David Graeme GardenOBE (born 18 February 1943) is a Scottish comedian, actor, author, artist and television presenter, best known as a member of the Goodies and a regular panellist on I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.[1][2][3]
Garden qualified in medicine at King's College London, but has never practised. Asked how he justified making jokes rather than saving lives, he answered:[6]
I don't think I would have done it as well. It's an interesting question – whether you've contributed more to the vast store of human enjoyment by doing comedy or by being a doctor, but the answer for me is that I don't think I would have been as successful or as happy being a doctor.
Career
Radio
Garden was co-writer and performer in the classic BBC radio comedy sketch show, I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, in the late 1960s. Garden was studying medicine during the first few series of the show, this commitment making cast membership difficult for him during the third series as he was following a midwifery course in Plymouth. However, he continued sending in scripts for the radio show by mail, and he rejoined the cast upon his return to his medical studies in London.[7] On several occasions, his medical qualifications are lampooned in the show; in the 25th Anniversary Show, David Hatch asks him if he is still a writer. Garden: "Here's something I wrote this morning". Hatch: "It's a prescription". "Yes," says Garden, "but it's a funny one..."
Garden is chair of the spoof radio game show Beat the Kids. He has also appeared on the UK version of the improvisation television series Whose Line Is It Anyway?, which has a similar format. He was a co-writer of the BBC Radio 4 comedy Giles Wemmbley-Hogg Goes Off, and in 2006, Garden co-devised and appeared on the BBC Radio 4 comedy quiz show, The Unbelievable Truth.
In 2003, Garden wrote the Radio 4 sitcom About a Dog, based on an original idea by Debbie Barham, with a second series in 2007.
In 1982 Garden and Oddie wrote, but did not perform in, a six-part science fiction sitcom called Astronauts for Central which was shown on ITV. The show was set in an international space station in the near future.
Garden was the voice of the title character in Bananaman (1983), in addition to General Blight and Maurice of the Heavy Mob in the children's animated television comedy series, which also featured the rest of the Goodies team. The series parodied comic book super-heroes. Later, Garden wrote for the sitcom Surgical Spirit (1994). Graeme Garden has also presented three series of the BBC's health magazine Bodymatters.
Garden appeared in the political sitcom Yes Minister, in the role of Commander Forrest of the Special Branch in the episode The Death List. He also appeared as a television presenter in the Doctor in the House episode, Doctor on the Box.
He was a regular team captain on the political satire game show If I Ruled the World. Brooke-Taylor appeared as a guest in one episode and during the game "I Couldn't Disagree More" he proposed that it was high time The Goodies episodes were repeated. Garden was obliged by the rules of the game to refute this statement, and replied, "I couldn't disagree more... it was time to repeat them ten, fifteen years ago."[8]
In 2004, Garden and Brooke-Taylor were co-presenters of Channel 4's daytime game show Beat the Nation, in which they indulged in usual game show "banter", but took the quiz itself seriously. It was notable for its use of a "laugh track" instead of a studio audience. Garden has hosted the quiz game Tell the Truth and presented a series of history programmes, A Sense of the Past for Yorkshire Television.[9]
Garden writes and directs for the corporate video company Video Arts, famous for its training films starring John Cleese.
Stage appearances
Garden has a successful stage career, and has acted in several National Theatre productions, as well as London's West End. He has also acted in several BBC Radio 4 comedy drama series, and television drama including Peak Practice and Holby City. Garden appeared with Tim Brooke-Taylor in the theatre production The Unvarnished Truth.
Garden wrote a play called The Pocket Orchestra which ran in London in 2006. In August 2006, Garden and Brooke-Taylor joined up to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe in a show which looked back with some nostalgia to their work with the Goodies and in light entertainment.
Personal life
Garden lives in Oxfordshire with his wife Emma, with whom he has a son, Tom. Garden also has a daughter, Sally, and a son, John, from his previous marriage to Mary Elizabeth Wheatley Grice.[11][12] His son John "JJ" Garden is the occasional keyboardist for the music group Scissor Sisters,[13] and shares songwriting credit on the song "The Other Side" from their 2006 album Ta-Dah.[14]
In 2002, Garden suffered an episode of the condition known as Bell's palsy, where the muscles on one side of the face become paralysed.[15] He was able to continue his work commitments and eventually made a full recovery after some months.
Garden is a patron of the disability charity ENRYCH – formerly Ryder-Cheshire Volunteers. The charity works to enable adults with a physical disability to enjoy culture, leisure, learning and sporting opportunities through partnership with a volunteer.[17]
Bibliography
An incomplete list includes:
The Best Medicine: Graeme Garden's Book of Medical Humour compiled and illustrated by Graeme Garden, published by Robson Books Ltd., London (1984), ISBN0-86051-295-9
^Wilmut, Roger (1980). From Fringe to Flying Circus: Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy, 1960–1980. London: Eyre Methuen. ISBN978-0-413-46950-2.
^The Best Medicine: Graeme Garden's Book of Medical Humour, compiled and illustrated by Graeme Garden, published by Robson Books Ltd., London (1984), ISBN0-86051-295-9
"Stuff What Dreams Are Made Of" – the 1964 Cambridge Footlights Club revue during the time when Graeme Garden was President of the Footlights, as well as being a member of the revue cast
