Miranda Hart

About

Miranda is a comedy writer and actress whose BBC 2 sitcom Miranda has recently earned her four BAFTA nominations, three RTS awards and three Comedy Awards, and has firmly established her as one of the country’s leading comedians. She has also appeared in French and Saunders, the BBC television series Hyperdrive and her semi-autobiographical sitcom Miranda Hart’s Joke Shop on BBC Radio 2.

Despite reading Politics at University, Miranda Hart always wanted to be a comedienne. In 2002, she did a solo show in Edinburgh, and in 2004 she pitched a comedy show to the BBC.

She has written her own theatre material for the Edinburgh Fringe–her one-woman shows include Miranda Hart – Throbs, It’s All About Me and Miranda Hart’s House Party. She also performed in Alecky Blythe’s 2006 play Cruising at the Bush Theatre.

Hart starred as “Teal” in two series of the BBC television comedy sci-fi series Hyperdrive, which ran from January 2006 to August 2007. She has also appeared in French & Saunders, My Family and Other Animals, Nighty Night, Absolutely Fabulous where she played a ‘Japanese’ woman called Yoko, The Vicar of Dibley, Lead Balloon, William and Mary, Smack the Pony (for which she wrote and performed in a couple of sketches and a number of video diaries), Not Going Out and Stupid!.

In 2008, she recorded the pilot episode of Miranda for BBC Two. The sitcom is based on her semi-autobiographical writing which went on to become a radio series, Miranda Hart’s Joke Shop on BBC Radio 2. On 9 November 2009 Miranda, nominated “one of the top 10 forthcoming TV shows for Autumn 2009” by The Sunday Times, began transmission on BBC Two.

The second series of Miranda began on BBC2 in November 2010. The series ended with a viewing high of 4.1m and was recommissioned by the BBC for another two series to air in 2011 and 2012.

In 2010 she and six other TV celebrities raised over £1 million for the charity Sport Relief by cycling from John O’Groats to Land’s End. Miranda also presented part of Sport Relief 2012 which ended in David Walliams dancing semi naked with her to Abba’s Dancing Queen.

In 2011 she won “Best Comedy Actress” and “People’s Choice Award For The King Or Queen Of Comedy” in the British Comedy Awards 2011, where Miranda also won “Best New British TV Comedy” and was nominated for “Best Sitcom”.

Hart was described in the FT as “the most original and farcically hilarious female clown since Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders”.