Tim Kirkby — Director | Biography, Movies & Career

Biography

Timothy John Kirkby (born 13 November 1970 in Sidcup, Kent, England) is a British filmmaker, working in both the United Kingdom and the United States. He is best known for directing the science parody series Look Around You, the BAFTA winning BBC 2 show Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle, and setting up the multi-award winning Fleabag.

Kirkby made his TV directorial debut with the BAFTA nominated science spoof Look Around You. He received further recognition for the first season of the BAFTA nominated My Mad Fat Diary, the BAFTA nominated BBC single drama The C Word, and more recently the critically acclaimed Fleabag.

In the United States he created and directed all eight episodes and co-executive produced the award-winning first & second season of Brockmire for IFC. Other notable US television directing credits includes episodes of the Emmy-winning HBO comedy Veep (TV series), Grace & Frankie, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Man Seeking Woman, and his Netflix 6-part TV series The Pentaverate created by Mike Myers, about a secret society that has been working to control world events since 1347.

He has also made documentaries with Motörhead, Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest for the multi-award-winning documentary strand Classic Albums, as well as creating and directing all 4 series of the critically acclaimed BAFTA winning show Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle a six-part comedy series featuring standup and sketches. The first season was executive produced by Armando Iannucci and script edited by Chris Morris. The first episode received positive reviews from The Independent and The Daily Mirror, although the show received a negative review, written by Stewart Lee in Time Out, in which he described himself as "fat" and his performance as "positively Neanderthal, suggesting a jungle-dwelling pygmy, struggling to coax notes out of a clarinet that has fallen from a passing aircraft". The second series won a BAFTA for Best Comedy Programme in 2012.

More recently Tim is directing The Revenge Club for Gaumont UK, Freemantle & Paramount+, which premieres 2025.