
Acting
Ken Dodd
Born — Died
1927-11-08 — 2018-03-11
Place of birth
Knotty Ash, Liverpool, England, UK
Known for
Acting
Credits
39 titles
Sir Kenneth Arthur Dodd was born on 8 November 1927 in a former farmhouse in Knotty Ash, a suburb of Liverpool, to Arthur Dodd and Sarah (née Gray); where his parents lived. He had an older brother, William and a younger sister, June. He went to the Knotty Ash School and sang in the local church choir of St John's Church, Knotty Ash. He was to live in Knotty Ash all his life, dying in the house in which he was born, and often referred to the area—as well as its mythical "jam butty mines" and "black pudding plantations"—in his act. He then attended Holt High School, a grammar school in Childwall, Liverpool, but left at the age of 14 to work for his father, a coal merchant. Around this time h…
Known for
6.6The biggest stars, the most iconic performances, the most outrageous outfits – it’s Britain’s number one pop show.
Top of the Pops
1964
7.9The adventures of The Doctor, a time-traveling humanoid alien known as a Time Lord. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-traveling spaceship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, The Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilizations, help ordinary people, and right many wrongs.
Doctor Who
1963
5.6The South Bank Show is a television arts magazine show produced by ITV between 1978 and 2010. A new series began on Sky Arts from 27 May 2012. Presented by Melvyn Bragg, the show aims to bring both high art and popular culture to a mass audience.
The South Bank Show
1978
Pebble Mill was a re-launched version of the 1970s daily chat show Pebble Mill (also known as Pebble Mill At One for a while) which aired on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. The series premiered on October 14, 1991. The show was a mixture of celebrity guests and music. Alan Titchmarsh was a presenter on the show throughout it's complete run. Other presenters included Judi Spiers, Gloria Hunniford and Ross King.
Pebble Mill
1991
5.3An Audience with... is a British entertainment television show produced by London Weekend Television, in which a host, usually a singer or comedian, performs for an invited audience of celebrity guests, interspersed with questions from the audience, in a light hearted revue/tribute style.
An Audience with...
1978
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
Film credits
2020s · 4 titles
NRProduced over four years with full access from Ken’s widow Lady Dodd, the film takes an in-depth look into Doddy’s private world, exploring the many secrets of his comic talent, revealing never-before-seen home-videos, stage performances and extracts from some of the thousands of Ken’s diary notebooks which he’d asked his wife to burn after his death. Wrestling with her conscience for quite some time, Lady Dodd, finally agrees with entertainment historians, museum curators and many of Ken’s admirers like Stephen K Amos, Harry Hill, Shaparak Khorsandi, Lee Mack, Paul O’Grady, Johnny Vegas, and Sir Ian McKellen to preserve Doddy’s notebooks for posterity. These stars explore their passion and memories of Ken in this candid, insightful film which takes you backstage behind the red curtain to reveal a far more intriguing man than the public or even his wife ever realised.
The Real Ken Dodd: The Man I Loved
2024
NRA star-studded documentary revealing the private man behind one of Britain’s greatest comic geniuses, using home movies and extracts from notebooks that he wanted to be burnt after his death.
Ken Dodd: A Legacy of Happiness
2025
9.0It’s the city that gave birth to The Beatles, inspired Gerry to ride that ferry, and spawned Bunnymen and Atomic Kittens. Now with all eyes – and ears – on Liverpool for the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest, a look into the BBC’s archives for a selection of performances from some of Merseyside’s biggest and best-loved musical stars.
Sounds of Liverpool at the BBC
2023
NRFeaturing unseen footage, as well as some of Sir Ken Dodd's finest work on television.
Ken Dodd: The Lost Tapes
2025
2010s · 6 titles
7.1Dramatisation of the true story of the life of Neil "Nello" Baldwin. Born with a mild learning disability but without the burden of social embarrassment & how his inexhaustible ability to see the good in any situation overcame any stigma society tried to label him with.
Marvellous
2014
5.0I Was There…When the Beatles Played The Cavern tells the story of the underground venue which has become synonymous with one of the world’s greatest bands – The Beatles. The programme includes rare archive footage of the Cavern Club in the sixties, including film of The Beatles performing ‘Some Other Guy’ at the club. On 9 February 1961, having recently returned to Liverpool from performing in Hamburg, The Beatles played at The Cavern for the first of nearly 300 appearances at the club. By the time they played their last gig there, Beatlemania had swept Britain and the band was conquering the world.
I Was There: When the Beatles Played the Cavern
2011
NRMorecambe & Wise are arguably the most popular and loved double acts ever to have been on television, but off it they built up quite an archive too - largely unseen until now - which reveals what Eric and Ernie were really like in the company of family and friends. Both Eric and Ernie were avid home movie makers, chronicling their rise to fame and recording key moments in their private and family lives, at home and abroad. Now for the first time, with access to Morecambe & Wise's entire home movie collection, this documentary shows Eric and Ernie at work and at play, on tour and on holiday, from summer season in Blackpool to trying to make it in the USA, from their pre-television fame days to the height of their career.
Eric & Ernie's Home Movies
2017
NRKen Dodd: How Tickled We Were tells Sir Ken’s story from his boyhood growing up in the 1930s in Knotty Ash, through his big break into show business and then on to his unrivalled career in entertainment. Poignant and uplifting, the programme features interviews with the people who knew Sir Ken best – friends and family in Liverpool and beyond, and his many colleagues, admirers and fellow-performers from the world of entertainment. The programme also features an interview with Sir Ken’s wife, Lady Anne Dodd.
Ken Dodd: How Tickled We Were
2018
9.3The Nation’s Favourite Beatles Number One tells the stories behind some of the greatest Beatles songs ever. With interviews from Beatles’ insiders including musicians, friends, fellow performers and celebrity fans, we’ll hear about the stories behind the Fab Four’s best-loved hits
The Nation's Favourite Beatles Number One
2015
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Becoming the Beatles
2012
1990s · 5 titles
6.2Alice follows a white rabbit down a rabbit-hole into a whimsical Wonderland, where she meets characters like the delightful Cheshire Cat, the clumsy White Knight, a rude caterpillar, and the hot-tempered Queen of Hearts and can grow ten feet tall or shrink to three inches. But will she ever be able to return home?
Alice in Wonderland
1999
7.3Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, returns home to find his father murdered and his mother now marrying the murderer... his uncle. Meanwhile, war is brewing.
Hamlet
1996
NRDocumentary about British comedy legend
Heroes of Comedy: Arthur Askey
1998
7.7Marking 40 years in show business, legendary comedian and entertainer Ken Dodd presents this comedy extravaganza, entertaining a host of celebrities including Frank Carson, Samantha Fox and Warren Mitchell.
An Audience with Ken Dodd
1994
NRKen Dodd - the King of Comedy - captured live on this superb, hilarious DVD! Filmed During His 1996 100,000 mile nationwide Laughter Tour of British theatres.
Ken Dodd: Live Laughter Tour
1997
Series credits
6.6The biggest stars, the most iconic performances, the most outrageous outfits – it’s Britain’s number one pop show.
Top of the Pops
1964
7.9The adventures of The Doctor, a time-traveling humanoid alien known as a Time Lord. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-traveling spaceship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, The Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilizations, help ordinary people, and right many wrongs.
Doctor Who
1963
5.6The South Bank Show is a television arts magazine show produced by ITV between 1978 and 2010. A new series began on Sky Arts from 27 May 2012. Presented by Melvyn Bragg, the show aims to bring both high art and popular culture to a mass audience.
The South Bank Show
1978
Pebble Mill was a re-launched version of the 1970s daily chat show Pebble Mill (also known as Pebble Mill At One for a while) which aired on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. The series premiered on October 14, 1991. The show was a mixture of celebrity guests and music. Alan Titchmarsh was a presenter on the show throughout it's complete run. Other presenters included Judi Spiers, Gloria Hunniford and Ross King.
Pebble Mill
1991
5.3An Audience with... is a British entertainment television show produced by London Weekend Television, in which a host, usually a singer or comedian, performs for an invited audience of celebrity guests, interspersed with questions from the audience, in a light hearted revue/tribute style.
An Audience with...
1978
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
5.2Blankety Blank is a British comedy game show based on the 1977–1979 Australian game show Blankety Blanks. The British version ran from 18 January 1979 to 12 March 1990 on BBC One, hosted first by Terry Wogan and later by Les Dawson. Regular members of the celebrity panel on this version included Kenny Everett, Lorraine Chase, Gareth Hunt, Gary Davies, and Cheryl Baker. A revival fronted by Lily Savage was produced by the BBC from 26 December 1997 to 28 December 1999, followed by ITV from 7 January 2001 to 10 August 2002. This version was produced by Grundy, then Thames.
Blankety Blank
1979
7.0The final incarnation of Michael Parkinson's iconic talk show featuring an array of celebrities from every sphere.
Parkinson
2004
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
2.0A BBC light entertainment show broadcast from 1975 to 1979, filmed in a big top at various British seaside resorts. Originally the big top belonged to various circuses, but in later seasons, the BBC bought its own to be the venue. The programme was developed by producer Michael Hurll.
Seaside Special
1975
10.0Everyman is a British television documentary series that aired on BBC One in a late-night slot on Sunday evenings between 1977 and 2005. Its subject matter tended to be focused on moral and religious issues, often in the form of a film in which individuals would discuss their thoughts. One edition from 1990, A Game of Soldiers concerned a group of soldiers exploring their feelings about being trained to kill. Throughout much of its time on air, series of Everyman aired alternately with Heart of the Matter, a debate series which featured somewhat similar topics. Both series were cancelled in the 2000s after the BBC revamped the output of its religious programming.
Everyman
1977
6.3Dennis and Gnasher is an animated British TV series based on characters from The Beano comic, It features the daily adventures of the rebellious schoolboy Dennis the Menace and his dog Gnasher.
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher
1996
5.0Dawn French interviews famous comedians about how they started, their inspirations and their careers.
More Dawn French's Boys Who Do: Comedy
2007
Entertainment-based spin-off of A Question of Sport. The show was reformatted and retitled That's Showbusiness and was broadcast under this title from 1989 to 1996.
A Question of Entertainment
1988
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Ken Dodd's World of Laughter
1974
10.0One of Britain's best-loved comedians, Ken Dodd's anarchic, energetic brand of humour has made him a firm favourite with audiences for more than six decades. Bearing his trademark tickling stick and tattifilarious jokes, The Ken Dodd Laughter Show stars Knotty Ash's most famous son in a classic mix of madcap sketches, musical numbers and quick-fire stand-up.
The Ken Dodd Laughter Show
1979
NRCome to Paul Daniels exclusive nightclub and be his guest as he showcases the latest magicians and variety acts.
Paul Daniels' Secrets
1995
No synopsis available yet.
Ken Dodd and the Diddymen
1969
No synopsis available yet.
Doddy's Music Box
1967
No synopsis available yet.
Ken Dodd's Showbiz
1982


