1.
Skins
TV-MA
Starring:
Directed By:
British comedian, actor, writer and director Simon Amstell’s first screen appearance was in the year 1993 when he participated as a contestant in the Channel 4 game show ‘GamesMaster’. The following year, he performed impressions of Dame Edna Everage in the television show 'Good Morning with Anne and Nick' and presented himself as a magician in an episode of the family gameshow ‘Family Catchphrase’. Professionally, his first work was that of a presenter on the UK children's channel Nickelodeon in 1998. A couple of years later, he was roped in as the host of few episodes of the family TV series ‘Mad for It’. The next year, he took up the job of the co-host (along with Miquita Oliver) of the Channel 4’s music and pop culture show ‘Popworld’. He continued with the show till 2006 and gained a cult following. In 2005, he wrote and hosted 6 episodes of the television series ‘The Morning After Show’.
In 2006, Simon Amstell assumed the hosting responsibilities of BBC Two’s comedy panel game show ‘Never Mind the Buzzcocks’ and continued with it till 2008. The show won him the ‘RTS Television Award’ for Best Entertainment Performance and the ‘British Comedy Award’ for Best Comedy Entertainment Personality. He was even nominated for ‘BAFTA TV Award’ in the category of Best Entertainment Performance. Earlier, he had appeared in the show twice as a guest when it was hosted by Mark Lamarr. After the latter made an exit from the show, he was one of its guest hosts before, eventually, becoming the series host. In 2007, he co-wrote and appeared as himself in the TV special ‘Buzzcocks... Imagine a Mildly Amusing Panel Show’.
Thereafter, Simon Amstell and Dan Swimer co-created and co-wrote the comedy series ‘Grandma's House’ which aired for 2 seasons on BBC Two (2010, 2012). Simon Amstell also starred in this series playing the role of a former television presenter who quits his job in order to do something more meaningful in his life. The series received positive reviews from critics and won him nominations (together with Dan Swimer) for Best New TV Comedy at the 'British Comedy Awards' and Best TV Comedy at the 'Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award'. In between, in 2011, he played the role of Eric Sacks in the independent comedy drama thriller film ‘Black Pond’. In 2015, he lent his voice to the character of The Stage Manager in the exploration video game 'Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist'. The next year, he played the role of Aaron in the short comedy drama film ‘The Silent Man’ and wrote and directed the music video 'Simon Amstell & Shock Machine: Something More'.
In 2017, he once again turned writer and director, this time for the mockumentary titled ‘Carnage’. He also narrated the film which premiered on BBC iPlayer. This was followed by comedy-drama feature film ‘Benjamin’ which released in 2018 and was once again written and directed by Simon Amstell. The movie premiered at the BFI London Film Festival and later won nomination for the Grand Jury Award for Best film at the 2019 ‘Milan International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival’. At the same festival, the movie won the Audience Award. The film has a Rotten Tomato score of 90%. His next film as a writer and director is the comedy feature film ‘Maria’ which he is also producing.
His other works as a writer include the video 'Simon Amstell: Do Nothing' (2010), the TV Special documentary 'Simon Amstell: Numb' (2012) and the TV Special 'Simon Amstell: Set Free' (2019). He has produced/co-produced the first two as well.
