Entertainment

Matt Lucas: From Little Britain to the Bake Off tent

The star is joining Channel 4’s The Great British Bake Off.
The star is joining Channel 4’s The Great British Bake Off. The star is joining Channel 4’s The Great British Bake Off.

Matt Lucas’ varied career in comedy has seen him parody parochial Britain and take on Hollywood across 25 years.

The comedian and actor, 46, is replacing Sandi Toksvig on The Great British Bake Off, and will co-host alongside Noel Fielding.

Lucas was born in Paddington, London, and his father ran a chauffeuring company.

He attended Aylward Primary School and the independent Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School, the same school as David Baddiel and Sacha Baron Cohen.

David Walliams comments
David Walliams comments David Walliams (Matt Crossick/PA)

The comedian started an undergraduate degree in theatre, film and television at the University of Bristol in 1993.

He left for what was meant to be a one-year sabbatical to enable him to play scorekeeping baby George Dawes in Shooting Stars in 1995.

However, his career took off and Lucas did not return to complete his course, creating smash hit Little Britain with fellow Bristol alumnus and long-standing comedy partner David Walliams.

Lucas played a number of memorable and humorous characters alongside Walliams over all four series of Little Britain, as well as its 2008 US-based spin-off.

Eccentric creations such as Dafydd, Vicky Pollard, Emily Howard and Marjorie Dawes became household names.

Matt Lucas on stage as Little Britain character Vicky Pollard (Yui Mok/PA)

Lucas subsequently worked across TV, radio and film.

He hosted his own radio show, And The Winner Is, and appeared in Neighbours, Gavin & Stacey and Big Brother Celebrity Hijack.

Christmas 2010 saw him reunite with Walliams for a new series, Come Fly With Me, a spiritual successor to Little Britain about the aviation industry.

Lucas married TV producer Kevin McGee in a civil partnership in December 2006.

The couple divorced just over two years later and McGee died the following year after taking his own life.

Matt Lucas and Kevin McGee Civil Ceremony – London
Matt Lucas and Kevin McGee Civil Ceremony – London Matt Lucas and Kevin McGee (Max Nash/PA)

Lucas has spoken about how he moved to America three years after McGee’s death because he “wanted to build a new life” for himself.

From 2012 to 2015, he lived with his Bridesmaids co-star Rebel Wilson in Hollywood.

And in 2019 he announced he was reuniting with Walliams for a special radio episode of Little Britain called Little Brexit.

Lucas is Jewish and some of his mother’s family fled Germany before the Second World War.

He has alopecia and lost his hair when he was a child.