Alan Davies is an English comedian, writer and actor, best known for starring as Jonathan Creek on the popular TV mystery series of the same name. More recently he has been a permanent panellist on the TV quiz show QI.

Davies was born in Loughton in 1966. His childhood years were spent in Chingford and Loughton. Alan's mother died when he was six; he was subsequently raised along with an older brother and younger sister by his father, an accountant.

Davies went to Bancroft's School in Woodford Green and by all accounts was frequently in trouble there. The deputy head of the school reputedly told him that he would never succeed. When he left aged 16 he gained eight O-Levels.

He then moved on to Loughton College of Further Education where he got four more O-Levels and two A-Levels (Communications & Theatre Studies). He graduated from the University of Kent in 1988 and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University in 2003.

Davies began performing stand-up comedy in 1988 at the Whitstable Labour Club, and was named Time Out's Best Young Comic in 1991.

He continued touring and performing in the UK and Canada, winning the Edinburgh Festival Critics Award for Comedy in 1994. That show was released on video and audio cassette in 1995 as Alan Davies Live at the Lyric recorded at the Lyric Theatre as part of the Perrier Pick of the Fringe season in October 1994.