In addition to his work on
The Fast Show, in 1997 Thomas made a
BBC Two pilot with
Ulrika Jonsson called ''It's Ulrika
written by Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer. In 1998 he starred in Shooting Stars and The Fast Show Live
at the Hammersmith Apollo, the sketch show Barking
for Channel 4 alongside Mackenzie Crook, Catherine Tate, Peter Kay and David Walliams and appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with Stay Alive Pepi
. He also appeared in Sir Bernard Chumley's Stately Homes
and the pilot show Crazy Jonathan's'' with
Matt Lucas and David Walliams. In 1999 he worked as a team writer on series one of ''
The 11 O'Clock Show'' and was a radio presenter on the
XFM breakfast show with
Natasha Desborough. Thomas has appeared in several other comedy series including
Happiness,
Monkey Trousers,
Nathan Barley, the Channel 4 comedy
Star Stories playing
Jude Law,
Andrew Ridgeley,
Warren Beatty,
Gary Glitter,
Daniel Day-Lewis,
Kiefer Sutherland and
The Fonz amongst others. He wrote for and appears in the
Channel 4 sketch show
Blunder. writing four episodes and co-writing others. He also toured with
The Fast Show for its farewell tour in 2002. He subsequently appeared on several panel shows and talking head programmes including
Fanorama with
David Mitchell (2001/2),
Does Doug Know with
Daisy Donovan on Channel 4 (2002),
Law of the Playground (2006), ''Comedian's Comedian
(2005), Nathan Barley (2005), 8 Out of 10 Cats (2006), FAQ U (2005), Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe (2006), Tittybangbang (2005) and Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive (2007). The programme was the 2007 winner of the Broadcasting Press Guild Radio Programme of the Year Award and in 2008 it received the Sony Gold Award for Best Radio Comedy. He also produced the critically acclaimed two-part Queen documentary Days of Our Lives'', which was broadcast on BBC2 in May 2011. In 2012 Rhys wrote a draft of the Freddie Mercury / Queen biopic which was due to star Sacha Baron Cohen as Freddie Mercury. When the project stalled, he turned his script and many elements into his Emmy award winning documentary
The Great Pretender, released in September. In 2009 Thomas appeared in a
mockumentary film
Beyond the Pole starring with
Stephen Mangan,
Helen Baxendale and
Mark Benton. A second series was broadcast on
BBC Two, and a third series was broadcast on BBC Four in early 2016. A final one-off special aired in spring 2017. The series were memorable for the number of cameos and guest appearances by real life musicians, actors and personalities who appeared. He was the lead in the critically acclaimed Channel 4 comedy-drama
Sirens, first broadcast in June 2011. In November 2013 Thomas appeared in the one-off 50th anniversary comedy homage
The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot. From 2016 to 2020, Thomas wrote and directed an annual comedy review show on BBC Four
A Year in the Life of a Year reviewing the happenings of the previous year. In 2019 Rhys Thomas and Lucy Montgomery wrote and starred the BBC One comedy special BUMPS also starring Amanda Redman, Clarke Peters and Lisa McGrillis. The show follows a 62 year old woman (Redman) who decides to have a baby with a donor. Series was indefinitely postponed due to COVID. His latest project,
Dodger, a prequel to
Oliver Twist first aired on BBC One on 13 March 2022. Rhys directed all ten episodes, acted as showrunner and co wrote the series with Lucy Montgomery. The series won BAFTA, RTS and Writer’s Guild Awards and has sold all over the world. Three new specials were filmed in the summer of 2022. The programme won a BAFTA and RTS Award for Best Scripted Children's Programme in 2022. The latest Dodger, a 60 minute Christmas Special called ‘Coronation’ will air on BBC One at Christmas starring Christopher Eccleston as Fagin with Toby Stephens, Simon Callow, Paul Whitehouse, Nicola Coughlan and Lenny Rush. Four specials then followed, ‘Train’ in November 2022, ‘Christmas’, ‘Bag Egg’ an Easter Special in April 2023 and a Christmas special, also in 2023. ==Personal life==