Peter Richardson (born 15 October 1951) is an English actor, comedian, director, and writer, best known for The Comic Strip Presents... television series. He is also a long time comedy partner with Nigel Planer.

Richardson was born in Devon, England. His parents ran a summer camp school. He moved to London when he was seventeen, having decided he wanted to be an actor. He appeared as one of the schoolboys in Alan Bennett's Forty Years On. This work led to him getting an agent and performing in TV plays as an extra. At one point he was a lifeguard at a swimming pool. He then attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). It was here in the second year he became reacquainted with Nigel Planer, who he knew from working at Richardson's parent's summer camp. The pair shared an interest in rock music, and wanted to mix music with a comedy show, in Richardson's words "we felt we'd like to try something like what Frank Zappa was doing on records, which was being funny but using music as well."^[1]. Around this time Richardson and Planer were heavily influenced by U.S. comedians Sal's Meat Market, an early duo of John Ratzenberger and Ray Hassett, as well as the group Alberto y Lost Trios Paranoias.

With the assistance of Caroline Jay, they produced a show called "Rank", inspired by the police raid of the 1974 Windsor Rock Festival, which premiered at The Roundhouse Downstairs in August 1976. Planer and Richardson played all the characters in the play, which numbered around forty. The play was well received and enabled the pair to get an Arts Council grant to take it on tour. However though critically acclaimed at the end of the tour Richardson and Planer found themselves with no money and had to pursue other work. Richardson claims at this time he was squatting.^[1]

After Rank Richardson toured with a band in Italy and also helped run drama courses for children at his parent's house in Devon. One of the dramas produced from these courses became a show called The Wild Boys, based on the book by William Burroughs. Richardson performed this show at the ICA in London as well as touring the show with the group Furious Pig. Through this Richardson first met Michael White with whom he planned to take the show into the West End, although this came to nothing.

Reuinited with Planer the pair started performing at London's Comedy Store in 1979, calling themselves "The Outer Limits". They performed short sketches parodying different television styles, for example sitcom and American police drama. They used visual comedy and often mimed over-the-top scenes of cartoon violence. At this point, various television companies were taking note of the rapidly growing "alternative comedy" scene, and BBC producer Peter Jackson being the first to commission a programme from regualr performers at the Comedy Store. However his decision to only showcase Planer's Neil character instead of The Outer Limits duo angered Richardson, who began a long standing feud with Jackson.^[2]

Richardson was originally to play Mike in BBC comedy The Young Ones, however he did not take part for reasons partly connected to his earlier disagreement with Peter Jackson. Richardson was replaced by Christopher Ryan. As a result of searching for a West End venue to present The Wild Boys, Richardson and Michael White sourced a new possible venue for his own comedy club, the Boulevard Theatre in the Raymond Revue Bar, run by Paul Raymond. Richardson called it The Comic Strip, taking with him a core group from The Comedy Store. It opened in October 1980 and ran until 1981, when the troupe went on a national tour. and Richardson was approached by Jeremy Isaacs to make a series of comedy films for the newly formed Channel 4.

The Comic Strip Presents... ran from 1982 to 1988 on Channel 4, and then continued from 1990 to 1993 on the BBC. Richardson wrote more than half of the shows together with his long time writing partner Pete Richens, and he also directed most of the BBC series. Richardson also writes and directed the Comic Strip film The Supergrass, along with Adrian Edmondson, Jennifer Saunders and featuring many other Comic Strip performers.

Richardson directed the 1987 film Eat the Rich, written by himself and Pete Richens, about a gay waiter at Bastard's, an exclusive restaurant. He is soon fired for conduct more obnoxious than even the maitre d' at a restaurant named Bastard's can stand. Fallen on hard times, his obnoxiousness is channelled into a mock class rage and, with the first of a quartet of cohorts, he starts out on a rampage that ends in mock tragedy.

Richardson also wrote (again with Richens) and directed the film The Pope Must Die, which starred Comic Strip regulars Robbie Coltrane and Adrian Edmondson.

Richardson had a 1992 film called Carry On Columbus, along with Rik Mayall, Alexei Sayle and his double act Nigel Planer.

During the last series of Comic Strip films, Peter introduced a new group of performers, Doon Mackichan, Mark Caven, Phil Cornwell, Sara Stockbridge, George Yiasoumi and Gary Beadle, and went on to star them in the "The Glam Metal Detectives". The series was a hit with critics, and did well enough in the ratings, but spiralling production costs and internal wranglings at the BBC meant it only ran for one season.^{[citation needed]}

Apart from the Comic Strip, Richardson's best-known work is the sitcom Stella Street, which he directs and co-writes with impressionists John Sessions and Phil Cornwell. A Stella Street feature film was released in 2004. He also directed the mock documentary Lust for Glorious about comedian Eddie Izzard with Mark Caven and Phil Kay.

He is married to Marta Richardson and is the father of four children.

• The Comic Strip Presents... (39 episodes) (1982–2005)
• The Supergrass (1985)
• Eat the Rich (1987)
• The Pope Must Die (1991)
• Carry On Columbus (1992)

• The Supergrass (1985)
• Eat the Rich (1987)
• The Comic Strip Presents (17 episodes) (1988–2005)
• The Pope Must Die (1991)
• The Glam Metal Detectives (1995)
• Lust for Glorious (1997)
• Stella Street (TV series) (1997)
• Stella Street (film) (2004)
• Churchill: The Hollywood Years (2004)

• Great Western Features
• Peter Richardson at IMDb

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