Early work and Peep Show Before his break into comedy, Mitchell worked as an usher at the
Lyric Hammersmith theatre, and in the cloakroom of
TFI Friday among other jobs. Mitchell's first project with Webb was in January 1995, a show about a nuclear apocalypse entitled
Innocent Millions Dead or Dying: A Wry Look at the Post-Apocalyptic Age. Webb later described it as being "fucking terrible". In 2001 the two men were commissioned for a sketch show of their own, entitled
The Mitchell and Webb Situation, which ran for six episodes on the now-defunct channel
Play UK. In the interview with
Wessex Scene, Mitchell stated that he was "more proud of the way it turned out than annoyed that it was only aired on a small channel". The show originated from writers
Jesse Armstrong and
Sam Bain's failed attempt to complete a team-written sitcom for the BBC; they had an old script that they wanted to revive and Mitchell and Webb helped out, with it eventually evolving into
Peep Show. the show was received to wide critical acclaim. The BBC hailed Mitchell's performance in the series, stating that: "As Mark Corrigan, David reached out to all those middle-aged men in a twentysomething's body, who believe drugs are boring and systems are necessary if society is to function at all." In 2009, Mitchell won the
British Academy Television Award for Best Comedy Performance for his work on
Peep Show, after having lost in the same category the year before. He was nominated again in 2010. He won the award "Best Television Comedy Actor" at the 2007
British Comedy Awards, and the pair shared the 2007
Royal Television Society Award for "Comedy Performance". They were also jointly nominated for "Best Television Comedy Actor" at the 2006 British Comedy Awards.
Peep Show itself has also won the BAFTA for "Best situation comedy" in 2008, and the
British Comedy Award for "Best TV comedy" in 2006, and retained it the following year. The show ran for four series. Towards the end of 2006 the pair made their first tour, with a show called
The Two Faces of Mitchell and Webb. The tour was criticised as just "a succession of largely unrelated scenes" by
The Guardians Brian Logan, who gave it a rating of two stars.
That Mitchell and Webb Look won them the BAFTA for Best Comedy Programme or Series at the 2007 awards, and they earned a further nomination for it in 2009. It was nominated for two British Comedy Awards in 2006: Britain's Best New TV Comedy and the Highland Spring People's Choice. Their first film,
Magicians, was released on 18 May 2007. It was directed by
Andrew O'Connor and written by Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain. Mitchell played the role of a magician named Harry. Later in 2007, the pair recorded a pilot
BBC Radio 2 sitcom entitled
Daydream Believers, in which Mitchell played Ray, a science-fiction writer. The show was previously a one-off television pilot from Channel 4's
Comedy Lab, and also starred Mitchell and Webb. Mitchell and Webb's first comedy book,
This Mitchell and Webb Book, was published in 2009. A second book was planned for 2010. They also wrote and filmed
Playing Shop, a comedy television pilot for
BBC Two about two men who operate a business out of their shed. Although the BBC commissioners were happy with it, Mitchell and Webb scrapped it themselves, as they felt it was too similar to
Peep Show. A new pilot had been commissioned, but the plan was later shelved. Mitchell and Webb voiced a robotic duo in the
Doctor Who episode "
Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" in 2012. In 2007 the duo fronted the UK version of
Apple Inc.'s "
Get a Mac" adverts, with Mitchell playing PC. The adverts received much criticism. Writing in
The Guardian,
Charlie Brooker claimed that the use of Mitchell and Webb in the adverts was a curious choice. He compared the characters of PC and Mac in the adverts to those of Mark and Jeremy in
Peep Show, stating that "when you see the ads, you think, 'PCs are a bit rubbish yet ultimately lovable, whereas Macs are just smug, preening tossers.'"
The British Sitcom Guide also criticised the pair for "selling their souls". In an interview with
The Telegraph, Robert Webb responded to the duo's critics, stating that "when someone asks, 'Do you want to do some funny ads for not many days in the year and be paid more than you would be for an entire series of
Peep Show?' the answer, obviously, is, 'Yeah, that's fine.'" and were named twelfth in a
Radio Times list of the
most powerful people in television comedy.
Solo acting, presenting and writing As well as his work alongside Webb, Mitchell has appeared on his own in several shows. He played technical expert Owen in the Radio 4 sitcom
Think the Unthinkable in 2001. Mitchell appeared as various roles on the Channel 4 sketch programme
Blunder. The show was not well received, with the
British Sitcom Guide naming it as the worst thing that Mitchell did in all of 2006 in their "British Sitcom Awards" of that year. Mitchell had a small part in the film
I Could Never Be Your Woman, playing an English writer, also named David. and voiced Mitch in the
Disney animated series
Phineas and Ferb. He also narrated the reality show
Beauty and the Geek. Mitchell has presented four series of the online video show ''David Mitchell's Soapbox
, a series of short monologues co-written with John Finnemore for ChannelFlip. In these monologues Mitchell has criticised a variety of subjects, including the BBC show Doctor Who and 3D television. Matt Warman of The Daily Telegraph'' suggested that the series could be a sign that new comedy will increasingly become available online, rather than on television. The series has been released on DVD. He provided the voiceover for a £1 million government advert for
FRANK, warning of the dangers of cocaine, as "
Pablo the Drug Mule Dog"; and also for the
Driving Standards Agency's "The Highway Code". He writes columns for
The Observer and
The Guardian. He also took part in ''
Channel 4's Comedy Gala'', a
benefit show held in aid of
Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital at the
O2 Arena. In October 2009, Mitchell signed a deal with
HarperCollins and its
imprint Fourth Estate to write a volume of memoirs and a novel. The memoirs,
Back Story: A Memoir, was published in October 2012 with the novel scheduled for 2013. Mitchell plays
William Shakespeare in all three series of the sitcom
Upstart Crow, the first series of which was broadcast in 2016 as part of the celebrations of the 400th anniversary of the playwright's death. In September 2023, Mitchell published ''Unruly: A History of England's Kings and Queens
, a non-fiction book about the history of the English monarchy up until Queen Elizabeth I. The book was praised by critics; The Daily Telegraph rated Unruly'' 4/5 stars; In October 2023, Mitchell went on a
national book tour. In January 2024, Mitchell began filming on the new BBC One comedy detective drama series
Ludwig. Mitchell plays the titular character of John ‘Ludwig’ Taylor, a man who assumes the identity of his missing identical twin brother as he tracks him down. The series premiered on BBC One and the BBC iPlayer on 25 September 2024. Early reviews of the detective drama were positive with one reviewer stating "Just Give Him (Mitchell) the Bafta Now".
Stage Mitchell made his stage debut in
Ben Elton's
The Upstart Crow which premiered in London in February 2020 at the
Gielgud Theatre. He played the part of
William Shakespeare as in the television series
Upstart Crow which inspired the play. The play was forced to close in mid-March 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. However, it re-opened in September 2022 at the
Apollo Theatre, and played for a 10-week run until 3 December 2022.
Panel shows Mitchell has become a regular participant on many panel shows, leading
The Independents James Rampton to christen him "if not king, then certainly prince regent of the panel games." Since 2007, he has hosted 33 series of
The Unbelievable Truth, a
panel game on
BBC Radio 4. The inaugural episode of
Was It Something I Said?, a panel comedy show that Mitchell hosts, was broadcast on Channel 4 in October 2013. Mitchell was a team captain on the Channel 4 comedy quiz show
Best of the Worst, opposite
Johnny Vaughan. Mitchell has also hosted ten episodes of
Have I Got News For You. Mitchell hosted the panel show
The Bubble. He hosted the second week of Channel 4's
FAQ U, and appeared as himself in an episode of ''
Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive, a panel show parody. and has appeared on several episodes of Question Time''. Mitchell's other appearances include
QI,
Have I Got News for You,
Mock the Week,
Just a Minute, ''
Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive and 8 Out of 10 Cats'', 2017, 2018 and 2020. In a 2007 interview with Digital Spy, Mitchell stated that he enjoyed panel shows, as they are "a game worth playing". Following his BAFTA win, Mitchell was ranked at No. 53 in the 2009 MediaGuardian 100, an annual ranking of media people in
The Guardian. In reference to his ubiquitous presence in broadcast and print media,
The Guardians writer called him "the go-to funnyman of the moment". In their entry for
Peep Show on their list of "The top 50 TV shows of the Noughties",
The Times labelled Mitchell "a national institution". In August 2025, Mitchell was announced as a contestant on the upcoming second series of
LOL: Last One Laughing UK, set to air in 2026. ==Influences==