Maria McErlane is a British actress and presenter specialising in comedy. She has appeared in several TV series, including The Fast Show

The Fast Show

The Fast Show, known as Brilliant in the US, was a BBC comedy sketch show programme that ran for three series from 1994 to 1997 with a special Last Fast Show Ever in 2000. The show's central performers were Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Simon Day, Mark Williams, John Thomson, Arabella Weir and...

, Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, Thin Ice and Happiness

Happiness (TV series)

Happiness was a British sitcom broadcast on BBC2 with dramatic, melancholy overtones written by Paul Whitehouse and David Cummings with Whitehouse in the lead role.There have been two series thus far, the first running in 2001 and the second in 2003...

, and "straight" roles in The Bill

The Bill

The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...

and Holby City

Holby City

Holby City, stylised as Holby Ci+y, is a British medical drama television series that airs weekly on BBC One.The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999...

but is probably best known as the narrator for Antoine de Caunes

Antoine de Caunes

Antoine de Caunes is a television presenter, actor, writer and film director. He is the son of two prominent French personalities, television journalist-reporter Georges de Caunes and television announcer Jacqueline Joubert...

 and Jean-Paul Gaultier

Jean-Paul Gaultier

Jean Paul Gaultier , born 24 April 1952 in Arcueil, Val-de-Marne, France) is a French haute couture fashion designer. Gaultier was the creative director of Hermès from 2003 to 2010. In the past, he has hosted the television series Eurotrash....

's Eurotrash

Eurotrash (TV series)

Eurotrash is a 30-minute magazine-format programme in English produced by Rapido Television. It was shown in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 from 1993 and was a late-night comical review of weird and wonderful topics from around the world...

. She started in the 1990s on the stand-up comedy

Stand-up comedy

Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Usually, a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television...

 circuit, under the name Maria Callous. She has also guested on shows such as Have I Got News for You

Have I Got News for You

Have I Got News for You is a British television panel show produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is based loosely on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, and has been broadcast since 1990, currently the BBC's longest-ever running television panel show...

, If I Ruled the World

If I Ruled the World (game show)

If I Ruled the World is a television show aired in the United Kingdom in 1998 and 1999. It was a comedy panel game show, similar to Have I Got News For You but focused on parodying the behaviour of politicians...

and Just a Minute

Just a Minute

Just a Minute is a BBC Radio 4 radio comedy panel game chaired by Nicholas Parsons. Its first transmission on Radio 4 was on 22 December 1967, three months after the station's launch. The Radio 4 programme won a Gold Sony Radio Academy Award in 2003....

.she has been acting since 1989-

She is good friends with Graham Norton

Graham Norton

Graham William Walker, known by his stage name Graham Norton , is an Irish actor, comedian, television presenter and columnist...

 who co-presented the quiz show Carnal Knowledge with McErlane in the early 90's and Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lucy Lawson is an English food writer, journalist and broadcaster. Lawson is the daughter of Nigel Lawson, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Vanessa Salmon, whose family owned the J. Lyons and Co. empire...

, and appeared on 16 episodes of Nigella's chat show on ITV, 'Nigella'.

External links

• BBC Comedy Guide