Tom Basden

Thomas William Basden (born 1980) is an English actor and comedy writer, and a member of the British four-man sketch group Cowards. He has written and performed extensively for comedy shows on the BBC and Channel 4 and often collaborates in two-man shows with fellow Cowards member Tim Key.

Tom Basden
Basden in 2016
Born
Thomas William Basden[1]

1980 (age 40–41)
Sutton, Greater London, England
OccupationActor, comedian, writer
Years active2006–present

Education

Basden was born in Sutton, Greater London. He was educated at King's College School, an independent school for boys in Wimbledon in South-West London, where he was in the same year as fellow actors Khalid Abdalla and Ben Barnes; followed by Pembroke College, Cambridge. He was vice-president of Cambridge Footlights and his contemporaries included Stefan Golaszewski, Sarah Solemani, Tim Key (who pretended to be studying for a Ph.D at Cambridge to be part of a Footlights production) and Dan Stevens.[2]

Career

Comedy and Television

Basden's one-man show at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Tom Basden Won't Say Anything, won the if.comedy award for Best Newcomer.[3] He also starred with Tim Key in the 2007 short film The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island, which won the UK Film Council Kodak Award for Best British Short Film.[4]

Basden replaced Tim Minchin as the resident musician for the second series of BBC radio comedy show Mark Watson Makes the World Substantially Better, where he appears with Tim Key and Mark Watson.

He was a guest panellist on the BBC Two comedy show Never Mind The Buzzcocks on Wednesday 4 November 2009.

Basden was one of the writers of successful sitcom Fresh Meat, which earned him a nomination for the 2012 BAFTA Craft Awards Break-Through Talent Award.[5]

In 2011 he wrote There Is a War, starring himself and Phoebe Fox, for the National Theatre's Double Feature, and the next year he appeared as musical sidekick to Key in his Radio 4 programme Tim Key's Late-Night Poetry.

Since spring 2013, Basden has co-written and appeared in the ITV ancient-Rome sitcom Plebs with Tom Rosenthal, Joel Fry, and Ryan Sampson.[6]

Basden featured in the six-part BBC2 comedy thriller The Wrong Mans as Noel.[7] The show was mainly written by, and starred, Mathew Baynton and James Corden. The premiere was on 24 September 2013. It consisted of six 30-minute episodes, and Basden co-wrote the third and fifth episode. Basden wrote the script for the sequel to The Wrong Mans, with the same title, first broadcast on BBC2 on 22 and 23 December 2014. It consisted of two one-hour-slot episodes, and Basden acted in it as well, reprising the role of Noel.

Currently, Basden plays Matt in the Netflix black-comedy series After Life.[8]

Stage

In 2010 his play Party was performed, about a group of rather childish university students holding a meeting to found their own political party.[9] The Guardian gave it a positive review calling it "an idiosyncratic and highly enjoyable piece performed beautifully by a crack cast of upcoming comics"; they praised the quality of the jokes, while noting that the satire was light and subtle.[10] It was adapted into a Radio 4 sitcom, also called Party, broadcast for three series and a Christmas special from 2010 to 2018 and written by and starring Basden. It also stars Tim Key, Jonny Sweet, Anna Crilly and Katy Wix.[11]

He was longlisted for the 2011 Evening Standard Theatre Awards Most Promising Playwright for his stage adaption of Franz Kafka's novel The Trial, called Joseph K. It also received positive reviews from The Guardian[12] and the Daily Telegraph.

[13]

Awards
YearAwardCategoryWorkResult
2007Edinburgh Comedy AwardsBest Newcomer[14]"Won't Say Anything"Won
2008British Academy Film AwardsBest Short FilmThe One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis IslandNominated
Chortle AwardsBest Full Show"Won't Say Anything"Won
Breakthrough ActNominated
2011Evening Standard AwardCharles Wintour Award for Most Promising PlaywrightJoseph KWon
2012BAFTA Craft AwardsBreak-Through Talent Award[15]Fresh MeatNominated

References
  1. {England & Wales births 1837–2006}
  2. "Footlights Alumni 2000–2009". Footlights. Archived from the original on 15 October 2012.
  3. if.comedy – 2007 winners
  4. Edinburgh International Film Festival Awards History
  5. "Kwadjo Dajan Wins the Break-Through Talent Award in 2012". bafta.org. 9 May 2012.
  6. British Comedy Guide. "ITV2 orders ancient Roman sitcom Plebs". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  7. "Cast announced for The Wrong Mans on BBC Two". BBC. 28 January 2013. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  8. Sanusi, Victoria (8 March 2019). "After Life cast: who stars with Ricky Gervais in new Netflix series – and where else you've seen them". iNews. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  9. Cavendish, Dominic (4 March 2010). "Party at the Arts Theatre, review". The Telegraph.
  10. Logan, Brian (11 March 2010). "Party: Comedy Review". The Guardian.
  11. British Comedy Guide. "Party". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  12. "Joseph K – review". The Guardian. 17 November 2010.
  13. "Joseph K, Gate Theatre, Notting Hill, review". Daily Telegraph. 23 November 2010.
  14. "Comedy Awards - Tom Basden". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  15. "Television Craft Awards Winners in 2012". bafta.org. 13 April 2012.
Preceded by
Josie Long		 Edinburgh Fringe Best Comedy Newcomer
2007		 Succeeded by
Sarah Millican
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