Peter Richardson

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For other uses, see Peter Richardson (disambiguation).

Peter Richardson born 15 October 1951 in Devon, Britain, is a British actor, comedian, director, and writer. He is best known for The Comic Strip Presents... television series.

He started performing at London's Comedy Store in 1979, in a double act with Nigel Planer called "The Outer Limits". Richardson soon set up his own comedy club called The Comic Strip, taking with him a core group from The Comedy Store. At this point, various television companies were taking note of the rapidly growing "alternative comedy" scene, and Richardson was approached by Jeremy Isaacs to make a series of comedy films for Channel 4.

The Comic Strip Presents... ran from 1982 to 1988 on Channel 4, and then continued from 1990 to 1993 on the BBC. Richardson wrote more than half of the shows together with Pete Richens, and he also directed most of the BBC series. He also cowrote and directed the Comic Strip film The Supergrass, a well-made but little-known parody of slick police dramas starring himself, Adrian Edmondson, and Jennifer Saunders and featuring many other Comic Strip performers.

Richardson was due to play Mike on The Young Ones but when he fell out with the director his part was given to Christopher Ryan. Arguably this cost Richardson greater success in his own right as a performer, as he is still relatively unknown.

Richardson directed the 1987 film Eat the Rich, written by him and Pete Richens, about a waitress at an exclusive restaurant who falls on hard times. Forced to deal with the contempt and disgust of the upper class, she attempts to go on a rampage. He also wrote (again with Richens) and directed the film The Pope Must Die, which starred Comic Strip regulars Robbie Coltrane and Adrian Edmondson.

Apart from the Comic Strip, Richardson's best known work is the sitcom Stella Street, which he directs, and co-writes with the impressionists John Sessions and Phil Cornwell. A Stella Street movie was released in 2004. He also directed the bizarrely funny mock documentary Lust for Glorious about comedian Eddie Izzard.