Jon CanterJon Canter

Jon Canter

Jon Canter is a comedy writer who has extensive experience in radio, theatre, stand up, and fiction.

He has has written plays for Watford Palace Theatre (The Baby), Frinton Theatre (A Marriage Made In Heaven, The Dog), Gilded Balloon Edinburgh (Spoons), and many plays for Radio 4, of which the most recent was Dinner With Dylan, broadcast to celebrate Bob Dylan’s 80th birthday.
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Contacts

Agent:
Chiggy

Maternity Cover Contact:
Magda Bird

magda@pbjmanagement.co.uk
020 7287 1112

Jon Canter has written plays for Watford Palace Theatre (The Baby), Frinton Theatre (A Marriage Made In Heaven, The Dog), Gilded Balloon Edinburgh (Spoons), and many plays for Radio 4, of which the most recent was Dinner With Dylan, broadcast to celebrate Bob Dylan’s 80th birthday.

For thirty years, Jon wrote stand-up with Lenny Henry. In 2019, he adapted Lenny’s autobiography Who Am I, Again? into a touring show. He also co-wrote Lenny’s material for Live At The Apollo. Other tv credits include Not The Nine O’Clock News; Murder Most Horrid (starring Dawn French); The Fly for the animated Mr Bean series; and two series of Fry & Laurie, for which he was Script Editor.

His novels are Worth (‘Powered by sharp and original wit and constantly fizzing prose’ – Daily Mail); Seeds Of Greatness (‘Funny, twisted, touching, funny, bitter and funny’ – Hugh Laurie); and A Short Gentleman (‘Elegantly written, civilised and genuinely funny’ – Scotsman) which became a Radio 4 drama series, starring Hugh Bonneville. James Kidd in The Independent called Jon ‘arguably the finest comic novelist working in Britain today’.

Jon also adapted the tv series Rev, about a doubting Anglican priest, into a novel – The Rev Diaries – which the Daily Telegraph called ‘Hilarious yet wonderfully humane’. And with John Lloyd, he co-authored Afterliff, The New Dictionary Of Things There Should Be Words For.

Throughout his career, he’s written for Radio 4. Believe It, the ‘radiography’ (radio autobiography) of Richard Wilson ran for six series, and won Best Scripted Comedy at the BBC Audio Awards. Boswell’s Lives, starring Miles Jupp - which won the Europa Prize - puts a floridly sycophantic, time-travelling Boswell in the company of great men and women from Marx to Pinter to Callas. The first episode was Boswell’s Life Of Johnson – inevitably, the Johnson was Boris.

Jon has appeared at the Hay, Edinburgh, Cheltenham, Lennoxlove, Chester, Aldeburgh, Beverley, Breckland and Petworth Literary Festivals, as well as Latitude and Jewish Book Week. He grew up in North London but for the last thirty years has lived in Aldeburgh on the Suffolk coast with the painter Helen Napper.

Television

Lenny Henry Birthday
Writer
BBC 12018
Lenny Henry Live at The Apollo
Writer
BBC 12008 — 2012
Posh Nosh
Co-writer
BBC 22003
Fortysomething
Script editor
ITV2003
Mr Bean - Animated series
Writer
ITV2002
The Man
Writer
BBC Screen One1999
Julie Walters Is An Alien
Writer
Channel 41999
Alas Smith & Jones
Writer
BBC 11998
In Search of Happiness
Writer
BBC 21995
Lenny Henry - In Dreams
Writer
BBC 11992
Murder Most Horrid
Writer
BBC 21991 — 1999
A Bit of Fry and Laurie (Series 1 - 2)
Script editor
BBC 21990 — 1992
Just For Laughs, Montreal Comedy Festival
Writer
Channel 41989
Who Dares Wins
Writer
Channel 41988
The Lenny Henry Show
Writer / Script editor
BBC 11984 — 1988
Not The Nine O'Clock News
Writer
BBC 11980
Two Ronnies
Writer
BBC 11978

Theatre and Live Performance

Lenny Henry: Who Am I Again?
Co-Writer and Performer
Book Tour 2019
Arabella Weir: Does My Mum Loom Big In This?
Co-writer
Edinburgh Fringe 2019
Moussaka
Writer
INK Festival2017
A Match Made In Heaven
Writer
Frinton Theatre2016
A Short Gentleman
Playreading
High Tide Festival2015
The Dog
Writer
Frinton Theatre2014
The Cowardly Porter
Writer
Frinton Theatre2013
Cradle to Rave (Lenny Henry Live)
Writer
2011
The Baby
Writer
Watford Palace Theatre1992
Lenny Henry Live
Writer
UK and Australian tours1989

Awards

BBC Audio Awards
Winner
Best Scripted Comedy 'Believe It'2015
Prix Europa Awards
Winner
Best European Fiction Series 'Boswell's Lives'2015
Writers' Guild of Great Britain
Shortlist
Best Radio Comedy Award - 'Boswell's Lives'2015
BBC Audio Awards Shortlist 2015 Best Scripted Comedy ‘I’m A Believer’
Shortlisted
Best Scripted Comedy, I'm A Believer2015

Books

The Rev Diaries
Penguin
2014
Afterliff
Faber & Faber
2013
Worth
Jonathan Cape
2011
A Short Gentleman
Vintage
2009
Seeds of Greatness
Vintage
2006

Journalism

The Lady
Writer
Articles1990 — 2015
Radio Times
Writer
Articles1990 — 2015
TV Guide (USA)
Writer
Articles1990 — 2015
Conde Nast Traveller
Writer
Articles1990 — 2015
The Guardian
Regular columnist
Articles1990 — 2015
Sunday Telegraph Magazine
Writer
Articles1990 — 2015

Radio

Fall and Rise of Reginal Perrin
Adapter
BBC Radio 42022
Dinner with Dylan
Writer
BBC Radio 42020
Believe It
Writer
BBC Radio 42018
Holmes and Watford
Writer
Radio 42017
Boswell's Lives Series 3
Writer
Radio 42017
Boswell's Lives
Writer
Radio 42015 — 2017
Oh! You Pretty Things
Writer
Radio 42015
Appiness
Writer
Radio 4 (5 x 15mins)2015
I'm A Believer
creator
BBC Radio 42014
The Dog
Writer
BBC Radio 42014
English Life
Writer
BBC Radio 22013
The Vertigo Trust
Writer
BBC Radio 42013
Believe It (Series 1 - 5)
Writer
BBC Radio 42012 — 2020
The Verb - Fat Man in a White Suit
Writer
BBC Radio 32012
A Short Gentleman (4x30 min)
Adapted by Robin Brooks, Directed by Jonquil Panting
BBC Radio 42012
I love Stephen Fy
Writer
Radio 42010
I Was Douglas Adams' Flatmate
Writer
BBC Radio 42008
Book at Bedtime - Seeds of Greatness
Writer
BBC Radio 42007
Legal, Decent, Honest & Truthful,
Co-writer
BBC Radio 41983 — 1986
Radio Active
Writer
BBC Radio 41980 — 1985
The Jason Explanation
Writer
BBC Radio 41980 — 1981
Injury Time (Series 1 - 3)
Writer
BBC Radio 41980 — 1982
The News Huddlines
Writer
BBC Radio 41979
Week Ending
Writer
BBC Radio 41978

News

Jon Canter wins Best Scripted Comedy at BBC Audio Awards

29th January 2013

Congratulations to Jon Canter for winning Best Scripted Comedy Award at the BBC Audio Awards last night for Believe It

Lenny Henry in Cradle to Rave

18th January 2011

Music has always been a huge part of Lenny’s life and it was impersonating Stevie Wonder that first catapulted him into the entertainment industry in 1975