Steve Oram

Steve Oram
Steve Oram at Sightseers Premiere at the 2012 Dublin Film Festival
Born
Stephen John Oram

1973 (age 50–51)
Occupations
  • Actor
  • comedian
  • writer
  • filmmaker
Years active2001–present

Stephen John Oram (born 1973)[1] is an English actor, comedian, writer, and filmmaker. He is known for his role in the multi-award winning 2012 film Sightseers, which he also co-wrote. His other credits include People Like Us (2001), It's All Gone Pete Tong (2004), Tittybangbang (2006–2007), Suburban Shootout (2006), The Mighty Boosh (2007), Connections (2008), The World's End (2013), Wipers Times (2013), The Secrets (2014), The Canal (2014), Altar (2014), Paddington (2014), Glue (2014), Aaaaaaaah! (2015), The Living and the Dead (2016), A Dark Song (2016), The End of the F***ing World (2017–2019), Ghosts (2019), Doctor Who (2021), Killing Eve (2022), and D.I Ray (2022–2023).

Life and career

Oram was born in 1973,[1] in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, England.[2][3] He studied at the University of East Anglia, taking degrees in both English and film.[1][3]

Career

He started as a character comedian on the comedy circuit and performed several comedy shows at the Edinburgh Fringe with comedy partner Tom Meeten during the early 2000s.[4] He also appeared at Ealing Live, a comedy night at Ealing Studios, where he met and started working with Alice Lowe.[5]

In 2002, Oram and Meeten wrote, composed the music and starred in Channel 4's Matthew & Tone: Tales of Friendship and Innocence.[3] It was directed by Dominic Brigstocke and screened in season 5 of the Comedy Lab series.[3]

Oram appeared in various TV & film roles throughout the 2000s including the second series of People Like Us (2001), the feature film It's All Gone Pete Tong (2004) starring Paul Kaye, Tittybangbang (2006–07) and Suburban Shootout (2006).[6] He also played Donnie the tramp in the series written by and starring Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding, series 3 of The Mighty Boosh (2007).[6]

In 2008, his short film Connections screened at Cannes Film Festival as part of the official Straight 8 selection.[7]

He also appeared alongside Alice Lowe as a support act in Steve Coogan's 2008–09 stand up tour "Steve Coogan is.....Alan Partridge and other less successful characters".[6]

Oram has written and directed numerous short films under the pseudonym "Steve Aura" and released under the banner of Lincoln Studios.[8]

With Meeten, he performs a long-running comedy show in London called Oram & Meeten's Club Fantastico.[9]

Oram at Mar del Plata Film Festival (2013)

In 2012, Oram and Lowe starred in Ben Wheatley's dark comedy Sightseers.[6] The film was written by Oram and Lowe with additional material by Amy Jump.[10][11]

Since then, Oram has taken on roles in films including Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg's The World's End (2013),[6] The Canal (2014),[6] Altar (2014) and Paddington (2014).[6]

On television, he has appeared in Wipers Times (2013) written by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman, an episode of The Secrets (2014) alongside Alison Steadman and Olivia Colman,[12] an episode of Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy (2014), the Jack Thorne series Glue (2014) and The Living and the Dead (2016).[6]

Oram released his directorial debut Aaaaaaaah! in 2015,[3] a film in which the characters communicate entirely in ape-like grunts.[3] It starred Oram himself alongside Julian Barratt, Toyah Willcox, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Noel Fielding and Holli Dempsey.[3] The film's soundtrack features a number of tracks from the King Crimson ProjeKcts albums.[13]

In 2016, he starred as Joseph Solomonin in A Dark Song.[14]

In 2019, he appeared as Terry in the BBC series Ghosts.[6]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2002 Ant Muzak Marco Short film
2004 It's All Gone Pete Tong Blinky
2005 The Wingnut Tapes Dad Short film. Co-writer
2008 Connections Man Short film; Writer/director
2011 Kill List Radio Reporter
2012 Sightseers Chris Also co-writer
2013 Welcome to the Punch Journalist
The World's End Motorcycle Policeman
2014 The Last Summer On Earth Ginger Goofball Short film. Co-writer
Cuban Fury Security guard Kevin
The Canal McNamara
Altar Nigel Lean
Paddington Paddington Station Security Guard
2015 Captain Webb Professor Fred Beckwith
The Bad Education Movie Officer Rowe
Aaaaaaaah! Smith Writer / Director
Sarah Chong Is Going To Kill Herself The Bosses Short film
2016 A Dark Song Joseph Solomon [14]
2018 In Fabric Clive
2022 This is Christmas Conductor
Mind-set Paul
2023 Love Again Richard Hughes
Sky Peals Jeff

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2001 People Like Us Policeman/Sound Engineer
2002 Live Floor Show Mr Richards
Hardware Builder
Green Wing Security Guard
Comedy Lab: Matthew & Tone: Tales of Friendship and Innocence Tone
2005 Twisted Tales Detective Sergeant Jack Tanner Episode: "Death Metal Chronicles"
Comedy Lab: Skin Deep Carl
2006 Suburban Shootout Plumber
2006–07 Tittybangbang Various characters
2007 Where Are the Joneses? Carston Whelk
The Mighty Boosh Donni The Strange Tale of the Crack Fox
2008 LifeSpam: My Child is French Various characters
2011 Dick and Dom's Funny Business Teacher
The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret Officer Petty Hurt
2012 Miranda Policeman
2013 Life's Too Short Paul Jacobs
Heading Out Daniel
The Wipers Times Sergeant Harris
NTSF:SD:SUV:: Mr Smyth
2014 The Job Lot Keith Taylor
The Secrets Shaun The Dilemma
Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy Terry Series 2 Episode 2 Fantasy Block
Glue George
2016 Midsomer Murders Nathan Tonev
The Living and the Dead John Roebuck
2017 The Moorside DC Alex Grummit
2017–2019 The End of the F***ing World Phil
2018 Death in Paradise Dean Shanks S7:E3 "Written in Murder"
Hang Ups Neil Quinn
Sally4Ever Mick
2019 Ghosts Terry
Not Going Out Dave the builder Series 10 (Episode 7)
2021 Line of Duty Medical counsellor Series 6 (Episode 7)
Doctor Who Joseph Williamson Series 13
2022 Killing Eve Phil
2022–present D.I Ray DS Clive Bottomley

Awards and recognition

References

  1. ^ a b c "Steve Oram". iffr.com. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
  2. ^ "Steve Oram in director Q&A". Phoenix Square. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "57th Karlovy vary IFF June 30th - July 8th 2023 - Archive of films - Aaaaaaaah!". kviff.com. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
  4. ^ "Oram & Meeten Ding Dong review". Chortle Edinburgh. 2002.
  5. ^ Gibson, Anthony (27 March 2013). "Steve Oram, star of Sightseers: Why I dressed up as a serial killer to go on holiday". Metro. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Steve Oram Credits". tvguide.com. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
  7. ^ "Connections- a straight 8 film by steve oram & nick lear". 10 February 2009.
  8. ^ Dawtrey, Adam (7 January 2013). "A case study of Internet's impact on filmmakers". Variety. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  9. ^ "Oram & Meeten's Club Fantastico". 23 May 2013.
  10. ^ "Sightseers – review". The Guardian. 29 November 2012. Archived from the original on 16 February 2023.
  11. ^ Sightseers at Rotten Tomatoes
  12. ^ Ellen E. Jones
  13. ^ Aaaaaaaah! film review, Variety
  14. ^ a b Brady, Tara (5 April 2017). "A Dark Song review: a nifty, novel Irish horror". The Irish Times. Retrieved 23 April 2017.