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.
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.
Other
| I'm A Believer BBC Radio 4 | creator | 2014-01-01 |
| The Dog BBC Radio 4 | Writer | 2014-01-01 |
| Worth | Jonathan Cape | 2011-01-01 |
| Believe It BBC Radio 4 | Writer | 2018-01-01 |
| The Rev Diaries | Penguin | 2014-01-01 |
| Afterliff | Faber & Faber | 2013-01-01 |
| A Short Gentleman | Vintage | 2009-01-01 |
| Seeds of Greatness | Vintage | 2006-01-01 |
| Two Ronnies BBC 1 | Writer | 1978-01-01 |
| The Lady Articles | Writer | 1990-01-01 |
| Posh Nosh BBC 2 | Co-writer | 2003-01-01 |
| Boswell's Lives Radio 4 | Writer | 2015-01-01 |
| Week Ending BBC Radio 4 | Writer | 1978-01-01 |
| English Life BBC Radio 2 | Writer | 2013-01-01 |
| Radio Active BBC Radio 4 | Writer | 1980-01-01 |
| I love Stephen Fy Radio 4 | Writer | 2010-01-01 |
| Radio Times Articles | Writer | 1990-01-01 |
| Holmes and Watford Radio 4 | Writer | 2017-01-01 |
| The Bird BBC Films | Screenwriter | 2010-01-01 |
| The Man BBC Screen One | Writer | 1999-01-01 |
| Full Monty 2 Redwave | Screenwriter | 1997-01-01 |
| TV Guide (USA) Articles | Writer | 1990-01-01 |
| Alas Smith & Jones BBC 1 | Writer | 1998-01-01 |
| Murder Most Horrid BBC 2 | Writer | 1991-01-01 |
| Oh! You Pretty Things Radio 4 | Writer | 2015-01-01 |
| Who Dares Wins Channel 4 | Writer | 1988-01-01 |
| The Vertigo Trust BBC Radio 4 | Writer | 2013-01-01 |
| Dinner with Dylan BBC Radio 4 | Writer | 2020-01-01 |
| Fortysomething ITV | Script editor | 2003-01-01 |
| The News Huddlines BBC Radio 4 | Writer | 1979-01-01 |
| Appiness Radio 4 (5 x 15mins) | Writer | 2015-01-01 |
| Lenny Henry Birthday BBC 1 | Writer | 2018-01-01 |
| Boswell's Lives Series 3 Radio 4 | Writer | 2017-01-01 |
| In Search of Happiness BBC 2 | Writer | 1995-01-01 |
| The Jason Explanation BBC Radio 4 | Writer | 1980-01-01 |
| Mr Bean - Animated series ITV | Writer | 2002-01-01 |
| Lenny Henry - In Dreams BBC 1 | Writer | 1992-01-01 |
| Conde Nast Traveller Articles | Writer | 1990-01-01 |
| Not The Nine O'Clock News BBC 1 | Writer | 1980-01-01 |
| Wobegon Boy Revolution Films | Screenwriter | 1999-01-01 |
| The Guardian Articles | Regular columnist | 1990-01-01 |
| Believe It (Series 1 - 5) BBC Radio 4 | Writer | 2012-01-01 |
| Fall and Rise of Reginal Perrin BBC Radio 4 | Adapter | 2022-01-01 |
| Injury Time (Series 1 - 3) BBC Radio 4 | Writer | 1980-01-01 |
| Sunday Telegraph Magazine Articles | Writer | 1990-01-01 |
| The Romantic Movement Film Four | Screenwriter | 1995-01-01 |
| Julie Walters Is An Alien Channel 4 | Writer | 1999-01-01 |
| Lenny Henry Live at The Apollo BBC 1 | Writer | 2008-01-01 |
| I Was Douglas Adams' Flatmate BBC Radio 4 | Writer | 2008-01-01 |
| Adoption Mission Pictures/Film Four | Screenwriter | 2008-01-01 |
| Moussaka INK Festival | Writer | 2017-01-01 |
| The Verb - Fat Man in a White Suit BBC Radio 3 | Writer | 2012-01-01 |
| The Dog Frinton Theatre | Writer | 2014-01-01 |
| The Lenny Henry Show BBC 1 | Writer / Script editor | 1984-01-01 |
| Book at Bedtime - Seeds of Greatness BBC Radio 4 | Writer | 2007-01-01 |
| Legal, Decent, Honest & Truthful, BBC Radio 4 | Co-writer | 1983-01-01 |
| BBC Audio Awards Best Scripted Comedy 'Believe It' | Winner | 2015-01-01 |
| The Baby Watford Palace Theatre | Writer | 1992-01-01 |
| Cradle to Rave (Lenny Henry Live) | Writer | 2011-01-01 |
| A Bit of Fry and Laurie (Series 1 - 2) BBC 2 | Script editor | 1990-01-01 |
| Just For Laughs, Montreal Comedy Festival Channel 4 | Writer | 1989-01-01 |
| Lenny Henry: Who Am I Again? Book Tour | Co-Writer and Performer | 2019-01-01 |
| The Cowardly Porter Frinton Theatre | Writer | 2013-01-01 |
| A Match Made In Heaven Frinton Theatre | Writer | 2016-01-01 |
| Lenny Henry Live UK and Australian tours | Writer | 1989-01-01 |
| A Short Gentleman High Tide Festival | Playreading | 2015-01-01 |
| Prix Europa Awards Best European Fiction Series 'Boswell's Lives' | Winner | 2015-01-01 |
| Arabella Weir: Does My Mum Loom Big In This? Edinburgh Fringe | Co-writer | 2019-01-01 |
| Writers' Guild of Great Britain Best Radio Comedy Award - 'Boswell's Lives' | Shortlist | 2015-01-01 |
| A Short Gentleman (4x30 min) BBC Radio 4 | Adapted by Robin Brooks, Directed by Jonquil Panting | 2012-01-01 |
| BBC Audio Awards Shortlist 2015 Best Scripted Comedy ‘I’m A Believer’ Best Scripted Comedy, I'm A Believer | Shortlisted | 2015-01-01 |