Helen Atkinson-Wood

Helen Atkinson-Wood
Born	(1955-03-14) 14 March 1955 Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire, England

Helen Atkinson-Wood (born 14 March 1955) is an English actress and comedienne born in Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire. Atkinson-Wood studied fine art at the Ruskin School, Oxford University, where she performed with Rowan Atkinson. She also performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where she met Ben Elton.

Biography

Atkinson-Wood was a regular presenter of Central Television's controversial O.T.T. and had a cameo in the 1984 Young Ones episode "Nasty". She is well known for her role as Mrs Miggins in Blackadder the Third (co-written by Ben Elton and Richard Curtis). She was the only woman on comedy programme Radio Active, where she played Anna Daptor and other roles, and participated in the televisual equivalent of Radio Active, KYTV. She also appeared in the final episode of Joking Apart as a morning television presenter. In 2007, she guest-starred in the Doctor Who audio play I.D.. She played the role of Sybil Ramkin in a BBC radio adaptation of Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett.

She has been a regular presenter for the Channel 4 series Collector's Lot. She has made guest appearances on programmes such as Call My Bluff. She was a guest in episode 9 of the C series of QI, answering a question deemed impossible by host Stephen Fry by correctly naming a chemical reaction equation as an explosion in custard, earning 200 points. Craig Ferguson wrote in his book American on Purpose that he and Helen Atkinson-Wood were in a romantic relationship that lasted five years. He acknowledges that she changed his life "beyond recognition" by improving his health and his career.

External links

• Helen Atkinson-Wood at the Internet Movie Database