Питер Бейнхэм: Уэльс сценарисі және актер өмірі

Welsh screenwriter and performer

Peter Baynham is a Welsh screenwriter and performer. He appeared in a series of comedic Pot Noodle television adverts in the 1990s. His writing work includes collaborations with comedy figures such as Armando Iannucci, Steve Coogan, Chris Morris, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Sarah Smith. Born in Cardiff, Baynham served in the Merchant Navy after leaving school and later pursued a career in comedy — first in stand up, and then as a writer and performer for various news and sketch comedies in radio and television while enjoying personal fame starring in Pot Noodle adverts. He then became a writer in feature film. In television, with Iannucci he is writer for I'm Alan Partridge, developing the character Alan Partridge as performed by Coogan, and as writer and host of the Armistice review shows. With Morris, he is writer for The Day Today, Brass Eye, and Jam. Baynham himself created the animated series I Am Not an Animal. In feature film, with Baron Cohen he is writer for Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006), Brüno (2009), Grimsby (2016), and Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020). With Smith, he is writer for Arthur Christmas (2011) and Ron's Gone Wrong (2021). With Iannucci and Coogan, he is writer for Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2013). Other features as writer include Arthur (2011) and Hotel Transylvania (2012).

Baynham was born and raised in Cardiff as the second of four children. He attended St Mary's primary school in Canton, then Lady Mary RC High School in Cyncoed. Baynham said he found school difficult, finding himself shy, "weedy", and unpopular. He found himself too unathletic to enjoy rugby, despite expectations from his father. He left school with eight O Levels, four with an "A" grade, and joined the Merchant Navy at age 16 with a desire to travel the world. Baynham described his experience in the Merchant Navy as unsuited to his character, he said "I was with men who drank beer for breakfast. A lot of them were fascist, and I mean really fascist. They say travel should broaden the mind but these blokes would have been kicked out of the Ku Klux Klan for being too extreme". Baynham is qualified to navigate a supertanker. After five years, he was made redundant due to government cuts in defence. He went on to serve as second mate on a private yacht in Monte Carlo as a summer job. Aiming to break into television, Baynham wrote one liner jokes for a Friday night show presented by Terry Wogan. He was unimpressed by Wogan's delivery of the jokes. He also became a guest and contributor for the radio series The Chris Morris Music Show; he was suspended by the BBC for two weeks for conceiving a joke where Morris falsely implies on air that Michael Heseltine had died. Baynham stated that Morris technically did not announce his death, and had only said "if there is any news of Michael Heseltine's death in the next hour, we'll let you know". Coogan credited Baynham for making Alan Partridge more human and sympathetic. He also served as writer and host of the Armistice news review shows. Baynham created and performed the character "Terry from Pontypridd" in a popular television advertising campaign for Pot Noodle, promoted with the catchphrase "they're too gorgeous". The campaign propelled him to unexpected fame; he reported that strangers would shout "gorgeous" at him in public, and that a university student threw a Pot Noodle at him on stage while touring with Lee and Herring. Other television work include Brass Eye with Morris, notably as writer for the controversial special "Paedogeddon!" that attracted widespread media attention for its comedic portrayal of paedophilia. Other credits include writer for episodes of Bob and Margaret, and writing additional material for the sketch show Big Train. He served as writer for the radio series Blue Jam, which transferred to television as Jam. Under director Jason Winer he became writer for the 2011 film Arthur, a recreation of the 1981 film starring Russell Brand. Earlier, in 2005, Baynham conceived of a Christmas story where Santa Claus has an "impractical and useless" son, and collaborated with Sarah Smith at Aardman Animations to write a screenplay for the 2011 film Arthur Christmas. The story deals with Santa's global operation to deliver presents to every child, which Baynham said he considered with "pedantic" detail, such as what would be mathematically possible in 12 hours with one million elves and a mile wide spaceship. Under director Genndy Tartakovsky he became writer for the 2012 animated film Hotel Transylvania. Baynham collaborated with Iannucci and Coogan again to create a feature film based on Alan Partridge, and became writer for the 2013 film Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa. and continued this collaboration as writer for the 2020 film Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, a sequel to the previous Borat film.

James Rampton writing for The Independent described him as "an anonymous foot soldier in Armando Iannucci's all conquering comedy army".