Editing Helen Atkinson-Wood

{{Short description|English actress and comedian}}
{{BLP sources|date=February 2010}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}

'''Helen Atkinson-Wood''' (born 14 March 1955) is an English actress and comedian born in [[Cheadle and Gatley Urban District|Cheadle Hulme]], [[Cheshire]].

She studied [[fine art]] at the [[Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art|Ruskin School]], Oxford University, where she performed with [[Rowan Atkinson]] (no relation). She also performed at the [[Edinburgh Festival Fringe]], where she met [[Ben Elton]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/actress-brushes-up-for-painting-display-1-690942|title=Actress brushes up for painting display|website=Eastern Daily Press|date=22 August 2006|language=en|access-date=2020-01-02}}</ref> Whilst at Oxford, she took part in an [[Oxford University Dramatic Society|OUDS]] production of ''Richard II''. Also in this production was [[Tim McInnerny]], who played the lead. She later appeared together with McInnerny in an episode of ''Blackadder the Third''.

==Career==
Atkinson-Wood was a regular presenter of [[ITV Central|Central Television]]'s short-lived ''[[O.T.T. (television series)|O.T.T.]]'' and had a small role in the 1984 ''[[The Young Ones (TV series)|Young Ones]]'' episode "Nasty".<ref>{{IMDb name|id=0040814|name=Helen Atkinson-Wood}}</ref> She appeared as [[Mrs Miggins]] in ''[[Blackadder the Third]]''.{{hsp}}<ref>{{cite news|first=Steven|last=Russell|title=A trip back to Mrs Miggins' pie shop|url=https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/21927185.trip-back-mrs-miggins-pie-shop/|agency=Ipswich Star|date=7 October 2008|access-date=27 November 2022}}</ref>

She was the only regular female cast member on the radio comedy programme ''[[Radio Active (radio series)|Radio Active]]'', where she played Anna Daptor and other roles, and also participated in the programme's televisual equivalent, ''[[KYTV (TV series)|KYTV]]''. She also appeared in the final episode of ''[[Joking Apart]]'' as a morning television presenter. In 2007, she guest-starred in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' audio play ''[[I.D. (Doctor Who audio)|I.D.]]''. She played the role of [[Sam Vimes#Lady Sybil|Sybil Ramkin]] in a BBC radio adaptation of ''[[Guards! Guards!]]'' by [[Terry Pratchett]].

Atkinson-Wood has been a regular presenter for the [[Channel 4]] series ''[[Collector's Lot]]'' and has made guest appearances on programmes such as ''[[Call My Bluff (US game show)|Call My Bluff]]''. She was a guest in episode 9 of the C series of ''[[QI]]'', when she answered a question deemed almost impossible by host [[Stephen Fry]] by correctly naming a chemical reaction equation as an explosion of [[Bird's Custard|custard powder]], earning 200 points. This was because, she claimed, she had studied [[domestic science]] at school. Through answering this single question, she held the highest cumulative total of any ''QI'' panellist at the time (this is no longer the case - for example, in the K Series episode "Knowledge", Alan Davies scored 689.66 points).

== Personal life==

While at grammar school in Macclesfield, she was friends with [[Ian Curtis]]. He gave her a copy of David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World".<ref>{{Cite book|author=Pete Hook|year=2012|title=Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division}}</ref>

At Oxford University she dated [[Angus Deayton]]. While touring with the [[The Hee Bee Gee Bees|Hee Bee Gee Bees]] in Australia in the 1980s, Deayton saved Atkinson-Wood's life when he rescued her after she was caught in a [[rip current]] while swimming off Sydney's [[Manly Beach]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://smarterthantheaverage.tumblr.com/post/48872905/the-heebeegeebees-story-in-angus-deaytons-own |title=Smarter Than The Average! – The HeeBeeGeeBees Story in Angus Deayton's Own Meaningless Words |publisher=Smarterthantheaverage.tumblr.com |access-date=3 May 2022 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090530071855/http://smarterthantheaverage.tumblr.com/post/48872905/the-heebeegeebees-story-in-angus-deaytons-own |archive-date=30 May 2009 }}</ref>{{User-generated source|date=December 2022}}

[[Craig Ferguson]] wrote in his book ''[[American on Purpose]]'' that he and Atkinson-Wood were in a romantic relationship that lasted five years. He acknowledges that she changed his life "beyond recognition" by improving his health and his career. She left him because of his alcoholism, saying, “I love you, but I won’t watch you kill yourself.” <ref>{{Cite book|author=Craig Ferguson|year=2009|title=American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot|pages=158–59}}</ref>

She married the writer and director [[John Morton (writer)|John Morton]] in 1997, first meeting after she rang to tell him how much she liked his radio comedy "People Like Us" and he replied, "Thanks a lot. Fancy getting married?"<ref>{{cite news|author=Rose Shepherd |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4724373/The-man-who-wouldnt-give-up.html |title=The man who wouldn't give up |publisher=Telegraph |date=30 June 2001 |accessdate=2024-10-01 |location=London}}</ref>

==Selected performances==
===Movie and television===
* Mrs. Miggins, ''[[Blackadder the Third]]'', 6 episodes
* ''[[The Young Ones (TV series)|The Young Ones]]'', 1 episode

===Theatre===
* Beatrice Voysey in ''[[The Voysey Inheritance]]'' by [[Harley Granville Barker]]. Directed by [[Greg Hersov]] at the [[Royal Exchange, Manchester]]. (1989)
* Agatha Posket in ''[[The Magistrate (play)|The Magistrate]]'' by [[Arthur Wing Pinero]]. Directed by Hersov at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. (2001)
* Polina in ''[[The Seagull]]'' by [[Anton Chekov]]. Directed by Hersov at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. (2003)
* Fritz in ''Cold Meat Party'' by [[Brad Fraser]]. World premiere directed by [[Braham Murray]] at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. (2003) 
* Frosine in ''[[The Miser]]'' by [[Moliere]]. Directed by [[Helena Kaut-Howson]] at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. (2009)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb name|id=0040814|name=Helen Atkinson-Wood}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkinson-Wood, Helen}}
[[Category:1955 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Cheadle Hulme]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Ruskin School of Art]]
[[Category:English television actresses]]
[[Category:English television presenters]]
[[Category:English women comedians]]
[[Category:Comedians from Lancashire]]
[[Category:Actresses from Lancashire]]
[[Category:Actors from the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport]]