who dies at the beginning of Danny Boyle's thriller Shallow Grave (1994).

In the same year, he played Jonas Chuzzlewit in a BBC adaptation of Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit.

He also appeared disguised as a fictional hip-hop star "Keithski" to present Top of the Pops on 2 March 1995.

He was used again by Boyle to play a drug dealer in Trainspotting (1996).

Danny Boyle has said that Allen's character from Trainspotting is the same one that moves into the shared flat in Shallow Grave – he wears the same clothes.

In 2000, Allen appeared in two Harold Pinter plays at the Almeida Theatre, playing Lambert in Celebration and Mr Sands in The Room.

These were performed again at The Lincoln Center Festival in July 2001.

In 2001, he played the character of "problem-solver" Jim Napeworth in an episode of Murder in Mind, and in 2004 cameoed in Black Books as poker-player Dave 'Mouse Ears' Smith.

In 2002 he played the London Records executive Roger Ames in 24 Hour Party People, a film about Factory Records and the Manchester music scene.

Allen cameoed in the Channel 4 sitcom Spaced in a short homage to the Stanley Kubrick film, The Shining.

He appeared as the villain in the sequel to 2004's Agent Cody Banks, Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London, opposite Frankie Muniz.

He appeared in the hospital drama, Bodies, as Mr Tony Whitman, a sarcastic but somehow likeable consultant obstetrician with an enormous ego.

In 2005 he appeared in the Endemol-produced BBC Two television programme Art School alongside Ulrika Jonsson, John Humphrys and Clarissa Dickson Wright where he discovered a passion for painting.

From 2006 to 2009, Allen appeared in the BBC's Robin Hood drama series, as the Sheriff of Nottingham.

Allen has also starred in pantomimes, such as an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island in 2008, written by Ken Ludwig and directed by Sean Holmes; he took the role of a gritty Long John Silver in the Theatre Royal Haymarket.

In September 2011, he appeared in the BBC six-part drama series The Body Farm as DI Hale.

2012 (2013 in the UK) saw the release of the Sara Sugarman comedy film Vinyl in which Keith played an ageing rock star who finds himself back in the public eye after his band member fools the music industry into giving them a record deal.

In 2013, he played Darren the farmer in episode 1.5 of the comedy drama series Great Night Out.

In April 2013, Allen starred in a revival of Richard Bean's black comedy Smack Family Robinson at The Rose Theatre, Kingston upon Thames.

In January 2021, Allen played serial killer and rapist John Cooper in the ITV 3-part drama, The Pembrokeshire Murders.

In 2023, Allen appeared as Dai Williams in the BBC crime drama Steeltown Murders.