Hattie Hayridge is an English comedian and actress, best known for the role of the female version of Holly in Red Dwarf during the third, fourth and fifth series. She was described as a "cult figure in a beloved sit-com" by The List in 2007.
Career
Hayridge was a major part of the late-1980s/early-'90s wave of alternative comedians of the British comedy circuit, appearing alongside Lee Evans, Jack Dee, Julian Clary, Paul Merton, amongst many others, including Mike Myers. Her distinctive style of gentle deadpan with a sharp edge attracted a great deal of attention straight away. Julian Hall of The Independent later commented on 10 August 2007, "Boom there it is, the deceptive and surprising edge for which she is renowned and applauded by so many of her fellow-comics." Following a spontaneous five-minute spot in a London club, after "a bad day at the office", her first booked open spots were in a cabaret show at the Edinburgh Festival in 1986, which quickly led to gigs on the London comedy circuit, and to an award for the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year. In April 1988, she appeared on Friday Night Live hosted by Ben Elton, and was spotted by the producers of BBC's Red Dwarf for the episode "Parallel Universe" to play Hilly, the female equivalent of the male computer, Holly. The same year, Hattie received rave reviews at the Montreal Comedy Festival, and appeared on the related televised Just For Laughs programme. In 1989, after the departure of Norman Lovett from Red Dwarf to star in his own show, Hattie successfully auditioned for the part of Holly, appearing in Red Dwarf Series III, IV and V. She continues to be a sought after guest at conventions and comic consaround the world. Her television appearances include Have I Got News for You, Space Cadets with William Shatner, various other panel shows as well as a winning performance on Celebrity Mastermind. As a guest on Robert Llewellyn's Carpool in March 2010, Hattie said that the previous year she was asked to tell a joke at US Immigration to prove her occupation as comedian, she told the official: "The reason I'm here is I want togo to Disney Land. The nice bits obviously, not the touristy bits". That same year, she appeared in an awards ceremony scene along with other notable comedians such as Eddie Izzard, Harry Hill and Kevin Bishop in Ben Miller's feature film, Huge, starring Thandie Newton. As an actress, she has performed in Jonathan Creek with Alan Davies in 2000 and the North American sci-fi series Lexx in 2001, where she played Sub-Warden Heidi in the third episode of the fourth season called "P4X" as well as various characters in sketch shows with Jon CulshawAlter Ego and Kevin Eldon, It's Kevin. In 2015 she had a small appearance the film SuperBob. In 2009, she performed in the UK tour of the hit American show, Totally Looped, where performers including Phill Jupitus, Humphrey Ker and Marcus BrigstockeSanjeev Bhaskar improvised live dialogue to film clips. Her stand-up television appearances include Live at Jongleurs, Rove, and most notably The Late Late Show With Craig FergusonCBS in 2009, and Stewart Lee's The Alternative Comedy Experience on Comedy Central in 2014. Her autobiography, Random Abstract Memory is published by Penguin tells the story "from her birth as a suspected appendicitis to her spontaneous leap into comedy". Hayridge continues as a stand-up comedian and has travelled the world, including festivals in Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, the first Latitude Festival and part of Best of Edinburgh Festival season in New York City. In 2013, she supported Alexei Sayle on his comeback tour.
