After airing last night to mixed and baffled responses, it can’t be denied that people are talking about the Prince Andrew Musical which aired on Channel 4 last night (December 29). Written and directed by Kieran Hodgson, we take a look at who the actor and comedian is and what you might have seen him in before.
It’s fair to say that everybody was a little confused when Prince Andrew: The Musical was commissioned as part of Channel 4‘s 40th anniversary celebrations. Now that it’s aired, that feeling of confusion seems to be still lingering. Nevertheless, the feat of completing it is something to be applauded. Written and directed by Kieran Hodgson we take a look at who the leading star is.
Who Is Kieran Hodgson?
Kieran Hodgson is a British actor, comedian and writer best known for his roles in Two Doors Down and Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa.
Growing up in Yorkshire, Kieran attended Oxford University before debuting his first solo show at Edinburgh Fringe in 2014. In the same year, he made his first television appearance in Jonathon Creek.
The following year saw Kieran nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award for his show Lance. The show was about his childhood hero Lance Armstrong, the cyclist. Kieran went on to be nominated for the award twice more for his 2016 show Maestro, and his 2018 show 75.
He toured with the latter show throughout 2019. That experience then formed the basis for his Channel 4 documentary How Europe Stole My Mum. After that, Kieran had numerous stints on TV. This included Dad’s Army, Siblings, and was even in the film See How They Run, released this year.
Writing Prince Andrew: The Musical
The Guardian gave the show three out of five stars, wishing that it hadn’t been quite as light hearted. However, it seems as if Kieran didn’t have a lot of choice over that aspect.
Edinburgh News reports that when Kieran spoke to The Times, he spoke about how Channel 4 wanted a “light-hearted comedy for Christmas,” which would have meant avoiding the nitty gritty.
“I thought it was more interesting to see the trajectory of decline and fall from a high starting point. To see the main characters’ attractive qualities in order to have their less attractive qualities thrown into relief.”
Unfortuantely, it seems as if that apart from Kieran’s character and song-writing, the musical fell in other places. The musical was also going to be a hard one to balance. But Lucy Mangan at The Guardian believed it didn’t rise to expectation:
“It feels slightly wrong to be playing it merely for laughs, as if the Queen’s favourite son merely went slightly too far with his shenanigans this time. It lets him off the hook once again and, to my mind, puts the victims too far out of mind as well.”