Tony Slattery

Tony Declan James Slattery (born 9 November 1959) is an English actor and comedian.

He appeared on British television regularly from the mid-1980s, most notably as a regular on the Channel 4 improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway? His serious and comedic film work has included roles in The Crying Game, Peter's Friends and How to Get Ahead in Advertising.

Slattery was born in Stonebridge, north London, into a working-class background, the fifth and last child of Catholic Irish immigrants, Michael and Margaret Slattery.

At the end of the 1980s he became a film critic, presenting his own show on British television, Saturday Night at the Movies.

He also appeared in the ITV sitcom That's Love with Jimmy Mulville.

Other TV appearances include The Music Game alongside Richard Vranch and as a regular guest with both Ruby Wax and Clive Anderson.

In 1981, Slattery, Fry, Laurie, Thompson and Toksvig won the inaugural Perrier Award for their revue The Cellar Tapes.

The following year, Slattery was made President of the Footlights.

During his tenure, the touring annual revue was Premises Premises.

Slattery first broke into television as a regular performer on Chris Tarrant's follow up to O.T.T., Saturday Stayback (1983), while also appearing for children in Behind the Bike Sheds and the Saturday-morning show TX.

In 1988, Slattery appeared in the BBC sci-fi comedy series Red Dwarf, in the episode "Kryten" he played the voice of the main character on Kryten's favourite soap opera, "Androids", a parody of the Australian soap opera Neighbours.

He has also been a regular guest with the Comedy Store Players, both at the Comedy Store in London and on tour.

By 1989 he was a regular on Whose Line Is It Anyway?, starred in his own improvisational comedy series, S&M, alongside Mike McShane, and appeared on other panel quizzes such as Have I Got News for You.

He was a regular on the TV version of the quiz show Just a Minute and was also on the radio version several times, including the live version held at the Edinburgh Festival.

As a dramatic actor he has appeared in The Crying Game, To Die For, Peter's Friends and The Wedding Tackle.

Early in the 1990s he appeared on many TV shows to the extent that he was a target of satire.

In 1990, he appeared as a contestant on Cluedo, facing off against David Yip.

Due to an extended period of illness, he undertook only occasional television work from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s.

For example, the Have I Got News for You 1991 annual showed images of the game from around the world, and each local variant featured Slattery as a guest.

Spitting Image showed a sketch in which an anthropomorphised BBC Two logo refused to have blue paint splattered on it and Slattery intervened for the sake of publicity.

The satirical magazine Private Eye once published a memorable cartoon depicting his answering machine with the outgoing message "Yes, I'll do it!"

In 1992 he appeared in the film Carry On Columbus.

In the same year he appeared in the series Dead Ringer, filmed for the observation round in The Krypton Factor.

Also in 1992 Slattery appeared as a contestant on the Channel 4 show GamesMaster, in which he said that he hated video games.

He played the real-time arcade shooter Who Shot Johnny Rock?, deliberately failing the challenge by shooting an innocent victim in the game.

From 1993 to 1994 he was the host of the game show Trivial Pursuit.

In 1993 he starred in the ITV sitcom Just a Gigolo.

In 1994, Slattery auditioned for the title role in the then upcoming revival of Doctor Who.

Personal problems later overshadowed Slattery's career, leading to a reduced profile.

He reappeared in Red Dwarf in 1999 as the voice of a vending machine that threatens Arnold Rimmer in the final episode of the series' initial BBC2 run, "Only the Good...".

The year 2005 was a busy one for Slattery.

He appeared in the TV film Ahead of the Class with Julie Walters, portrayed D.I. Alan Hayes in series 7 of Bad Girls, and made a cameo appearance in ITV's Life Begins as a date for Maggie (played by Caroline Quentin).

He won a celebrity edition of the game show The Weakest Link, beating Vanessa Feltz in the final round.

At the end of the show, he announced that he would donate his prize money to the Terrence Higgins Trust.

In 2019 Slattery revealed that he had been repeatedly sexually abused by a priest at the age of eight, but had never told his parents; he believes the event contributed to his unstable character later in life.

He was educated at Gunnersbury Boys' Grammar School in west London and won a scholarship to read Modern and Medieval Languages at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, specialising in French literature and Spanish poetry.

Slattery held a black belt in judo and represented England internationally in the under-15s.

At the University of Cambridge, Slattery discovered a love of the theatre, taking delight in making people laugh.

He met Stephen Fry, who invited him to join the Cambridge Footlights.

Other members at that time included Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson, Sandi Toksvig, Jan Ravens and Richard Vranch.