Henry Richard Enfield (born 30 May 1961) is an English comedy actor and writer known in particular for his television work. His shows include Harry Enfield's Television Programme, Harry Enfield & Chums and Harry & Paul, across which he created and portrayed characters such as Kevin the Teenager, Loadsamoney, Smashie and Nicey, The Scousers, Tim Nice-But-Dim and Mr "You Don't Want to Do It Like That".
Early life
Enfield was born on 30 May 1961, in Horsham, Sussex, He spent his childhood living in Billingshurst, West Sussex. Collyer's Sixth Form College (all in West Sussex) and the University of York, where he was a member of Derwent College and studied politics. He squatted in Hackney and worked for a while as a milkman.
Career
Enfield started his comedy career after being recruited at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, In 1985, he took on a voice actor role alongside Chris Barrie, Rory Bremner, Steve Coogan, Hugh Dennis, and Ade Edmondson in the British satirical television comedy puppet show, Spitting Image (1985–1989, 1996). as several different characters created with Paul Whitehouse. These quickly entered the national consciousness. Among these characters were Stavros, a Greek kebab shop owner with fractured English; and Loadsamoney, an obnoxious plasterer who constantly boasted about how much money he earned. In May 1988, Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock used the term loadsamoney to criticise the policies of the Conservative government and journalists began to refer to the "loadsamoney mentality" and the "loadsamoney economy".
As a foil to Loadsamoney, Enfield and Whitehouse created the Geordie "Bugger-All-Money" and in 1988 Enfield appeared as both characters during the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium. In time, Whitehouse and Enfield became disturbed that Loadsamoney was being seen in a positive light, rather than as a satirical figure, and they had him run over during a Comic Relief Red Nose Day show while leaving the studio after presenting host Lenny Henry with "the biggest cheque of the night"—a physically huge cheque for ten pence. Enfield created "Tory Boy", a character which portrayed a young male Conservative Member of Parliament (MP).
In 1989, Enfield realised a personal project, Norbert Smith - a Life, a spoof on British theatrical knights "slumming" in the film industry. He starred as Dirk Gently in the BBC Radio adaptations of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1986-1987).
In 1991, Enfield played Dermot in the Thames Television sitcom Men Behaving Badly (1992),
In 2002, Enfield was the first guest on the revamped version of BBC's Top Gear where he did a 2 minute and 1 second lap. He also appeared on the show on 23 November 2008. Enfield has also narrated various TV documentaries, such as Discovery Wings' Classic British Aircraft.
In 2007, he played Jim Stonem in the Channel 4 series Skins. For their work on this series, they both jointly won the 2009 British Academy Television Award for Best Comedy (Programme or Series).
In August 2015, Enfield, alongside Whitehouse, in celebration of their 25-year partnership, presented An Evening With Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse.
In 2016, he appeared as John Shakespeare, father of William Shakespeare, in the sitcom Upstart Crow.
Since 2016, Enfield has appeared as Prince Charles (later King Charles III) in the Channel 4 sitcom The Windsors. For his portrayal of Charles, he was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Male Comedy Performance in 2017.
Video games
In 2012, a likeness of his character Loadsamoney, named "Harold Lott", was released as a DLC skin for the game Killing Floor.
Commercials
Enfield appeared in some television commercials before becoming famous, including one made in 1987 for Tetley. Enfield's commercials include a series made in 1994 for Dime Bar. One commercial in this series had Enfield as a yokel refusing a Dime bar—smooth on the outside, crunchy on the inside—because he preferred armadillos—smooth on the inside, crunchy on the outside. Later Enfield, with Paul Whitehouse, starred in a series of commercials for Hula Hoops as The Self-Righteous Brothers, characters from Enfield's television show. In 2004 Enfield starred in a series of commercials for Burger King in Paraguay as Dr Angus, a character intended to promote the company's newest hamburger. Two more characters from Enfield's TV series, Mr Cholmondley-Warner and Grayson, also appeared in commercials, for Mercury Communications. Also in 2004 Enfield provided the voice of "The Roaming Gnome" character used in Travelocity's U.S. advertising campaign. Enfield was also in commercials for Worthington Bitter.
Music
Enfield made a cameo appearance as 'the tea lady' during Blur's performance at the Olympics Closing Ceremony Celebration Concert in London's Hyde Park in 2012.
He also appeared alongside Damon Albarn's other project the Good, the Bad & the Queen, as compere, during a live performance at the Tower of London, on 9 July 2007.
In January 2025, Enfield featured in Ego Death, a film of 10 interconnected music videos accompanying an album by Archie Henderson's musical persona, Jazz Emu.
Theatre
In 2021 Enfield starred as Prince Charles in The Windsors: Endgame at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London. The show ran for a limited time and closed on 9 October 2021.
In August 2025 Harry Enfield launched his theatrical tour Harry Enfield and *No* Chums. Appearances were made November 2025 in both Australia and New Zealand.
Discography
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:14em;"| Title
! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Year
! scope="col" colspan="1"| Peak chart positions
! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Album
|-
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"| UK<br />
|-
! scope="row"| "Loadsamoney (Doin' Up the House)"
| 1988
| 4
| Non-album single
|-
|}
Personal life
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Enfield was in a relationship with film producer Alison Owen, mother of Lily and Alfie Allen. In 1997, Enfield married Lucy Lyster; they have three children. In August 2020 the couple separated.
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
! scope="col" | Date
! scope="col" | Award
! scope="col" | Category
! scope="col" | Work
! scope="col" | Result
! scope="col" | Ref.
|-
|1995
| rowspan="2" | Writers' Guild of Great Britain
| rowspan="2"| TV - Light Entertainment (shared)
| rowspan="4"|Harry Enfield and Chums
|
|
|-
|rowspan="2" | 1997
|
|
|-
| Banff Television Festival Awards
| Rockie Award - Best Comedy Program (shared)
| rowspan="5" |Ruddy Hell! It's Harry and Paul
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | British Comedy Award
| rowspan="2" | Best Sketch Show
|
|
|-
|rowspan="2" | Royal Television Society Programme Awards
| Comedy Performance
|
|
|-
|}
References
External links
- 'Look, Listen and Take Heed'