Maxine Peake
- Actor
Press clippings
Alma's Not Normal to end as Sophie Willan writes Pendle witch satire
Alma's Not Normal will end with its upcoming second series, creator and star Sophie Willan has revealed, though she is currently working on a Christmas special to bookend her loosely autobiographical BBC comedy and is writing a satire about the Pendle witches with Maxine Peake.
British Comedy Guide, 3rd September 2024Inside No. 9 script being auctioned for charity
Steve Pemberton is raising money for charity by auctioning off a signed Inside No. 9 script, and also a signed copy of the hare statue that was hidden in many of episodes of the hit comedy anthology series.
British Comedy Guide, 15th June 2024Withnail And I: How a Beatle-funded comedy about alcoholic actors became a cult classic
The boozy British comedy classic was produced by Beatle George Harrison and made stars out of Richard E Grant and Paul McGann, but its initial cinema release went almost unnoticed. Nick Duerden looks at the film's chequered road to cult status.
Nick Duerden, The Independent, 10th September 2023Betty! A Sort of Musical, Royal Exchange, review
This tale of a bunch of am-dram actors putting on a show about formidable Speaker Betty Boothroyd barrels along with wit, warmth and laugh-at-loud numbers.
Fran Yeoman, i Newspaper, 13th December 2022Betty! A sort of musical at Royal Exchange Theatre - review
At the turn of the millennium, after eight years as Speaker of the House of Commons, Betty Boothroyd declared "time's up". Just as she was a disruptor and counterpoint to the political class, this show, co-written by Maxine Peake and Seiriol Davies, takes a similarly flippant look at how she got there.
Matt Barton, What's On Stage, 9th December 2022Maxine Peake stages Betty Boothroyd's life in comedy musical
The first female Speaker of the House of Commons is having her life story told on stage - but rather than being a dry political drama, it sees actor Maxine Peake sing in her first musical and return to her comedy roots.
Ian Youngs, BBC, 5th December 2022Comedians exhibit art for Vic Reeves film
A group of comedians, including Vic Reeves, are exhibiting their art as part of a forthcoming documentary.
British Comedy Guide, 18th April 2022Mandy review
Slap my bum and call me a satanist! Diane Morgan is back.
Stuart Heritage, The Guardian, 5th January 2022BBC2's comedy evening is a hit-and-miss affair, but it's good that the Beeb is now producing enough new sitcoms and sketch shows - after a long barren patch - to stage a cavalcade like this.
Diane Morgan's slack-faced creation Mandy kicked it off with a couple of daft stories - one about a job at a banana factory, and one that pitted her in a line-dancing marathon contest against arch-enemy Maxine Peake.
Call me easily pleased, but I was weeping with laughter at the sight of a woman with a beehive and a fag in her mouth, splatting tarantulas on a conveyor belt of imported fruit.
I'm laughing less at Semi-Detached. It started well but I'm beginning to worry that Lee Mack - shorn of his one-liners - is a painfully depleted sight. He needs to be much more than just a character that things happen to.
Matt Berry rounded the evening off with Squeamish About.... It was funny for the first five minutes. Less would be more.
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail, 14th August 2020Review: Mandy series 1 episodes 1 and 2
Morgan's definitely created a very funny and likeable character here, one who manages to generate chaos without it ever seeming too ludicrous, and given how many people died because of her actions that's quite the thing.
Alex Finch, Comedy To Watch, 14th August 2020