Alex Lowe

Alex Lowe has held presentations for drama school students about the nature of being a jobbing actor. Alex starts off as "Barry from Watford", his wondrous 82 year old creation from Radio 2's Steve Wright in the Afternoon and Noel Edmond's Channel 4 quiz Cheap Cheap Cheap. He engages students with some of his stand up routine and then, to their amazement, peels off his prosthetics to reveal the much younger actor underneath!

Alex Lowe is a writer, actor, stand up character comedian, and also the writer and originator of 4 top selling greeting cards, showcased in shops all around UK. Alex has kept his tumultuous career propped up on the stage over the years by engaging in various creative activities to survive.

Among various acting credits are his involvement with Kenneth Branagh who he met as a child actor of 14 years of age, whilst in the West End performing a role on the play "Another Country". Later he joined Branagh's Renaissance Theatre Company, touring with Richard Briers and not long after became Branagh's stand-in for films like "Peter's Friends" and "Much Ado About Nothing". Branagh also rewarded him with the film roles of Paul in "Peter's Friends" (who has a fling with Emma Thompson's character) and The Messenger in "Much Ado" which shot in Italy in 1992. Two years later he played the role of Simon Marriel in the film "Haunted", acting alongside Anthony Andrews, John Gielgud and Kate Beckinsale.

Alex was part of the BBC Radio Drama Company for a year, and has appeared in scores of radio plays ever since. Currently, he play Brian in "Clare in The Community" which is the second longest running BBC sitcom.

Alex is also well known for his work with actor/comedian Peter Kay. Alex appeared in "That Peter Kay Thing" as Sparky, and played the hapless psychic Clinton Baptiste in "Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights" for Channel 4. In 2015 he appeared as Clinton Baptiste in 'Phoenix Nights Live' for Comic Relief in front of packed houses of 14,000 at the Manchester Arena. The shows raised over £5 million.

Alex is probably best known for playing the 82 year old 'Barry from Watford' on TV, stage and radio. The character originated after he phoned Iain Lee's live show on LBC as Barry. Lee followed up on the gag and soon a huge cult ensued. Before long, Barry from Watford went to Channel 4 with Noel Edmonds daytime quiz Cheap Cheap Cheap. Today Barry still plays Barry on Steve Wright's show. Since then Alex has been gigging as Clinton Baptiste on the London circuit and also performing as Barry with his double act partner Angelos Epithemiou (from BBC1s Shooting Stars).

He certainly has his finger in a lot of pies in the world of writing and performing. Among others, Alex has written for Alistair McGowan, Ronni Ancona, Paul OGrady, Iain Lee among others and had his own radio series Barry's Lunch Club on radio 4 in 2016. Alex is an engaging and funny speaker with lots of bases to cover. If nothing else, he can talk about the exciting but capricious nature of being a jobbing actor/writer and all that that entails!