(Photo: Getty Images)

Holding, a four-part adaptation of Graham Norton's debut novel, is coming to Acorn TV today (Monday, March 6). It's directed by none other than Kathy Burke, who said when the series was announced that she couldn't "think of a better way to celebrate" her 40th year working in the entertainment industry. We're celebrating too, by making the inimitable actor, director, and presenter our British Icon of the Week. Here are 10 things we really appreciate about the great Kathy Burke.

1. She has given us some classic comedy characters.

In the 1990s, Burke was a main cast member on the enormously popular British sketch show Harry Enfield & Chums. She and Enfield's sulky and monosyllabic teenage boy characters, Kevin and Perry, became such a phenomenon that they got their own spin-off movie, 2000's Kevin & Perry Go Large. It followed the not-so-dynamic duo on a lads' holiday to Ibiza.

2. She is a longtime feminist.

In fact, Burke has been kicking back against the patriarchy since she was a teenager. "Growing up in the 70s, if you were a girl or woman, a man could tell you what to do – if you were sitting on the bus: ‘Get up,’ ‘Move,’ whatever," she told The Guardian. "[But] I got some backbone and realized, no, I don't need to be spoken to like this."

3. She starred in a super-popular British sitcom that still makes us laugh (and gasp).

From 1999 to 2001, Burke starred as bold and bolshy Linda La Hughes in the very salty flatshare sitcom Gimme Gimme Gimme. Written by award-winning playwright Jonathan Harvey, the scripts weren't afraid to get risqué, and Burke bounced off her co-star James Dreyfus hilariously. 

4. She is also an award-winning dramatic actress.

In 1997, Burke won Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival for her utterly harrowing performance in Nil by Mouth. She played a working-class woman from South London trapped in a brutally abusive relationship. The classic British film, which was directed by Gary Oldman and co-starred Ray Winstone, was re-released in U.K. theaters last year for its 25th anniversary.

5. She is an experienced director.

Holding is hardly Burke's first time calling the shots. She has previously directed more than a dozen stage plays including a 2018 production of Lady Windermere's Fan starring Jennifer Saunders and 2001's Out in the Open, which was James McAvoy's first theater job. She also directed James Corden and Mathew Horne's BBC sketch show Horne & Corden.

6. She had a great guest spot in Absolutely Fabulous.

Jennifer Saunders' iconic '90s sitcom attracted loads of fantastic actors, but Burke's recurring role is one of the best. She appears in five episodes as magazine editor Magda, the no-nonsense boss of Joanna Lumley's Patsy. Burke reprises her role in 2016's Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, where Magda hasn't lost any of her brash attitude.

7. She is refreshingly honest about, well, pretty much everything.

In a recent interview with The Observer, Burke got real about why she doesn't appear on screen so much these days. "In the past 20 years, I've done three acting roles. And I might be about to do another one – a small one – which I can’t talk about," she said. "Because what I never want to do is be on a film set every f**king day for six weeks as an actor. Most of the time you're sitting around doing nothing and it’s mind-numbingly boring."

8. She is fully engaged on Twitter.

Burke's Twitter feed is very much a reflection of her personality: hilarious, self-deprecating, and unafraid to get political when necessary. You can give her a follow @KathyBurke. 

(Photo: @KathyBurke/Twitter)

9. She is proudly working-class.

In this clip from her 2021 documentary series Kathy Burke: Money Talks, she talks candidly about growing up in poverty and the rigidity of the British class system. "I think that if you've come from a working-class background, you're never allowed to forget it," she says, "not that one would want to forget it if you're proud of your roots."

10. And finally, she has a wickedly playful side.

It's a little too rude to quote here, but let's just say that when Helena Bonham Carter said something Burke disagreed with in the '90s, Burke gave an iconic response... by writing into Time Out magazine. You can check out Burke's legendary letter to the editor, which regularly gets recirculated on Twitter, here.

Do you have a favorite Kathy Burke role or moment?