I'm glad to be back doing stand-up... it's who I am

Jonathan Creek star Alan Davies is returning to his comedy roots for the first time in a decade after revealing in a devastating memoir that he was sexually abused. He tells FRAN WINSTON why his openness has made his act more 'rewarding'

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WHEN Alan Davies last toured a stand-up show a decade ago, the world was a different place. The threat of war wasn’t hanging over us while Covid, immigration riots and Black Lives Matter had yet to emerge. The nascent woke comedy scene wasn’t the all-consuming force it has become today, either.

Suffice to say, a lot has happened in 10 years, giving Alan a lot to mull over as he prepares to take his new show Think Ahead on the road.

Although forever preserved as a shaggy-haired 30-something, thanks to reruns of the hit detective drama Jonathan Creek, the actor, comedian and TV panellist is now 59 and a father of three. He shares Susie, 15, Bobby, 13, and Francis, nine, with his award-winning children’s author wife Katie Maskell, 47.

And while he still sports a youthful visage, a shock of white floppy hair now frames his face instead of those once familiar chestnut corkscrew curls. He also appears happy and content with his life, which has not always been the case.

“I’ve stored up bad things and not talked about them,” he reassures me — and you get the impression he is only half joking. “I’ve got a well of bad things that I can go to... and then of course, a bad thing that happened.”

He is referencing his shocking revelation that he was sexually abused by his father from the age of eight to 13, as described in his book Just Ignore Him, released in 2020.

Alan went to the police about the “attacks” as far back as eight years ago but they could not press charges because of his father’s advancement into Alzheimer’s. While he doesn’t labour the point, it is very much the elephant in the room when talking to him. He has spoken previously of the rift that speaking out has caused between him and his sister and brother.

Today, he is keen to move the chat on and reassure fans there is a lot more to his new comedy, and him, than his childhood trauma.