Hubbry Logo
Richard CurtisRichard CurtisMain
Open search
Richard Curtis
Community hub
Richard Curtis
logo
8 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Richard Curtis
Richard Curtis
Richard Curtis
View on Wikipedia
from Wikipedia

Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis (born 8 November 1956) is a British screenwriter, producer and director. One of Britain's most successful comedy screenwriters, he is known for romantic comedy-drama films, including Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Notting Hill (1999), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Love Actually (2003), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004), About Time (2013), Yesterday (2019) and That Christmas (2024), as well as the war drama film War Horse (2011), and for having co-written the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean and The Vicar of Dibley. His early career saw him write material for the comedy sketch shows Not the Nine O'Clock News and Spitting Image.

Key Information

In 2007, Curtis received the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.[1] He is the co-founder, with Lenny Henry, of the British charity Comic Relief, which has raised over £1 billion.[2] At the 2008 Britannia Awards, he received the BAFTA Humanitarian Award for co-creating Comic Relief and for his contributions to other charitable causes.[3] In 2024, he received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[4]

Curtis was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest figures in British comedy in 2003.[5] In 2008, he was ranked number 12 in a list of the "100 most powerful people in British culture" compiled by The Telegraph.[6] In 2012, he was one of the British cultural icons selected by artist Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork—the cover of the Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.[7]

Early life and education

[edit]

Curtis was born in Wellington, New Zealand. He is the son of Glyness S. and Anthony J. Curtis.[8] His father was a Czechoslovak refugee who moved to Australia when aged 13[9] and became an executive at Unilever. Curtis and his family lived in several different countries during his childhood, including Sweden and the Philippines, before moving to the United Kingdom when he was 11.[10]

Curtis attended Papplewick School in Ascot, Berkshire (as did his younger brother Jamie). For a short period in the 1970s, he lived in Warrington, Cheshire, where he attended Appleton Grammar School (now Bridgewater High School). He lived at Merricourt on Windmill Lane, Appleton, Warrington, during this time. His university friend Rowan Atkinson was an occasional visitor to the house.[11]

Curtis then won a scholarship to Harrow School, where he joined the editorial team of The Harrovian, the weekly school magazine, and this, he asserts, is "where I learned all the skills that made me a sketch writer. I did reviews, comment pieces and funny articles where I'd try to conjure something out of nothing."[12] While at Harrow, he directed a school performance of Joe Orton's play The Erpingham Camp; this controversial choice was given the 'green light' by his classics master, James Morwood. Curtis later commented that Morwood's support had helped him understand that it was all right "to push boundaries and to be funny".[12] Curtis did not approve of fagging at the school, and at 18, when he became head of his house, he banned it.[12]

Curtis achieved a first-class Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature at Christ Church, Oxford. At the University of Oxford, he met and began working with Rowan Atkinson, after they both joined the scriptwriting team of the Etceteras revue, part of the Experimental Theatre Club. He appeared in the company's "After Eights" at the Oxford Playhouse in May 1976.

Early writing career

[edit]

Collaborating with Rowan Atkinson in The Oxford Revue, he appeared alongside him at his breakthrough Edinburgh Fringe show. As a result, he was commissioned to co-write the BBC Radio 3 series The Atkinson People with Atkinson in 1978, which was broadcast in 1979.[13] He then began to write comedy for film and TV. He was a regular writer on the BBC comedy series Not the Nine O'Clock News, where he wrote many of the show's satirical sketches, often with Rowan Atkinson. Curtis co-wrote with Philip Pope for the Hee Bee Gee Bees' song "Meaningless Songs (In Very High Voices)", released in 1980, to parody the style of a series of the Bee Gees' disco hits. In 1984 and 1985, Curtis wrote material for ITV's satirical puppet show Spitting Image.[14]

First with Atkinson and later with Ben Elton, Curtis then wrote the Blackadder series from 1983 to 1989, each season focusing on a different era in British history. Atkinson played the lead throughout, but Curtis was the only writer who participated in every episode of Blackadder. The pair continued their collaboration with the comedy series Mr. Bean, which ran from 1990 to 1995.

Curtis had by then already begun writing feature films. His first was The Tall Guy (1989), a romantic comedy starring Jeff Goldblum, Emma Thompson and Rowan Atkinson and produced by Working Title films. The TV movie Bernard and the Genie followed in 1991.

In 1994, Curtis created and co-wrote The Vicar of Dibley for comedian Dawn French, which was a great success. In an online poll conducted in 2004 for Britain's Best Sitcom, it was voted the third-best sitcom in British history and Blackadder the second-best, making Curtis the only screenwriter to create two shows in the poll's top 10 programmes.[citation needed]

Film career

[edit]

Curtis achieved his breakthrough success with the romantic comedy Four Weddings and a Funeral. The 1994 film, starring Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell, was produced on a limited budget by the British production company Working Title Films. Curtis chose Mike Newell to direct the film after watching his TV film Ready When You Are, Mr. McGill.[15] Four Weddings and a Funeral proved to be the top-grossing British film in history at that time. It made an international star of Grant, and Curtis' Oscar nomination for the script catapulted him to prominence (though the Oscar went to Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary for Pulp Fiction). The film was also nominated for Best Picture, but lost to Forrest Gump.

Curtis in London, 1999, the year Notting Hill was released

Curtis' next film was also for Working Title, which has remained his artistic home ever since. 1997's Bean brought Mr. Bean to the big screen and was a huge hit around the world. He continued his association with Working Title writing the 1999 romantic comedy Notting Hill, starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts, which broke the record set by Four Weddings and a Funeral to become the top-grossing British film. The story of a lonely travel bookstore owner who falls in love with the world's most famous movie star was directed by Roger Michell.

Curtis next co-wrote the screen adaptation of the international bestseller Bridget Jones's Diary for Working Title. Curtis knew the novel's writer Helen Fielding and has credited her with saying that his original script for Four Weddings and a Funeral was too upbeat and needed the addition of the titular funeral.

Two years later, Curtis re-teamed with Working Title to write and direct Love Actually. Curtis has said in interviews that the sprawling, multi-character structure of Love Actually owes a debt to his favourite film, Robert Altman's Nashville. The film featured a "Who's Who" of UK actors, including Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Bill Nighy, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, Andrew Lincoln, Alan Rickman and Keira Knightley, in a loosely connected series of stories about people in and out of love in London in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Its regular festive screening has seen it labelled as being arguably a modern-day Christmas staple.[16][17]

Curtis followed this in 2004 with work as co-writer on Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, the sequel to Bridget Jones's Diary. Curtis then wrote the screenplay to The Girl in the Café, a television film directed by David Yates and produced by the BBC and HBO as part of the Make Poverty History campaign's Live 8 efforts in 2005. The film stars Bill Nighy as a civil servant and Kelly Macdonald as a young woman he falls in love with at a fictional G8 summit in Iceland. Macdonald's character pushes him to ask whether the developed countries of the world cannot do more to help the most impoverished. The film was timed to air just before the Gleneagles G8 summit in 2005. It received three Emmy Awards in 2006, including Outstanding Made for Television Movie, Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for Kelly Macdonald and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special trophy for Curtis himself. Curtis said of Yates' direction that he made "a much more beautiful film, and a surprising film and a better film than I could possibly have made."[15]

"The difference between having a good idea for a movie and a finished movie is the same as seeing a pretty girl across the floor at a party and being there when she gives birth to your third child... It's a very long journey."

—Curtis speaking in 2013 on the filmmaking process.[18]

In May 2007, he received the BAFTA Fellowship at the British Academy Television Awards in recognition of his successful career in film and television and his charity efforts.[19][20] Curtis next co-wrote with Anthony Minghella an adaptation of Alexander McCall Smith's novel, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, which Minghella shot in mid-2007 in Botswana. It premiered on the BBC on 23 March 2008, just days after Minghella's death. The film did not run in the US until early 2009, when HBO aired it as the pilot of a resulting six-episode TV series with the same cast, on which Curtis served as executive producer.

Curtis (bottom) during filming The Boat That Rocked in Trafalgar Square, London in May 2009

His second film as writer/director, The Boat That Rocked, was released in 2009. The film was set in 1966 in the era of British pirate radio. It followed a group of DJs on a pirate radio station run from a boat in the North Sea. The film starred Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Nick Frost, Rhys Ifans, Gemma Arterton and Kenneth Branagh. The film was a commercial and critical disappointment in the UK. Curtis re-edited the film for its US release where it was re-titled Pirate Radio, but also failed to find an audience. He followed that with War Horse, which he rewrote for director Steven Spielberg based on an earlier script by playwright Lee Hall. Curtis was recommended to Spielberg by DreamWorks Studio executive Stacey Snider, who had worked with Curtis during her time at Universal Studios. Curtis's work on the World War I-set Blackadder Goes Forth meant he was already familiar with the period.[21]

Curtis then wrote Mary and Martha, a BBC/HBO television film directed by Phillip Noyce. The film starred Hilary Swank and Brenda Blethyn as two women who bond after they both lose their sons to malaria. The film was broadcast in the UK on 1 March 2013. He next wrote and directed About Time, a romantic comedy/drama about time travel and family love.[22] It starred Rachel McAdams, Domhnall Gleeson, Bill Nighy, Tom Hollander, Margot Robbie, Lydia Wilson and Vanessa Kirby.[23] It was released in the UK on 4 September 2013. Soon after the film came out, Curtis delivered a screenwriting lecture as part of the BAFTA and BFI Screenwriters' Lecture Series.[24] He followed that with Trash, which he adapted from the novel by Andy Mulligan for director Stephen Daldry.[25] With three unknown Brazilian children in the lead roles, the film co-starred Wagner Moura, Rooney Mara and Martin Sheen. It was filmed in 2013 in Rio de Janeiro and released in Brazil on 9 October 2014 and in the UK on 30 January 2015.

He next wrote Roald Dahl's Esio Trot, a BBC television film adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic children's novel.[26] Receiving acclaim, the film starred Dustin Hoffman and Judi Dench, with James Corden as the narrator, was directed by Dearbhla Walsh and was broadcast on BBC on 1 January 2015.[26][27] His next film, Yesterday, was adapted from an original screenplay by Jack Barth (who received only "co-story" credit, reportedly at Curtis's insistence).[28] The film, directed by Danny Boyle and starring Lily James and Himesh Patel,[29] follows a young man who discovers that the entire world except for him has no memory of the Beatles, allowing him to become a global pop star by performing their songs as his own. While Barth's original screenplay depicted an obscure musician unable to capitalize on his windfall, Curtis's more conventional script featured an independent musician unable to control his own career once the music industry takes over.[28] It began filming on 21 April 2018 and was released on 28 June 2019.[30]

Campaigning

[edit]
Curtis at Montclair Film Festival in 2016

Curtis and Lenny Henry are co-founders and co-creators of Comic Relief. He is also a founder of Make Poverty History. He organised the Live 8 concerts with Bob Geldof to publicise poverty, particularly in Africa, and pressure G8 leaders to adopt his proposals for ending it. He has written of his work in The Observer in the Global development section in 2005.[31]

Curtis helped spearhead the launch of the Robin Hood tax campaign in 2010. The campaign fights for a 0.05% tax levied on each bank trade ranging from shares to foreign exchange and derivatives that could generate $700bn worldwide and be spent on measures to combat domestic and international poverty as well as fight climate change.[32]

In October 2010, a short film created by Curtis titled No Pressure was released by the 10:10 campaign in Britain to promote climate change politics. The film depicted a series of scenes in which people were asked if they were going to participate in the 10:10 campaign, told there was "no pressure" to do so, but if they did not, they were blown up at the press of a red button. Reaction was mixed, but the video was swiftly removed from the organisation's website.[33]

In March 2011, Curtis apologised following a complaint by the British Stammering Association about 2011 Comic Relief's opening skit, a parody by Lenny Henry of the 2010 film The King's Speech.[34]

Curtis talked the producer of American Idol into doing a show wherein celebrities journeyed into Africa and experienced the level of poverty for themselves. It was called American Idol: Idol Gives Back. In 2014, he publicly backed "Hacked Off" and its campaign in support of UK press self-regulation by "safeguarding the press from political interference while also giving vital protection to the vulnerable."[35][36][37]

In August 2014, Curtis was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.[38]

In 2020, Curtis co-founded the climate finance campaign Make My Money Matter.[39] According to Campaign Director David Hayman the campaign "is all about helping people understand the impact of their money and how helping them think that if they are saving for retirement, what kind of retirement is their money saving for? What kind of world is it building?"[40]

In 2021, he joined the Rewriting Extinction campaign to fight the climate and biodiversity crisis through comics. He wrote a comic story in collaboration with War and Peas named "Woke". It was printed in the book The Most Important Comic Book on Earth: Stories to Save the World[41] which was released on 28 October 2021 by DK.[42]

Personal life

[edit]

Curtis lives in Notting Hill and has a country house in Walberswick, Suffolk[43] with broadcaster Emma Freud whom he married in September 2023.[44] They have four children, including writer and activist Scarlett.[45] He had previously dated Anne Strutt, now Baroness Jenkin of Kennington, before her marriage to Bernard Jenkin, a Member of Parliament (MP).[46] Curtis has named characters in his writing Bernard (reputedly after Jenkin). It is said he used the Jenkins' wedding as inspiration for Four Weddings and a Funeral.[47] He is irreligious.[48] Richard Curtis never won an Oscar for his films, but in 2024 he was honored with an honorary Oscar, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for his achievements. The Oscar was presented to him with an infamously hilarious speech by actor Hugh Grant.

Filmography

[edit]

Film

[edit]

Short film

Year Title Writer Executive
producer
1983 Dead on Time Yes No
1991 Mr. Bean Takes an Exam Yes No
Mr. Bean Goes to a Première Yes No
2010 No Pressure Yes No
2020 A Cheeky Nativity Poem Yes Yes
The Quiz Results Are In! Yes Yes
The Vicar's First 'Viral' Sermon Yes Yes

Feature film

Year Title Director Writer Executive
producer 		Notes
1989 The Tall Guy No Yes No
1994 Four Weddings and a Funeral No Yes Co-executive
1997 Bean No Yes Yes
1999 Notting Hill No Yes Yes
2001 Bridget Jones's Diary No Yes No
2003 Love Actually Yes Yes No
More Great Comedy Moments No Yes No Direct-to-video
2004 Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason No Yes No
2006 Sixty Six No No Yes
2007 Mr. Bean's Holiday No No Yes
2009 The Boat That Rocked Yes Yes Yes Also known as Pirate Radio in North America
2011 War Horse No Yes No
2013 About Time Yes Yes Yes
2014 Trash No Yes No
2018 Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again No Story Yes
2019 Yesterday No Yes Producer
2020 Rising Phoenix No No Yes Documentary film
2023 Genie No Yes Producer
2024 That Christmas No Yes Yes

Acting roles

Year Title Role Notes
1983 Dead on Time Customer in Cafe Short film
1989 The Tall Guy Man Leaving Bathroom Uncredited
2003 Love Actually Trombone Player
TBA Something Sketchy Himself Short film

Television

[edit]
Year Title Creator Writer Executive
producer 		Notes
1979–1982 Not the Nine O'Clock News No Yes No
1984–1985 Spitting Image No Yes No
1985–present Comic Relief Yes No No
1990 French and Saunders No Yes No "Episode #3.7"
1990–1995 Mr. Bean Yes Yes No Also script editor
1994–2007 The Vicar of Dibley Yes Yes Co-executive
2007 Casualty No Yes No Episode "Sweet Charity"
2010 Doctor Who No Yes No Episode "Vincent and the Doctor"

Miniseries

Year Title Creator Writer Executive producer
1983 The Black Adder Yes Yes No
1986 Blackadder II Yes Yes No
1987 Blackadder the Third Yes Yes No
1989 Blackadder Goes Forth Yes Yes No
1997 Balls to Africa: Sporting Noses on Tour No No Yes
2009 The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Yes Yes Yes
2019 Four Weddings and a Funeral No No Yes

TV special

Year Title Writer Executive producer Notes
1989 A Night of Comic Relief 2 Yes No
1989 The Robbie Coltrane Special Yes No
1992 Rowan Atkinson Live Yes No
2015 Global Citizen Festival No Yes
Red Nose Day Yes Yes
2017 Comic Relief: Graham Norton's Big Chat Live No Yes
Red Nose Day: Greg Davies' Hot Tub Half Hour No Yes
The Red Nose Day Special Yes No
2019 The United Nations Association 2019 Global Citizen Awards &
12th Annual West Coast Global Forum 		Yes No Segment "We The People"
2020 Cinderella: A Comic Relief Pantomime for Christmas Yes Yes

TV movies

[edit]
Year Title Creator Writer Executive producer
1988 Blackadder's Christmas Carol No Yes No
1991 Bernard and the Genie No Yes No
1992 Comic Relief: Behind the Nose No No Yes
1995 Oliver 2: Let's Twist Again No Yes No
1999 Comic Relief: Doctor Who - The Curse of Fatal Death No No Yes
Robbie the Reindeer in Hooves of Fire Yes Yes No
2002 Robbie the Reindeer in Legend of the Lost Tribe Yes No Yes
2005 The Girl in the Café No Yes Yes
2007 The Minister of Divine No No Yes
Robbie the Reindeer in Close Encounters of the Herd Kind Yes No No
2008 The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency No Yes No
2013 Comic Relief: Red Nose Day 2013 No Yes Yes
Mary and Martha No Yes No
2015 Esio Trot No Yes Yes
2016 Red Nose Day No Yes No
2018 The Red Nose Day Special No Yes No

Short film

Year Title Creator Director Writer
1982 The Black Adder Yes No Yes
1984 Madness the Pilot No No Yes
1988 Blackadder: The Cavalier Years No No Yes
1999 Blackadder: Back & Forth No No Yes
2017 Red Nose Day Actually No Yes Yes
2019 Comic Relief: Mamma Mia! Here We Go Yet Again No No Yes
One Red Nose Day and a Wedding No No Yes
2023 Baldrick's Bedtime Stories No No Yes

Other venues

[edit]

Radio program

Theater play

Year Title Story writer Actor
2020 Dinner with Dylan[49] Yes Yes

Music video

Year Title Director Executive
producer
2011 "Happy Now" Yes Yes
2024 "Under the Tree" Yes No

Other credits

[edit]

Music composer

Organizer

Additional literary material

Year Title Notes
1984–1985 Spitting Image
1989 Hysteria 2! TV movies
1998 A Royal Birthday Celebration
2000 French & Saunders Live Direct-to-video
2001 One Night with Robbie Williams TV special
2016 Walliams & Friend Episode "Miranda Richardson"
2022 Ticket to Paradise

Awards

[edit]
Year Award Category Work Result
1990 British Academy Television Award Best Comedy (Programme or Series) Blackadder Goes Forth Won
1992 The Curse of Mr. Bean Nominated
1995 Academy Award Best Original Screenplay Four Weddings and a Funeral Nominated
1995 British Academy Film Award Best Original Screenplay Nominated
Writers Guild of America Award Best Original Screenplay Won
Golden Globe Award Best Screenplay Nominated
1998 British Academy Television Award Best Comedy (Programme or Series) The Vicar of Dibley Nominated
1999 Nominated
2002 British Academy Film Award Best Adapted Screenplay Bridget Jones's Diary Nominated
Writers Guild of America Award Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated
2004 Golden Globe Award Best Screenplay Love Actually Nominated
British Academy Film Award Outstanding British Film Nominated
Discoverer Screenwriting Award Best Screenplay Nominated
2005 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Made for Television Movie The Girl in the Café Won
Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special Won
2007 British Academy Film Award Academy Fellowship Won
2020 Global Citizen Prize Award Global Citizen of the Year Won
2025 Academy Award Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award Honored

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Richard Curtis

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis (born 8 November 1956) is a New Zealand-born British , , and director renowned for creating commercially successful romantic comedies that emphasize ensemble casts, witty dialogue, and optimistic resolutions to interpersonal conflicts. Curtis's career gained prominence in British television through collaborations on satirical series such as and the physical comedy vehicle , before transitioning to feature films with the blockbuster (1994), which earned him an nomination for Best Original Screenplay and grossed over $245 million worldwide on a modest budget. Subsequent hits like (1999), (2001), and (2003) solidified his formula of blending humor with emotional depth, collectively amassing billions in global receipts and influencing the genre's emphasis on feel-good narratives. He has received multiple BAFTA nominations for his contributions, including for Best British Film and screenplay adaptations. Parallel to his entertainment work, Curtis co-founded the charity in 1985 alongside comedian , inspired by his firsthand observations of the Ethiopian famine, organizing events like Red Nose Day that have raised over £1 billion for poverty alleviation and through celebrity-driven fundraising appeals. For these efforts, he was appointed Commander of the (CBE) in 2006.

Early Life and Education

Childhood and Upbringing

Richard Curtis was born on 8 November 1956 in , New Zealand, to Australian parents Glyness S. Curtis and Anthony J. Curtis, with the latter serving as an executive at following his own relocation from Czechoslovakia to as a teenager. His father's career necessitated frequent international relocations during Curtis's early years, including extended periods in the and . The family settled in the around 1967, when Curtis was approximately 11 years old, marking a transition to life in that included attendance at boarding schools in . This peripatetic upbringing exposed him to varied cultural environments across continents from a young age. Curtis displayed an early inclination toward writing and , beginning with contributions of humorous articles to his school magazine, which laid foundational steps toward his later creative pursuits.

Academic Background

Curtis attended , an elite independent boarding school in , after winning a at age 13. This institution, known for educating members of the British establishment, provided early exposure to networks that later facilitated his entry into and media circles, underscoring the role of class-linked affiliations in such trajectories. He then studied English Language and Literature at , from approximately 1975 to 1978, earning a first-class degree. During this period, Curtis engaged in university dramatic activities, including writing and performing for the Oxford Revue, a student comedy troupe that honed his scriptwriting skills and led to collaborations such as with . These experiences at , another bastion of elite education, emphasized practical application of literary studies to creative output rather than abstract theory. Curtis pursued no postgraduate qualifications, instead entering immediately after graduating in 1978. This direct path reflected the era's opportunities for Oxford humanities graduates from privileged backgrounds to leverage university connections into media professions without further formal credentials.

Television Career

Initial Writing Breakthroughs

Curtis first gained writing credits on the BBC sketch comedy series Not the Nine O'Clock News, which aired from 1979 to 1982, where he co-wrote satirical sketches targeting current events, politics, and popular culture alongside contributors including Rowan Atkinson, whom he had met during their time at Oxford University. The series featured absurd, irreverent humor that built on the sketch traditions of earlier British comedy like Monty Python's Flying Circus, though Curtis's contributions emphasized rapid-fire parody over surrealism, often through collaborative input from Oxford contemporaries such as Atkinson and composer Howard Goodall. Initial episodes drew low viewership, with the premiere attracting under one million viewers on BBC Two, but later series saw improved ratings and helped launch the performers' careers, establishing Curtis's foundation in ensemble-driven satire rather than solo innovation. In 1983, Curtis co-wrote the first series of with Atkinson, shifting toward scripted historical set in medieval , where the bumbling Prince navigates court intrigue amid anachronistic wit. This marked a refinement of parody techniques from sketch format to narrative structure, emphasizing character-driven absurdity and verbal dexterity in a collaborative process reliant on Atkinson's performance strengths and Curtis's plotting, underscoring how interpersonal networks from university revues propelled their breakthroughs over innate genius alone. While initial ratings were modest—averaging around 6 million viewers per episode on —the series cultivated a dedicated for its linguistic precision and historical subversion, laying groundwork for subsequent iterations despite the first season's comparative weaknesses in pacing and reception.

Major Series and Collaborations

Curtis co-created the historical sitcom with , with the first series, , airing on starting 15 June 1983. The initial season featured a more earnest protagonist and received mixed reception, nearly leading to cancellation due to insufficient viewership amid BBC budget constraints. Curtis then partnered with as co-writer for subsequent series— (1986), (1987), and (1989)—refining the format into sharper, more cynical comedy centered on cunning anti-heroes navigating historical eras, which solidified its cult status. In collaboration with Atkinson, Curtis developed , a wordless series that premiered on ITV on 1 January 1990 and ran for 15 episodes until 1995. The format's innovation lay in its reliance on visual gags and minimal dialogue, allowing universal appeal without linguistic barriers, which facilitated syndication in over 200 territories. Curtis wrote , which debuted on on 10 November 1994, centering on an unconventional female vicar () amid a quirky rural ensemble including parishioners like the pompous David Horton () and dim-witted Alice Tinker (). The series employed familiar British comedic tropes of village eccentricity and community clashes, drawing strong audiences such as 11.4 million for a 2006 Christmas special.

Film Career

Key Screenplays and Breakthroughs

Curtis's entry into feature films marked a shift from television writing, leveraging his established comedic style to craft romantic comedies that capitalized on Britain's post-Thatcher economic optimism and global cultural export potential in the . These screenplays typically featured affluent, urban protagonists entangled in improbable romances, reflecting a formula of light-hearted amid rising disposable incomes and media , rather than broader societal tensions. The screenplay for (1994), directed by Mike Newell and starring , represented his cinematic breakthrough, grossing $245 million worldwide on a $4 million budget and catalyzing the "Britcom" wave by demonstrating low-cost British productions' viability for U.S. audiences. This success stemmed from its relatable wedding-centric plot and Grant's stammering charm, which exported British wit without heavy reliance on dialect barriers, though critics later noted its idealized upper-class milieu overlooked working-class realities. Curtis refined this template in Notting Hill (1999), scripting a bookseller's affair with a film star played by , which earned $364 million globally on a $42 million , further entrenching the genre's focus on London's prosperous district as a romantic backdrop. Similarly, his co-authorship of Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), adapting Helen Fielding's with Andrew Davies, depicted a media professional's chaotic love life and grossed $282 million worldwide against a $25 million , reinforcing the archetype of self-deprecating, career-oriented heroines in elite social circles. By (2003), an ensemble screenplay intertwining multiple holiday romances among politicians, writers, and stand-up comics, Curtis's formula showed repetition in its overwhelmingly white, upper-middle-class casts and settings, amassing $248 million worldwide on a $40 million budget despite lacking the singular star power of prior hits. This output, while commercially robust amid the early rom-com boom, empirically prioritized feel-good narratives enabled by over diverse or gritty portrayals, a pattern Curtis himself later critiqued for underrepresenting .

Directorial Projects

Richard Curtis made his feature film directorial debut with (2003), a ensemble film featuring interlocking narratives across multiple characters in during the season. The production involved coordinating a large cast including , , and , with filming spanning 52 locations over five months to capture the film's logistical complexity of weaving ten distinct storylines. Despite achieving commercial success with a worldwide gross of $246 million against a $40-45 million budget, the film received mixed critical reception, with reviewers noting challenges in pacing and narrative cohesion amid the sprawling plot structure. Curtis's second directorial effort, (released as in some markets, 2009), depicted the anarchic world of 1960s offshore pirate radio broadcasters aboard a ship evading government regulations. The film starred , , and , with production costs reaching $50 million, including elaborate sets for the vessel recreated in studios and on location. It underperformed financially, earning $36.4 million globally, failing to recoup its budget due to weak domestic openings and competition in the comedy genre. Curtis has not directed a major since 2009, limiting his output to two directorial credits compared to his extensive portfolio of higher-grossing successes. He has expressed a preference for writing over directing, citing the demands of on-set management as less suited to his strengths, and stated in 2023 that further directing is unlikely. This aligns with box-office data showing his directed works lagging behind his scripted films in returns, highlighting directing's higher risk profile for him.

Recent Developments in Film and Animation

In 2024, Richard Curtis made his debut in feature-length with , a release on December 4 that adapts his trilogy of children's books into an interconnected holiday narrative set in Wellington-on-Sea during a blizzard. The film, co-written by Curtis and Peter Souter, draws inspiration from the anthology style of , emphasizing family, community, and festive mishaps including Santa Claus's errors, voiced by Brian Cox. Produced by , it marks Curtis's shift toward family-oriented content amid his expressed weariness with traditional formats. Curtis has publicly stated his reluctance to direct future projects, telling in November 2024, "It's just not gonna happen," citing aversion to early mornings and the demands of on-set leadership. This follows his last directorial effort, in 2009, with subsequent involvement limited to writing and producing, allowing focus on narrative oversight rather than production logistics. During his acceptance of the at the Academy's on November 17, 2024, Curtis advocated for "impact producers" in and television, urging filmmakers to allocate budgets for campaigns measuring social outcomes beyond success. He emphasized integrating quantifiable societal effects into creative processes, reflecting his longstanding blend of entertainment and advocacy. That Christmas received mixed critical reception, earning a 67% approval rating on and a 6.8/10 on , praised for its heartfelt themes but critiqued for narrative overcrowding.

Philanthropy and Activism

Establishment of Comic Relief

Richard Curtis co-founded in 1985, motivated by the Ethiopian famine, initially with Jane Tewson and later alongside comedian as a key collaborator in developing its comedic fundraising approach. The organization originated as a UK-based charity aimed at leveraging entertainment to address poverty and emergencies, starting with efforts to channel funds toward and domestic needs. The inaugural Red Nose Day occurred on 5 February 1988, featuring a BBC telethon with comedy sketches, celebrity appearances, and short films, which raised £15 million in donations. This event introduced the core mechanism of Comic Relief: high-profile televised specials combining humor with appeals for contributions, augmented by merchandise sales such as the iconic red noses and widespread sponsored challenges among the public. Subsequent Red Nose Days followed, evolving into a near-biennial format that alternated with related events like Sport Relief, fostering sustained donor engagement through recurring spectacle. By the 2020s, these efforts had cumulatively generated over £1 billion, with funds directed to projects in the UK and expanding internationally to support anti-poverty initiatives in multiple countries. Curtis maintained an executive role as co-founder and vice-chair, guiding the charity's creative and operational strategy from inception through its growth phase. This structure emphasized scalable, event-driven fundraising reliant on broadcast partnerships, celebrity involvement, and grassroots participation, distinguishing from traditional aid organizations by prioritizing accessible, light-hearted appeals over solemn advocacy.

Broader Campaigns and Initiatives

Curtis co-founded the campaign in 2005, a coalition of over 460 organizations advocating for increased , cancellation, and reforms to address global , particularly in , in alignment with the UN's (MDGs). The campaign culminated in a rally in on July 2, 2005, attended by approximately 200,000 participants wearing white "" bands, timed ahead of the summit at Gleneagles, , where leaders pledged to double to by 2010 and cancel $40 billion in for 18 countries. Curtis contributed to the campaign's messaging and collaborated on related concerts organized by across 10 cities on July 2 and 13, 2005, which drew an estimated global television audience of 2 billion and amplified calls for policy shifts on . In support of the MDGs, adopted by the UN in 2000 to halve by 2015, Curtis advocated through MPH and produced the HBO film (2005), depicting negotiations on , which won an Emmy for Outstanding Made for Television Movie. His efforts emphasized celebrity endorsements alongside grassroots mobilization, though critics have noted the challenges in attributing direct policy causation to such high-profile drives amid concurrent diplomatic pressures. Transitioning to the post-2015 era, Curtis founded Project Everyone in 2014 to promote the UN's (SDGs), a framework of 17 goals aiming to end , protect the planet, and ensure prosperity by 2030. Launched in September 2015 alongside the SDGs at the UN , the initiative produced campaigns like the "Global Goals" light show on UN headquarters and films featuring figures such as to raise awareness, reaching millions via and events. Appointed a UN SDG in 2016, Curtis collaborated with partners including the UN and communications firms to localize SDG messaging, focusing on endorsements from governments and corporations, while evidence of transformative policy shifts remains tied more to sustained multilateral commitments than campaign visibility alone.

Measured Impact and Empirical Critiques

Comic Relief has distributed over £2 billion in grants since its founding, with annual investments reaching £75.4 million in the 2018-19 alone, funding projects in the UK and internationally, including significant allocations to African initiatives aimed at alleviation. However, economists such as Dambisa Moyo have critiqued such flows, arguing that Africa's receipt of over $1 trillion in foreign assistance since the 1960s has fostered government dependency, corruption, and disincentives for domestic revenue generation and economic reform, rather than . Moyo's analysis posits that charity-driven , including from organizations like Comic Relief, often sustains inefficient bureaucracies and perpetuates cycles by crowding out market-driven solutions. The 2005 Live 8 concerts, co-promoted by figures including Richard Curtis through associated campaigns, generated global awareness and influenced G8 commitments to double annual aid to to $50 billion by 2010 and provide $40-55 billion in for . Despite initial debt reductions totaling $1.8 billion for some nations and increased poverty-focused spending, World Bank assessments indicate that long-term poverty reduction remained negligible, with many G8 pledges on aid scaling and —such as halving poverty by 2015—largely unmet due to insufficient follow-through and structural barriers like . Proponents of , drawing on randomized controlled trials (RCTs), contend that alternatives like unconditional cash transfers outperform traditional project-based aid in cost-effectiveness, yielding higher improvements in consumption, health, and education outcomes per dollar spent, as evidenced by evaluations of programs like . These findings highlight potential inefficiencies in awareness-focused fundraising models, which prioritize emotional engagement over evidence-based allocation, though defenders argue that broad public mobilization sustains funding volumes unattainable through niche, metrics-driven charities alone.

Personal Life

Family and Relationships

Richard Curtis has been in a long-term relationship with broadcaster and journalist Emma Freud since the early 1990s. The couple, who collaborated professionally on several projects including script editing for Curtis's films, chose not to marry for over three decades despite Freud's proposals in 1988 and on a subsequent leap year. They wed secretly in September 2023, marking the end of their unmarried cohabitation period. Curtis and Freud have four children: daughter , born in the early 1990s, and sons Jake, Charlie, and Spike. Scarlett has pursued a public career as an author and activist, contributing to family-linked charitable efforts such as initiatives, while the sons have maintained lower profiles away from media scrutiny. The family has resided primarily in with a secondary home in , emphasizing privacy amid Curtis's high-visibility career. No public records indicate divorces or significant relational disruptions for Curtis, with the partnership presenting as enduring and insulated from tabloid sensationalism. This contrasts with the romantic tropes in Curtis's screenplays, as the family structure relies on sustained co-parenting without formal legal bonds until 2023.

Lifestyle and Public Persona

Curtis has maintained a primary residence in since establishing his career there in the , initially in the affluent district. His former home at 280 Westbourne Park Road featured as the exterior for the protagonist's flat in the 1999 film Notting Hill, complete with its distinctive blue door, though interiors were studio-built. In November 2022, Curtis sold this property in an off-market transaction valued near £30 million, relocating to a Grade II-listed townhouse in acquired for £17.5 million the following year. His early international relocations—born in in 1956, then living in and the owing to his father's executive role—fostered a peripatetic , though no ongoing foreign properties are publicly confirmed. Curtis cultivates a public image as an affable, unpretentious figure synonymous with light-hearted and tireless charity advocacy, often appearing in media as a jovial collaborator on global causes. This persona aligns with his hands-on editing of appeals and orchestration of high-profile events like securing performers for UN initiatives. However, detractors contend that his screenworks, centered on privileged enclaves like , evince detachment from broader socioeconomic realities, portraying characters in multimillion-pound homes amid ostensible "poverty" while glossing over class disparities. Such critiques highlight a perceived insularity, with Notting Hill's —exacerbated by influxes of wealth—mirroring the sanitized, upwardly mobile worlds Curtis depicts. In personal pursuits, Curtis maintains interests in music's mobilizational power for social ends, citing Band Aid's triumph as a model that spurred his philanthropic innovations, though he did not directly produce the recording. By the 2020s, his habits have oriented toward low-profile advisory capacities, including founding Project Everyone in 2015 to amplify UN via entertainment and data-driven campaigns, reflecting a pivot from frontline filmmaking to strategic influence.

Recognition and Awards

Creative Achievements Honors

Curtis earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for (1994) at the in 1995, marking his sole Oscar nod despite the film's cultural impact and commercial performance of $247.5 million worldwide. He received no competitive Oscars for subsequent works, reflecting the Academy's longstanding preference for dramatic narratives over romantic comedies, a genre Curtis helped define through accessible, character-driven storytelling. At the , Curtis was nominated for Best Original Screenplay for in 1995 but did not win; he later shared the Best Adapted Screenplay award for (2001) with and Andrew Davies in 2002. His films (1999) and (2003) garnered multiple BAFTA nominations, including for Best British Film, underscoring peer recognition within British cinema circles, though wins eluded his directorial efforts. The cumulative worldwide of key scripted films like ($364 million), ($282 million), and ($251 million) exceeded $1.1 billion unadjusted, per studio-reported figures, highlighting his role in commercially viable formulaic rom-coms critiqued by some for predictability yet praised for broad appeal. In television, Curtis secured three in 2006 for The Girl in the Café, including Outstanding Made for Television Movie, demonstrating versatility beyond features in politically themed shorts. This win contrasted with the Oscars' oversight, as Emmys have occasionally rewarded lighter fare when tied to social messaging, though Curtis's oeuvre prioritizes entertainment over prestige.

Humanitarian and Philanthropic Awards

Curtis was appointed Commander of the (CBE) in recognition of his services to charity, particularly through founding and related fundraising initiatives. This honor, conferred by the British monarch, highlights contributions to public welfare via large-scale philanthropy, with Curtis's efforts linked to mobilizing entertainment industry resources for aid. In November 2024, Curtis received the , an honorary Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, at the 15th ceremony held on November 17. The award criteria focus on humanitarian efforts that enhance the motion picture industry's reputation through promoting human welfare, specifically citing Curtis's role in Comic Relief's campaigns, which have raised over £1 billion for poverty relief since 1985. Such recognitions prioritize fundraising volume and public engagement over granular outcome metrics, amid broader discussions in on whether scaled awareness translates to sustained causal improvements in targeted areas like . Additional honors include Curtis's appointment as a Sustainable Development Goals Advocate in January 2016, acknowledging his advocacy for global through partnerships with entities like Project Everyone. In 2019, he was named Global Citizen of the Year by Global Citizen for engaging millions via campaigns such as . More recently, in March 2025, Curtis and co-founder Lenny Henry were announced as recipients of the Carnegie Medal of , emphasizing innovative charity models that leverage media for social impact. These accolades collectively underscore Curtis's influence in celebrity-driven , where success is often measured by funds mobilized—exceeding £2 billion across his initiatives—rather than exclusively by of beneficiary outcomes.

Controversies and Reflections

Criticisms of Film Representations

Richard Curtis's films from the 1990s and 2000s, such as Notting Hill (1999) and Love Actually (2003), have faced retrospective criticism for their lack of ethnic diversity, with predominantly white casts despite settings in multicultural areas like London's Notting Hill, a birthplace of the British Black civil rights movement. Curtis acknowledged this in October 2023 at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, stating the absence of diverse representation made him feel "uncomfortable and a bit stupid," attributing it to his upbringing in an un-diverse environment and friendships from similar backgrounds. He credited his daughter Scarlett's questioning during family discussions, including a 2018 podcast appearance, for prompting reflection, and reiterated in a 2022 U.S. TV special on Love Actually that he had been "stupid and wrong" on the issue. Another point of contention involves fat-shaming tropes, particularly in (2001), where the protagonist, played by , faces repeated mockery for her weight and sets a goal to "lose 20 pounds," with similar jokes appearing in and . Curtis expressed regret over these in his 2023 festival , noting he was "shocked" five years prior when Scarlett informed him that terms like "fat" were no longer acceptable in scripts, and conceded the jokes were "behind the curve" and no longer funny amid evolving sensitivities toward . Critics have also highlighted an upper-class bias in Curtis's portrayals, depicting an idealized, affluent Britain of "posh, frigid" characters that overlooks working-class realities and reinforces stereotypes of British life as uniformly middle- or upper-class , disconnected from broader socioeconomic diversity. This view posits his rom-coms as fantasy worlds prioritizing aspirational romance over realistic representation, potentially shaping international perceptions of Britain during the 1990s era. In defense, some observers argue these films embodied era-specific optimism and genre conventions of light-hearted , reflecting pre-social media cultural norms rather than deliberate exclusion, and remain valued for their entertainment without necessitating cancellation for dated elements. Curtis himself has framed his past work as a product of unobservant choices, now viewed through contemporary lenses shaped by movements like #MeToo and heightened diversity awareness.

Debates on Philanthropic Approaches

Critiques of 's philanthropic model, co-founded by Curtis in 1985, have centered on its reliance on emotional, celebrity-driven appeals that prioritize short-term sympathy over long-term structural reforms, potentially fostering dependency in recipient communities rather than promoting self-reliance. Journalist Linda Polman, in her 2010 book The Crisis Caravan, argues that the broader industry, including events like those inspired by (which influenced Curtis's work), often prolongs conflicts and undermines local economies by creating parallel aid bureaucracies that disincentivize governance accountability, though she does not single out Comic Relief explicitly. Economists and skeptics, drawing from causal analyses of aid flows, contend that such approaches mirror state-like interventions that distort markets and entrench poverty traps, with right-leaning commentators highlighting how unchecked aid inflows correlate with persistent corruption in African bureaucracies without addressing root causes like property rights or barriers. In defense, Curtis and Comic Relief proponents emphasize measurable, incremental outcomes from targeted interventions, noting that the organization has raised over £2 billion since inception, funding programs that delivered vaccinations to millions and reduced child mortality in specific regions through partnerships like GAVI. For instance, Sport Relief funds matched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation supported immunization drives, averting deaths from preventable diseases, with Curtis rebutting broader critiques by arguing that dismissing aid ignores verifiable lives saved via evidence-based health initiatives, even if systemic poverty endures. This incrementalist stance contrasts traditional charity's focus on immediate relief with effective altruism principles, yet Curtis has maintained that public awareness campaigns, despite emotional framing, drive donations that yield causal impacts like 8 million meals distributed or education for underserved children. Empirical data underscores unresolved tensions: while sub-Saharan Africa's GDP growth averaged 5% annually post-2005 (co-organized by Curtis), lived poverty—measured by access to basics like food and clean water—declined modestly until 2015 but resurged amid conflicts and inequality, with over 400 million people still in by 2022 per Afrobarometer surveys across 34 countries. World Bank analyses confirm that aid correlates with health gains but fails to break broader poverty traps, where inequality thresholds above 35% hinder growth's poverty-reducing effects, leaving debates open on whether 's model advances causal progress or merely sustains a dependency cycle without resolving failures.

References

  1. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0193485/bio/
  2. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0193485/
  3. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0193485/awards/
  4. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/richard_curtis
  5. https://www.comicrelief.com/about-comic-relief/richard-curtis/
  6. https://spyscape.com/article/richard-curtis-the-comedy-superhero-working-to-eliminate-poverty
  7. https://www.beyondthejoke.co.uk/content/opinion-should-comedians-accept-honours
  8. https://mabumbe.com/people/richard-curtis-age-net-worth-relationships-career-bio/
  9. https://www.geni.com/people/Richard-Curtis-CBE/6000000030569995588
  10. http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/481510/index.html
  11. https://thescriptlab.com/features/screenwriting-101/11472-the-great-screenwriters-part-29-richard-curtis/
  12. http://www.esprit-paillettes.com/richard-curtis-love-humour-and-action/
  13. https://www.harrowschool.org.uk/news-events/notable-old-harrovians
  14. https://cherwell.org/2014/01/05/interview-richard-curtis/
  15. https://www.bifa.film/people/richard-curtis/
  16. https://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/article/richard-curtis-young
  17. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080253/fullcredits/
  18. https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/not_the_nine_oclock_news/cast_crew/
  19. https://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/570920/credits.html
  20. https://www.classicfm.com/composers/goodall/guides/facts-gallery/atkinson-goodall-curtis/
  21. https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/anniversaries/june/blackadder
  22. https://www.the-independent.com/news/media/tv-radio/how-blackadder-changed-the-history-of-television-comedy-1705107.html
  23. https://filmfolly.com/review/blackadder-british-comedy-at-its-absolute-peak
  24. https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1965836/blackadder-cancelled-by-bbc-budget-slash
  25. https://www.bbcamerica.com/blogs/10-projects-that-made-us-appreciate-richard-curtis-from-blackadder-to-notting-hill--1060534
  26. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096657/
  27. https://senalnews.com/en/digital/banijays-mr-bean-hits-35-million-youtube-subscribers-in-time-for-its-35-years-on-air
  28. https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/vicar-dibley
  29. https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6209697.stm
  30. https://deadline.com/2019/03/four-weddings-funeral-richard-curtis-working-title-mike-newell-british-industry-1202575370/
  31. https://collider.com/richard-curtis-movies-ranked/
  32. https://www.imdb.com/news/ni64625579/
  33. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0243155/
  34. https://www.flixist.com/love-actually-20th-anniversary-retrospective/
  35. https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/richard-curtis-career-misrepresenting-britain/
  36. https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Love-Actually
  37. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/love_actually
  38. https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1131729/
  39. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1131729/
  40. https://www.aol.com/richard-curtis-done-directing-just-103409430.html
  41. https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1319216/director-richard-curtis-no-lover-life-behind-camera
  42. https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/that-christmas-release-date-photos-news
  43. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14855468/
  44. https://deadline.com/2024/06/filmmaker-richard-curtis-christmas-reveals-charlie-brown-annecy-1235970784/
  45. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/netflix-that-christmas-brian-cox-santa-santa-animation-1236064907/
  46. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/dec/01/that-christmas-review-overstuffed-but-lovingly-detailed-animation-richard-curtis-locksmith
  47. https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/news/richard-curtis-christmas-film-new-netflix-b2653764.html
  48. https://uk.news.yahoo.com/love-actually-creator-richard-curtis-122513085.html
  49. https://togetherfilms.org/blog/richard-curtis-calls-for-the-use-of-impact-producers-in-film-tv-projects/
  50. https://www.goldderby.com/film/2024/governors-awards-quincy-jones-bond/
  51. https://apnews.com/article/richard-curtis-honoary-oscar-0041d5f6a8881e8301ca931c4358350b
  52. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/that_christmas
  53. https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/anniversaries/february/a-night-of-comic-relief
  54. https://www.comicrelief.com/history-of-red-nose-day/
  55. https://smileymovement.org/news/40-years-comic-relief
  56. https://unpartnerships.un.org/richard-curtis
  57. https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/jul/03/live8.music5
  58. https://thoughteconomics.com/richard-curtis-comic-relief/
  59. https://www.worldbenchmarkingalliance.org/team/richard-curtis/
  60. https://project-everyone.org/about-us/
  61. https://globalgoals.org/news/project-everyone-10-years-of-impact/
  62. https://www.comicrelief.com/annualreport2018-19/impact-and-investment/
  63. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2009/feb/19/dambisa-moyo-dead-aid-africa
  64. https://blogs.ubc.ca/unevendevelopment/2009/10/14/dambisa-moyo-on-the-problems-of-aid-dependency/
  65. https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamforrest/2015/07/13/did-live-8-work-10-years-on-the-debt-burden-returns/
  66. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-33388990
  67. https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/10546/115068/1/bp-where-money-g8-050701-en.pdf
  68. https://www.effectivealtruism.org/articles/sam-carter-are-cash-transfers-the-best-policy-option
  69. https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/paul-niehaus-cash-transfers/
  70. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/M5pgfDvDDt6aaLGxq/should-all-rcts-now-be-intervention-x-vs-cash-transfer
  71. https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/love-actually-director-richard-curtis-31206015
  72. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-5553735/Emma-Freud-proposed-Richard-Curtis-just-year.html
  73. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/relationships/romcom-king-richard-curtis-emma-freud-wedding/
  74. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-12725651/Richard-Curtis-daughter-Scarlett-birthday-tribute-Taylor-Swift.html
  75. https://www.hellomagazine.com/celebrities/735363/richard-curtis-famous-family-rejected-proposal-twice/
  76. https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/news/richard-curtis-emma-freud-married-children-wedding-b2432301.html
  77. https://metro.co.uk/2023/10/17/richard-curtis-marries-emma-freud-wife-19678373/
  78. https://www.stylist.co.uk/happy-place/emma-freud-explains-why-shell-never-marry-richard-curtis/197948
  79. https://hookedonhouses.net/2009/09/13/notting-hill-hugh-grants-house-with-the-blue-door/
  80. https://www.standard.co.uk/homesandproperty/celebrity-homes/richard-curtis-notting-hill-emma-freud-property-sale-b1040640.html
  81. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-12766321/EMILY-PRESCOTT-Notting-Hills-Richard-Curtis-heads-north-Hampstead-splashing-17m-listed-mansion.html
  82. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/09/24/442913058/meet-the-man-who-booked-beyonce-to-sing-for-the-u-n-s-global-goals
  83. https://unherd.com/2024/05/the-dark-side-of-notting-hill/
  84. https://www.newstatesman.com/environment/2022/02/richard-curtis-if-the-future-is-rotten-a-few-extra-quid-is-not-going-to-help-you
  85. https://www.bafta.org/awards/film/original-screenplay/
  86. https://www.unitedagents.co.uk/richard-curtis
  87. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0125439/
  88. https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Bridget-Joness-Diary
  89. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314331/
  90. https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/richard-curtis/bio/3030235818/
  91. https://www.media.volvocars.com/us/en-us/media/pressreleases/12912/
  92. https://www.oscars.org/governors/ceremonies/2024
  93. https://press.oscars.org/news/academy-honor-richard-curtis-quincy-jones-juliet-taylor-michael-g-wilson-barbara-broccoli-15th
  94. https://www.oscars.org/governors/hersholt
  95. https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/richard-curtis-global-citizen-of-the-year-award/
  96. https://www.medalofphilanthropy.org/richard-curtis-and-sir-lenny-henry-among-honorees-as-carnegie-medal-of-philanthropy-recipients-announced/
  97. https://www.vice.com/en/article/this-is-what-britain-looks-like-through-richard-curtis-eyes/
  98. https://www.darkhorizons.com/richard-curtis-talks-his-film-regrets/
  99. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/oct/16/richard-curtis-admits-regret-over-weight-jokes-and-lack-of-diversity-in-films
  100. https://ew.com/movies/richard-curtis-fat-shaming-lack-of-diversity-regrets/
  101. https://deadline.com/2023/10/richard-curtis-regrets-jokes-lack-of-diversity-films-love-actually-notting-hill-bridget-jones-diary-1235576295/
  102. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/love-actually-director-regrets-weight-jokes-lack-of-diversity-past-films-1235621116/
  103. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/richard-curtis-regrets-weight-jokes-in-love-actually-bridget-jones-notting-hill_n_652fcb6de4b00565b6222851
  104. https://variety.com/2023/film/news/love-actually-director-richard-curtis-regrets-fat-jokes-1235759661/
  105. https://nypost.com/2023/10/17/love-actually-director-richard-curtis-regret-fat-shaming-jokes/
  106. https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/features/richard-curtis-movies-criticism-b2435672.html
  107. https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/richard-curtiss-romcoms-might-be-bad-for-women-but-ill-never-stop-watching-them-2692074
  108. https://filmstories.co.uk/news/richard-curtis-reflects-on-criticism-of-his-past-work-those-jokes-arent-any-longer-funny/
  109. https://www.counterpunch.org/2005/10/27/bono-and-geldoff-quot-we-saved-africa-quot/
  110. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780312610586/thecrisiscaravan/
  111. https://www.amazon.com/Crisis-Caravan-Whats-Wrong-Humanitarian/dp/B005Q5TQF4
  112. https://www.bbc.com/charityappeals/what-your-money-does/amounts-raised
  113. https://www.gavi.org/news/media-room/comic-relief-goes-distance-immunisation
  114. https://www.comicrelief.org/red-nose-day/impact/healthy
  115. https://www.comicrelief.com/news/over-23-million-raised-red-nose-day-usa/
  116. https://www.afrobarometer.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/PP84-PAP19-Lived-poverty-resurgent-Afrobarometer-Pan-Africa-Profile-30dec22.pdf
  117. https://www.afrobarometer.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/ab_r5_policypaperno1.pdf
  118. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/aa33003e-2708-5911-bd0d-5a74ec5687fb
  119. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1757780223007448
Add your contribution
Related Hubs
User Avatar
No comments yet.