Ben Keaton

Ben Keaton

CountryIreland Ireland
GenderMale
Birthday
BiographyBen Keaton (born 1956) is an Irish actor who appeared in ITV soap opera Emmerdale as Jeff Brannigan, and in BBC's Casualty, playing the part of Spencer between 1999 and 2002. He also appeared as Father Austin Purcell in "Think Fast, Father Ted", an episode of the Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted, and had a small part in the British film East is East as a priest.

Keaton is also a well-established theatre actor, and has appeared at The Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester in Animal Crackers, American Buffalo, Harvey, Cyrano de Bergerac, and playing the role of David Bliss in Noël Coward's Hay Fever. Keaton also works as a comedian, and has won the Perrier Comedy Award at the 1986 Edinburgh Festival, two Manchester Evening News Best Actor Awards and a Laurence Olivier Nomination. He is a regular guest member with the Comedy Store Players, the Steve Frost Improv All Stars and Eddie Izzard, and appeared in this style of comedy at the Royal Exchange in his show "Ben Keaton & Friends" which has included Stephen Frost, Niall Ashdown, Steve Steen, Andy Smart, Brian Conley and Paul Merton. He was a founder member of the improv group South Of The River with Jeremy Hardy and Kit Hollerbach, and set up The Phwoar Horsemen Improv Group in 2016 with Paul Mutagejja.

Keaton has written five series of Hubbub for the BBC and his own series, Gumtree, for Channel 4, which also aired his own 'special', Ben Keaton's Finest Half Hour. He wrote and directed the live arena production of Sky TV's Brainiac and went on to write and direct the Science Museum's first touring stage production.

Keaton began teaching at the University of Lincoln in 2008, where he specialises in Physical Theatre and Acting for Camera. In 2013, he set up Lincoln Film and Television School, teaching all aspects of filmmaking to young people.

In 2014, Keaton returned to the role of Father Austin Purcell, performing a stand-up routine and hosting pub quizzes entirely in character. Keaton also set up a Twitter page for the character, and a website where fans can purchase customised Father Austin Purcell video greetings.

In 2015 he set up Lincoln Comedy Academy with Paul Mutagejja to teach performing and writing comedy for stage and screen.

His documentary series The I Am Project records the lives of children who are moving from primary to secondary school and from secondary to further education, and has taken place in a variety of schools since 2008. The series has been admitted into the Media Archive of Central England.

In 2017 he and his son Waldo Fox Kennedy set up Bracket Energy Media Production, which produces video for business and specialises in online content.

Keaton lives in Alford in Lincolnshire.

Biography from the Wikipedia article Ben Keaton. Licensed under CC-BY-SA. Full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For

Recently Updated Shows

Recently updated shows that might be of your interest.
1923
Running

1923

1923 focuses on the Dutton family's next two generations as they struggle to survive historic drought, lawlessness and prohibition, and an epidemic of cattle theft; all battled beneath the cloud of Montana's great depression, which preceded the nation by almost a decade.

NCIS: Sydney
Running

NCIS: Sydney

With rising international tensions in the Indo-Pacific, a brilliant and eclectic team of U.S. NCIS agents and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) are grafted into a multinational taskforce to keep naval crimes in check in the most contested patch of ocean on the planet.

GenreDrama, Crime
Loot
Running

Loot

In Loot, billionaire Molly Novak has a dream life, complete with private jets, a sprawling mansion and a gigayacht — anything her heart desires. But when her husband of 20 years betrays her, she spirals publicly, becoming fuel for tabloid fodder. She's reaching rock bottom when she learns, to her surprise, that she has a charity foundation run by the no-nonsense Sofia Salinas, who pleads with Molly to stop generating bad press. With her devoted assistant Nicholas by her side, and with the help of Sofia and team — including mild-mannered accountant Arthur and her optimistic, pop-culture-loving cousin Howard — Molly embarks on a journey of self-discovery. Giving back to others might be what she needs to get back to herself.

GenreComedy
The Recruit
Running

The Recruit

The Recruit follows Owen Hendricks, a fledgling lawyer at the CIA who becomes enmeshed in dangerous international power politics when a former asset threatens to expose the agency.

Supacell
Running

Supacell

Supacell follows a random group of ordinary people from South London who unexpectedly develop super powers, with no clear connection between them other than them all being black.