Sean Lock

Personal life and career

He attended St John the Baptist School, Woking, Surrey. Before becoming a comedian, he was a labourer on building sites. During this time, he developed skin cancer.

Lock's early television work included a supporting role alongside Rob Newman and David Baddiel in the 1993 series Newman and Baddiel in Pieces including touring with them as their support act. Lock credits Frank Skinner and Eddie Izzard as major influences on his comedy.

Lock is an atheist.

Lock stated during a series 7 episode of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown that he has 3 children.

Lock is left-handed.

15 Minutes of Misery and 15 Storeys High

Lock made regular appearances on various radio panel shows, script-edited for Bill Bailey's 1998 BBC2 series, Is It Bill Bailey? and had his own show on BBC Radio 4, 15 Minutes of Misery.

As the title suggested, these shows filled a 15-minute time-slot and also featured Kevin Eldon and Hattie Hayridge. The premise involved Lock eavesdropping on his neighbours in his south London tower block (all played by Lock, Eldon and Hayridge) using a bugging device fitted by his plumber, "Hot Bob" (Eldon), which was known as "The Bugger King" (and had "nothing to do with meat or sex").

15 Minutes of Misery lasted for one series of six programmes in late 1998 and early 1999, and would later be expanded into the half-hour series 15 Storeys High. From ostensibly the same tower block, Lock's character was now given a flatmate (the hapless Errol) and a job at the local swimming baths, as well as a somewhat dour and intolerant demeanour.

The bugging device was no longer used, but the antics of Lock's neighbours still featured heavily in the show. The plots for this series were more linear in a "traditional" sitcom style, although they still showed Lock's brand of dark, surreal humour.

15 Storeys High would transfer to television after two radio series, with Lock's character renamed 'Vince', for a further two series in 2002 and 2004.

Other work

In 1995, Lock played an escaped murderer in an episode of The World of Lee Evans, alongside Lee Evans and Phil Daniels.

Lock wrote the screenplay for Andrew Kötting's 2001 feature film This Filthy Earth, based on the novel La Terre by Émile Zola.

In 2004, Lock had a guest appearance in television's first ever "dope opera", Top Buzzer, written by Johnny Vaughan. In 2005 he became a regular team captain on the panel game 8 Out of 10 Cats.

In spring 2006, he hosted his own entertainment show on Channel 4 called TV Heaven, Telly Hell. Lock narrated the BBC production World Cup Goals Galore in 2006. In 2008 he appeared on The Big Fat Quiz of the Year, on a team with James Corden. Lock has also appeared on many popular British TV panel shows including Have I Got News for You, QI and They Think It's All Over. He was also a celebrity guest in The Last Leg. Lock became "The Curator" for the second radio series of The Museum of Curiosity, in 2009, taking over from Bill Bailey. During an interview on This Morning in 2013, Lock announced he would now only appear on 8 Out of 10 Cats, as he felt he had become typecast for appearing on panel shows, joking that people had started approaching him in the street asking "Are you Dave?"

In 2010, Lock took part in Channel 4's Comedy Gala, a benefit show held in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, filmed live at the O2 Arena. He has also appeared in a spoof video produced by Shelter, the housing charity, to highlight the problem of rogue landlords. In 2011, Sean Lock took over from John Sergeant as the host of the Dave comedy panel show, Argumental.

Before going into comedy Lock drifted through a series of odd jobs including three months spent as a goatherd for a hippie in the mountains of central France.