Ben Keaton

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

Ben Keaton
Born1956 (age 63–64)
Dublin, Ireland
MediumStand-up, film, television, digital media
NationalityIrish
First solo winner of the Perrier Comedy Award (1986)

Keaton is also a well established actor in the theatre, and has appeared at The Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester in Animal Crackers, American Buffalo, Harvey, Cyrano de Bergerac,[1] and playing the role of David Bliss in Noël Coward's Hay Fever.[2] Keaton also works as a comedian, and has won the Perrier Comedy Award at the 1986 Edinburgh Festival,[3] two Manchester Evening News Best Actor Awards and a Laurence Olivier Nomination. He is a regular guest member with the Comedy Store Players,[1] 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. He set up The Phwoar Horsemen Improv Group in 2016 with Paul Mutagejja.

He has written 5 TV series (Hubbub) for the BBC and his own series (Gumtree) for Channel 4. He had his own special on Channel 4 - 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 Museums first touring stage production.

He began teaching at the University of Lincoln in 2008 where he specializes in Physical Theatre and Acting for Camera.

Keaton set up Lincoln Film and Television School in 2013 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.[4][5] 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. This project has been taking place in a variety of schools since 2008. This 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. They produce video for business and specialise in online content.

Keaton lives in Lincolnshire.

Filmography
Year Programme Role Notes
1989 The Bill Harry Episode: "Powers of Exclusion"
1995 Father Ted Father Austin Purcell Episode: "Think Fast, Father Ted"
1996 Jack and Jeremy's Real Lives Episodes: "Paranormal Researchers" and "Writers"
1997–
2000		 Hububb Mr Tight / Priest / Mayor / Patrick /
Ralph / Inventor 1 / Hung Lo Pants		 Writer – 47 episodes
1999 East Is East Priest
1999–
2002		 Casualty Spencer 51 episodes
2002 Balamory Writer – episode: "The Boat"
2002 Doctors John Hampton Episode: "Unfinished Business"
2002 Harry Hill's TV Burp Spencer Series 1, episode 5
2007 The Bill Ed Abraham Episode: "Killing Me Softly"
2007 Double Time Eddie TV film
2012 Love Bite Father John
2015 Cook Like a Priest Father Austin Purcell Web series – also writer
gollark: I don't know how you would actually enforce any of this, but it might help.
gollark: And have all words go through neural network driven rewriting to remove all emotional content.
gollark: And yet you didn't want me as owner.
gollark: Perhaps politicians could be required to have all voice be run through speech synthesis which removes all emotion.
gollark: I don't know.

References
  1. Bourne, Dianne. "Old pals play for laughs". Manchester Evening News, 15 February 2007. Retrieved on 3 June 2013.
  2. Manchester Evening News. "City run for Coward's Hay Fever" Archived October 5, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. 19 April 2010. Retrieved on 3 June 2013.
  3. Glasgow Herald. "Fringe award". 25 August 1986, p. 4. Retrieved on 3 June 2013.
  4. "Meet your neighbour: Prince Charles was once made to stand up for Ben Keaton". Lincolnshire Echo. 6 September 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  5. Smith, Gregor (November 2014). "Review: Father Austin Purcell delights crowd… within a two metre radius". The Linc. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
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