Dave Spikey

Dave Spikey
Birth name	David Gordon Bramwell[1]
Born	6 October 1951 (1951-10-06) (age 60) Farnworth, Lancashire, England[2]
Medium	Actor, comedian, writer, producer, broadcaster
Nationality	British
Years active	1990–present
Genres	Stand-up
Spouse	Kathleen Kenyon[3]
Notable works and roles	That Peter Kay Thing (2000) Phoenix Nights (2001–02) Dead Man Weds (2005)
Website	Official site

Dave Spikey (born David Gordon Bramwell on 6 October 1951)^[2] is an English comedian, actor, writer and film producer, currently residing in Chorley, Lancashire.

Spikey spent his early career working as a biomedical scientist in the haematology laboratory at Bolton General Hospital. It was during this period in the 1980s that Spikey scripted and performed in a number of amateur pantomimes with a group of like-minded health workers called the Bolton Health Performers.^{[citation needed]}

He is married to Kathleen "Kay" (née Kenyon; born 8 May 1952^[4]) whom he has known since school. Despite this, and the fact that they were both students at Bolton General, Kay working in the Blood Transfusion Department, it was a while before they got together romantically. They are both vegetarians.

Biography

Early years

In 1992, Spikey was asked to form a double act with Rick Sykes, as purely a 'one-off' to support a popular musical duo called 'Intaglio'.^[5] Dave and Rick were known as Spikey and Sykey. The double act's most notable success came on Central TV's New Faces show.

A turning point came one summer Sunday evening in 1993 when Spikey got a phone call to see if 'he could get to Blackpool in half an hour'. Cannon and Ball were appearing at The Opera House and they needed a compere immediately.^{[citation needed]}

He was the last host of UK gameshow Chain Letters in 1997, following on from Jeremy Beadle, Andrew O'Connor, Allan Stewart, Ted Robbins and Vince Henderson. While working on the show, he once got trapped by the rotating Chain Letters revolving sign.^{[citation needed]}

Success

Spikey won the Best Newcomer award at the British Comedy Awards, and then co-wrote and starred in Phoenix Nights, a hit comedy series on Channel Four in which he played Jerry St. Clair. Peter Kay has announced that a new series of Phoenix Nights is to be made, however it is unknown whether Spikey will return.^{[citation needed]}

In 2003, Spikey released his first DVD, The Overnight Success Tour. Towards the end of 2004, he wrote the ITV comedy-drama Dead Man Weds, in which he also co-starred, in 2005, with Johnny Vegas. The series was shown on the more commercial ITV channel instead of Channel 4 and missed most of his usual audience. The style of the programme such as no laugh track and location filming rather than sets just didn't match the expected line-up of an ITV sitcom. Viewing figures were terrible and it was moved to a later time spot.

In 2005, Spikey became one of the regular team captains on the comedy panel game, 8 Out of 10 Cats, leaving before the 2007 series. That year also saw the release of his second live DVD, Living The Dream. He presented the darts gameshow Bullseye on Challenge for two series.

Spikey developed two new projects which were commissioned by the BBC, being Magnolia, a sitcom about painters and decorators, and Footballers Lives - a comedy about a pub football team, neither made it beyond pilots. He was also on the panel for talent show When Will I Be Famous?.

With these setbacks Spikey returned to stand-up and live shows again and has been regularly releasing DVDs of his shows. Whilst maintaining his profile with appearances on TV.

Because of his time at hospital, Spikey's chosen subject on Celebrity Mastermind in 2006 was Human Blood. He won this show.

His last appearance acting was in the 2009 film Charlie Noades RIP written by his Phoenix Nights Co-Writer Neil Fitzmaurice.

Other interests

Dave Spikey is patron of the non-profit radio station Chorley FM which is not the fictitious radio station made famous by That Peter Kay Thing and Phoenix Nights TV series. He also contributed the initial voice over for the Foxy Bingo^{[clarification needed]} adverts, but was soon replaced.^{[citation needed]} Spikey's first book, He Took My Kidney, Then Broke My Heart, was published in October 2009 by Michael O'Mara Books. His second book is Under The Microscope, published in 2010 by the same publishers.

Despite his age he likes to keep in shape and regularly plays 5 a-side football.

Stand-Up DVDs

Title	Released	Notes
Overnight Success Tour - Live	17 November 2003	Live at Leeds City Varieties
Living the Dream - Live	7 November 2005	Live at Oldham Colliseum
The Best Medicine Tour - Live	9 November 2009

References

1. ^ Researcha
2. ^ ^{a b} GRO Birth Index: Oct/Nov/Dec 1951, Bramwell, David G., Farnworth 10c 142.
3. ^ 192.com – Search for David Bramwell in Chorley, Lancashire; other residents Kathleen M Bramwell and Kathleen M Kenyon
4. ^ Researcha
5. ^ The Intaglio Project.

External links

• The Comedy Club's Comedian Biog for Dave Spikey
• Profile on Comedy Zone
• Official Website
• DaveSpikey.co.uk, Live shows
• UK Gameshows Site
• Unofficial Fan Site
• Fan Site
• Dave Spikey at the Internet Movie Database
• Challenge's Bullseye site
• When Liberation Frequency met Dave Spikey

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Preceded by Jim Bowen	Host of Bullseye 2006	Succeeded by Series ended
Preceded by Vince Henderson	Host of Chain Letters 1997	Succeeded by Series ended

Persondata
Name	Spikey, Dave
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	6 October 1951
Place of birth	Farnworth, Lancashire, England
Date of death
Place of death