
Acting
Gyles Brandreth
Born
1948-03-08 (78)
Place of birth
Wuppertal, Germany
Known for
Acting
Credits
63 titles
Gyles Daubeney Brandreth is an English writer, broadcaster, actor, and former Conservative Member of Parliament.
Known for
7.1Hilarious, totally-irreverent, near-slanderous political quiz show, based mainly on news stories from the last week or so, that leaves no party, personality or action unscathed in pursuit of laughs.
Have I Got News for You
1990
4.3A topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One.
The One Show
2006
7.9Comedy quiz show full of quirky facts, in which contestants are rewarded more if their answers are 'quite interesting'.
QI
2003
5.6Chat show hosted by Terry Wogan, featuring live studio interviews with famous and notable personalities.
Wogan
1982
5.7Adam Hills and co-hosts Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker provide some offbeat commentary on the significant moments of the past seven days.
The Last Leg
2013
7.0Based on the week’s news and fronted by guest hosts, this extended version of the satirical news quiz features more of the stuff that wouldn't fit into the regular programme.
Have I Got a Bit More News for You
—
Film credits
2020s · 16 titles
NRWith Tom Littler's production of Twelfth Night in performance, on January 19, 2025 the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, London, UK held a special Shakespearean Under the Orange Tree fundraiser celebrating the play. For one afternoon only, host Gyles Brandreth and guests including Judi Dench, Stephen Fry, Anne Reid, Derek Jacobi et al. appeared in support of the OT's Primary Shakespeare, which introduces kids to Shakespeare via interactive workshops/performances. As legendary Shakespearean actors they look back on their performances in the play–Shakespeare's masterpiece of mistaken identity–accompanied by Stefan Bednarczyk while he was performing/composing as Feste in Twelfth Night. For 30 years, OT's Shakespeare in Schools projects have ignited a love for theatre & Shakespeare, reaching 10,000+ kids with timeless stories of magic, drama, and inspiration. Proceeds ensure kids across the borough of Richmond and beyond have access to creative education via workshops and live performance.
The Twelfth Night Reunion
2026
8.0A profile of the actress from a strict Quaker upbringing in Yorkshire, through her staunch determination to make it as a thespian. There's also a look at her work in TV favourites such as A Fine Romance and As Time Goes By, where Judi's performances won her four BAFTA awards, and her tenure in the James Bond franchise.
Judi Dench: Our National Treasure
2022
NRDocumentary in which the late impressionist's daughters get to the truth about their father's rise to fame and record-breaking success, and his sudden exit from public life. Features Mike Yarwood, Claire Yarwood, Charlotte Yarwood, Michael Crawford, Rory Bremner and more.
Mike Yarwood: Thank You For The Laughs
2023
NRQueen Elizabeth II is the longest-reigning monarch in the history of Great Britain and the Commonwealth. While her service to her country is legendary, she has become a figure of strength, endurance, and dignity the world over and indeed we all feel connected to her. Through triumph, loss, scandal, and celebration, witness the story of how a young Princess became Queen to the people of the world.
Queen Elizabeth II: Her Glorious Reign
2022
8.0A look at Dame Maggie Smith's life from a two-up two-down in Essex to Broadway and Hollywood. Starring in more than 60 films and 70 plays across her 70-year career, Maggie's incredible determination and talent landed her among the elite.
The Marvellous Maggie Smith: A Celebration
2022
Panto-aficionado Gyles will immerse himself in every aspect of the genre, from its roots in commedia dell’arte and Victorian music hall to scene painting, slapstick and the making of a pantomime dame. He’ll be joined on his merry way (oh yes he will!) by pantomime experts including Julian Clary and Gary Wilmot, celebrating the panto in all its vibrant, joyful glory.
The Story of Panto with Gyles Brandreth
2024
NRThis new special reveals the secrets of the long-running sitcom's extraordinary success. Helped by former cast and crew members, families of the stars no longer with us, and celebrity fans, we learn the secrets of this comedy classic and get to see previously unseen interviews and rare behind-the-scenes archive footage.
Last Of The Summer Wine: 30 Years Of Laughs
2022
NRGyles Brandreth travels to the places that inspired one of Britain's most famous storytellers.
In Charles Dickens Footsteps with Gyles Brandreth
2021
NROn stage – in person – for one special performance the great Dame Judi Dench and Gyles Brandreth bring their West End sell-out show to Edinburgh. Quite simply, it’s the story of her life!
I Remember It Well: Dame Judi Dench in Conversation with Gyles Bandreth
2022
NRA feature-length special retrospective of one of Britain's most beloved sitcoms, with new and archival interviews and footage examining the production and enduring cultural impact of the BBC's 'To the Manor Born'.
To the Manor Born: Britain's Best Loved Comedy
2024
8.0A celebration of the much-loved holiday camp sitcom, featuring classic scenes and interviews with members of cast and crew including Su Pollard, Ruth Madoc, Jeffrey Holland, Paul Shane and Jimmy Perry. The programme reveals that Butlin's, the real-life inspiration for the series, were not impressed with the show, and there are backstage secrets, such as the day several cast members nearly drowned in the swimming pool
Hi-De-Hi!: All the Laughs & More
2022
NRBorn in Corfu in 1921, Prince Philip has lived on the national stage through Britain’s move from Empire to Commonwealth amid all the extraordinary political and social changes that have taken place since he married Princess Elizabeth in 1947.
Prince Philip: An Extraordinary Life
2021
NRA look back at the life and work of one of Britain's greatest comediennes, featuring interviews with those who worked alongside Victoria.
Victoria Wood In Her Own Words
2020
NRKenneth Williams's comedy career highlights are celebrated in a documentary narrated by his friend and fellow wordsmith, Gyles Brandreth. Showcasing Kenneth's very best bits and greatest hits, it is a journey through the life of a veritable British comedy genius - stopping at all of the comedy milestones of his career. The documentary features exclusive access to Kenneth's never-before-seen photograph albums and exclusive correspondence from the star and his family.
Kenneth Williams In His Own Words
2020
NRGyles Brandreth explores the landscape that influenced Thomas Hardy. The author spent most of his life in the south-west of England, and set his most famous novels - Tess of the D'Urbervilles, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Jude the Obscure and his breakthrough novel Far from the Madding Crowd - in the fictional county of Wessex. By inviting input from experts and celebrity fans, Gyles discovers that, although Wessex may be fictional, the locations Hardy describes are influenced by real places.
Hardy's Britain
2020
8.0Broadcaster Gyles Brandreth travels to the West Yorkshire moors, known as "Bronte Country". It is an area that shaped the Bronte sisters, and they have, in turn, helped shape it. He explores some of the influences on their writing.
In Jane Austen's Footsteps with Gyles Brandreth
2021
2010s · 3 titles
6.6Margaret Thatcher - The Iron Lady is the first major documentary to look back on the development and impact of this remarkable woman, whom commentators of both the political left and right agree changed the face of 20th Century politics forever. Featuring many excerpts from her powerful speeches and insightful contributions from her political supporters and detractors, a portrait emerges of a woman whose strength of conviction eventually becomes the weakness of intransigence.
Margaret Thatcher: The Iron Lady
2012
NRKirsty Young celebrates the 70th wedding anniversary of the Queen and Prince Philip by examining the longest royal marriage in British history through key moments. She looks at how every step of their life together has been played out in the glare of publicity and in service of the nation, while steering it through decades of change.
Elizabeth & Philip: Love and Duty
2017
NRThe story of how the introduction of breakfast television to the UK in 1983 led to a fierce battle for viewers between the BBC and ITV.
The Battle for Britain's Breakfast
2014
2000s · 2 titles
NROver 2½ hours of the award-winning topical news quiz, featuring previously unseen footage. Team captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton are joined by a different guest presenter each week.
Have I Got News for You: The Best of the Guest Presenters Volume 2
2005
Richard E. Grant looks at the history of Sherlock Holmes, including the many movie and TV adaptations.
Elementary My Dear Viewer
2007
Series credits
7.1Hilarious, totally-irreverent, near-slanderous political quiz show, based mainly on news stories from the last week or so, that leaves no party, personality or action unscathed in pursuit of laughs.
Have I Got News for You
1990
7.1Hilarious, totally-irreverent, near-slanderous political quiz show, based mainly on news stories from the last week or so, that leaves no party, personality or action unscathed in pursuit of laughs.
Have I Got News for You
1990
7.1Hilarious, totally-irreverent, near-slanderous political quiz show, based mainly on news stories from the last week or so, that leaves no party, personality or action unscathed in pursuit of laughs.
Have I Got News for You
1990
4.3A topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One.
The One Show
2006
4.3A topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One.
The One Show
2006
7.9Comedy quiz show full of quirky facts, in which contestants are rewarded more if their answers are 'quite interesting'.
QI
2003
5.6Chat show hosted by Terry Wogan, featuring live studio interviews with famous and notable personalities.
Wogan
1982
5.7Adam Hills and co-hosts Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker provide some offbeat commentary on the significant moments of the past seven days.
The Last Leg
2013
7.0Based on the week’s news and fronted by guest hosts, this extended version of the satirical news quiz features more of the stuff that wouldn't fit into the regular programme.
Have I Got a Bit More News for You
—
7.8A comedic panel show featuring team captains Lee Mack and David Mitchell plus two guests per side, hosted by Rob Brydon (formerly Angus Deayton). Each person must reveal embarrassing facts and outrageous lies during a series of different rounds including "Home Truths", "This Is My..." and "Quickfire Lies". It is up to the opposing team to tell tall tales from fantastic facts.
Would I Lie to You?
2007
7.8A comedic panel show featuring team captains Lee Mack and David Mitchell plus two guests per side, hosted by Rob Brydon (formerly Angus Deayton). Each person must reveal embarrassing facts and outrageous lies during a series of different rounds including "Home Truths", "This Is My..." and "Quickfire Lies". It is up to the opposing team to tell tall tales from fantastic facts.
Would I Lie to You?
2007
8.2The comedic misadventures of Roy, Moss, and their grifting supervisor Jen, a 'motley crew' of IT support workers at a large corporation headed by a hotheaded yuppie.
The IT Crowd
2006
2.8The big names behind the big stories. Laura Kuenssberg talks to those making the news, inside and outside politics.
Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
2022
6.1Each week a group of four famous faces go toe to toe in testing their general knowledge skills in a variety of entertaining games.
House of Games
2017
6.0Antiques experts accompany celebrities on a road trip around the UK searching for treasures and competing to make the most money at auction
Celebrity Antiques Road Trip
2011
7.5What are the secrets of our favourite TV shows? Famous names from both sides of the camera reflect on making some of the most popular and influential programs of all time.
Remembers…
2022
10.0In this entertaining series packed with laughs, celebrity contestants attempt to work out catchphrases based on fun animations. Animations include well known phrases, sayings and even film, song and book titles. The celebrities need to buzz in as quickly as they can when they know the answer and can say what they see in a chance to win money for their chosen charities.
Celebrity Catchphrase
2018
6.6Fast-moving game show meets talk show, which sees Frank Skinner refereeing three celebrities each week as they compete to banish their top peeve or worst nightmare to the depths of Room 101.
Room 101
1994
6.6A rolling cast of famous faces, some of Britain's best loved personalities, turn their hand to being the country's most opinionated viewers, sharing their opinions on what they have been watching during the week.
Celebrity Gogglebox
2019
6.6A rolling cast of famous faces, some of Britain's best loved personalities, turn their hand to being the country's most opinionated viewers, sharing their opinions on what they have been watching during the week.
Celebrity Gogglebox
2019
6.0Celebrity Mastermind is a British television quiz show broadcast by BBC television. The show is a spin-off of the long-running quiz show Mastermind, with the exception that all the contestants are celebrities. As with the main show, John Humphrys is the host and question-master. Magnus Magnusson was quizmaster on the 2003/04 episodes featuring Jonathan Meades as winner.
Celebrity Mastermind
2003
5.6Michael McIntyre hosts a gameshow packed with huge stars, big laughs and a giant spinning wheel. Can the contestants, guided by celebrity experts, answer their way to a fortune?
Michael McIntyre's The Wheel
2020
6.5Quiz in which contestants try to score as few points as possible by plumbing the depths of their general knowledge to come up with the answers no-one else can think of.
Pointless
2009
7.0Bradley Walsh presents the triumphant return of Britain's blank-iest game show. Can he control his celebrity panel and help contestants win the coveted cheque book and pen?
Blankety Blank
2021
7.5Ben Shephard hosts the quiz show in which three celebrities take on an extraordinary machine in the hope of winning 20,000 pounds for charity.
Tipping Point: Lucky Stars
2013
5.8Packed with plenty of take-away trivia, Guessable involves two celebrity teams competing to identify the famous name or object inside a mystery box. Sara Pascoe hosts the show with John Kearns on hand as her assistant. Alan Davies and Darren Harriott are the team captains, in a format that puts a twist on classic family games.
Guessable
2020
6.0The clock is ticking as contestants compete in games of lexical dexterity and numerical agility.
Countdown
1982
7.7A boy and his mum find themselves suddenly transported somewhere across the universe surrounded by an amazing array of aliens from new and unknown corners of the galaxy. While trying to work out who brought them there and why, they make a new home for themselves and encounter new friends, including Mo, the only other being from Earth – a dinosaur.
Elliott from Earth
2021
5.2This Morning features a variety of news, as well as show business, fashion, beauty, lifestyle, home and garden, food, tech, live phone-ins, and competitions.
This Morning
1988
5.4Hosted by the brilliant Rob Beckett alongside his team captains – TV fanatic Josh Widdicombe, and a lady who frankly is TV, Alison Hammond – the show is a hilarious celebration of the small screen and the shows we love (and some we don’t).
Rob Beckett's Smart TV
2024
7.3All five of the Chasers appear together to take on all comers and form the best quiz team in the world. As they visit different UK cities, contestants from all over the county face head-to-head challenges with not one, but all the Chasers.
Beat the Chasers
2020
7.3Hosted by Adil Ray, Celebrity Lingo will see famous faces pair up and go head-to-head in the fast-paced word play game as they vie to fill in the blanks and find the missing words.
Celebrity Lingo
2022
8.8To celebrate their golden wedding anniversary, actors Timothy West and Prunella Scales embark on four spectacular canal journeys, sharing a passion that they've enjoyed for decades. To start the series, Tim and Pru revisit the Kennet and Avon Canal in the West Country. Back in 1990, to promote the fully restored canal, Tim and Pru were invited to be the first boat in 42 years to travel the full length of the K&A. Almost a quarter of a century later, they navigate the 21 miles along its most picturesque stretch, starting in Bath and ending in Devizes.
Great Canal Journeys
2014
9.5Just a Minute is a BBC Radio 4 radio comedy and television panel game chaired by Nicholas Parsons. Its first transmission on Radio 4 was on 22 December 1967, three months after the station's launch. The Radio 4 programme won a Gold Sony Radio Academy Award in 2003. The object of the game is for panellists to talk for sixty seconds on a given subject, "without repetition, hesitation or deviation". The comedy comes from attempts to keep within these rules and the banter among the participants. In 2011 comedy writer David Quantick ascribed Just a Minute's success to its "insanely basic" format, stating, "It's so blank that it can be filled by people as diverse as Paul Merton and Graham Norton, who don't have to adapt their style of humour to the show at all."
Just a Minute
2012
6.7Across five nights, Susan’s journey takes her to a different well-known resort every day as she enjoys all the fun of the seaside, with a few celebrity guests along to help her out.
Susan Calman's Summer By the Sea
2021
No synopsis available yet.
I've Got A Secret
1984
NRFamilies from around the UK swap homes with strangers to experience new lifestyles.
Home Away from Home
2014
Follow All Star Musicals features a cast of famous faces who each perform an iconic number from a hit musical at the legendary Palladium Theatre in London's West End. After each performance, the panel awards the celebrities a score and at the end of the night, these scores are combined with the studio audience vote to crown one celebrity the All Star Musicals champion.
All Star Musicals
2017
NRThe series looked back at British lifestyle television programmes shown on the channel from across the decades, with episodes on the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and the 2000s.
The Home That 2 Built
2014
This four-part series tells the stories of the landscapes, towns and cities which inspired four of the UK's greatest writers - Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy, Charles Dickens and the Brontes.
In the Footsteps of... with Gyles Brandreth
2021

