Miles Jupp: Fibber in the Heat

Miles Jupp is a man of many talents. He has tried his hand at comedy, acting, writing and journalism - albeit with varying degrees of success.

As a comedian, Jupp is an award-winner who has toured the world performing stand-up, and has appeared on popular TV shows such as Mock The Week, Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow and Have I Got News For You. Meanwhile, as an actor he's starred in the blockbusters Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes, as well as The Thick Of It and BBC2 sitcom Rev. Not to mention CBeebies children's show Balamory. Miles Jupp the writer is putting the finishing touches on his first novel and is a restaurant reviewer for ES Magazine.

Journalism is the least successful of Jupp's careers, but also the most interesting. His short-lived stint as cricket reporter was the result of a brilliantly conceived web of lies which vaulted him to the pinnacle of sports journalism.

Jupp's brief turn as the hilariously unqualified cricket journalist is the subject of his current stand-up show, 'Fibber in the Heat (A Cricket Tale)'. It's the true story of the cricket-mad comedian's (rather dishonest) attempt at a career change - and his surprising success.

It all started in 2006, when Jupp - disillusioned with comedy - decided on a career change. "I'd just had a really bad Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I was thinking 'why do I do this?' I had work, but I realised I wasn't doing the sort of things that I wanted to do. So I just stagnated," he says.

A passionate cricket fan, Jupp had a new career in mind. "To be a cricket journalist to me seemed like the best job in the world," he says. And what better way to kick-start your career covering the sport than to join the English team on their upcoming tour of India? So Jupp did what was necessary to ensure his place in the touring party - he lied. And then he lied some more...

"I called the BBC and told them I'm going to India anyway, so do they want a broadcast? And they said maybe. So I had them write me a letter saying I was a reporter for their programme. And when I had that letter I rang up the England Cricket Board and told them I was the chief cricket correspondent for BBC Scotland," he says.

He secured his place in the touring party, and was soon rubbing shoulders with sports journalism elite and cricketing legends including David Gower, Ian Botham and Nasser Hussein. Problems arose as he struggled to keep the lie going. "There was a constant fear of being found out," he says. "I needed to look busy all the time. And that becomes a real struggle when you've got f**king nothing to do."

He soon realised that he was no match for the seasoned journalists on the tour. "It's amazing how quickly you get out of your depth," he says. "If you're a fan of something you can know a lot about it. But you can never know as much as people whose job it is to absorb in the statistics and reality of it every day."

The experience spelled the end of Jupp the journalist. But it did help inspire his return to comedy. He debuted his solo stand-up show Fibber in the Heat in July last year, and has since refined and expanded the story into an 80-minute stage show. He estimates he has performed the show "about 70 times" so far.

"The first preview you're in a pub and there's 6 people, so it's fun to go from that to London's Bloomsbury Theatre with 500 people," he says.

The show will be at the Bloomsbury one night only - April 27 - before Jupp completes his tour with seven more dates throughout the UK and Ireland.

Following the tour, Jupp's schedule will be full for at least the next few months. His workload includes a book version of Fibber in the Heat plus more acting and stand-up. "I've got to get the first draft of the novel in before I start filming Rev. It starts frighteningly soon. About a month from now. That takes me to August. Then I might do something in Edinburgh."

As for future career moves, Jupp is keeping his options open. "I'd like to be considered an actor, I think... who does comedy. Although I do like writing."