Tom Binns | |
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 Binns as hospital radio DJ Ivan Brackenbury, Glastonbury Festival, 2019 | |
| Born | Christopher Thomas Binns 1970 (age 53–54) Sheffield, United Kingdom |
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Christopher Thomas Binns (born 1970) is a British comedian best known for his character of Hospital Radio DJ Ivan Brackenbury. He has made multiple TV and radio appearances. In 2023, Binns was convicted of possession of child pornography.
Binns was nominated at the Edinburgh Festival for the Edinburgh Comedy Award 2007 for his hospital radio DJ character Ivan Brackenbury. He has been twice nominated for the Adelaide Fringe Comedy Award, in 2010 and 2011. He was voted a Foster's Comedy God in 2010. He also was nominated for a Chortle Award in 2011 and was also named in a list of their 50 Most Memorable Gigs of the decade. He won the Best International Act at the 2013 New Zealand International Comedy Festival and was nominated for Best Comedy Show at FringeWorld, Perth in 2015 and 2016.[1]
He appears in the BBC MI5 drama Spooks (Episode 6 Series 6),[2] Series 3 of the IT Crowd on Channel 4,[3] and, in character as Ivan Brackenbury, on The Jason Byrne Show and Knowing Me Knowing Yule with Alan Partridge. In 2017, he appeared in the comedy movie Eaten by Lions.
As Ian D Montfort he had a BBC Radio 2 series called Ian D Montfort is Unbelievable, broadcast in February 2013.[4]
Besides writing comedy for television and radio, Binns has appeared on other television shows, such as RI:SE, Bullrun, Oblivion and as a writer on Trigger Happy TV, for which he earned "best comedy moment" and "TV moment of 2001" awards. His first television appearances were Friday Night Armistice (BBC2) and Lee and Herring's Fist of Fun, and has gone on to further appear in the Channel 4-based late night sports talk show Under the Moon, with Danny Kelly where he regularly referenced his love of Sunderland AFC. He has also had stage appearances at the Bloomsbury Theatre and Garrick Theatre.
Binns has worked on Radio 1, Virgin, BRMB and GLR, Talksport UK, Hallam FM and Key 103, appearing either as himself or as hospital radio character Ivan Brackenbury.[5]
Binns is the co-writer of BBC 1's Hospital People, part of the BBC's Comedy Playhouse, in which he plays the five lead characters Ivan Brackenbury, Ian D Montfort, Susan Mitchell, Terry Boyle and Father Kenny.[6]
He has written the book How to Get Famous - A Cynical Guide.
In 1999, London-based radio station Xfm was fined £50,000 by the Radio Authority following complaints regarding the use of coarse sexual innuendo when discussing a bestial pornography video with a listener during the Tom Binns Breakfast Show.[7] Parent company Capital Radio decided not to sack Binns but in a meeting shortly after the fine was issued, the Radio Authority made it clear to Capital Radio that this would negatively affect the decision to renew the XFM licence.
In December 2009, Binns was fired from BRMB by its owners Orion Media after he cut short the Queen's Christmas Message.[8] The Message was played into his show in error instead of the expected two-minute news bulletin. Binns joked, "Two words: bore-ring". He then went on to joke that the British monarchy can't be as good for tourism as some people claim because "the French executed theirs and people still visit France" and played a George Michael record with the link "from one queen to another".[9][10]
Binns admitted five counts of making and one of possessing indecent images of children when he appeared in court on 21 November 2022.[11] He was found possessing over 35,000 indecent images of children, including 104 Category A, 411 Category B and 34,946 Category C indecent images. On 17 August 2023, he was given a combined 10-month sentence, suspended for 15 months after it was ruled this incident was a result of COVID-19 and medication he was taking at that period of time.[12]
Binns has received several accolades:
