Susan Calman

Education and legal career

Calman was educated at the High School of Glasgow, a fee-paying independent school, and then studied law at the University of Glasgow, winning a Judge Brennan scholarship and a three-month stint in North Carolina working with criminals on death row. During her seven-year career in corporate law, she gradually became dissatisfied with working as a specialist in freedom of information and data protection and developed her stand-up comedy in the evenings, eventually giving up her job with Dundas & Wilson to develop her career in comedy.

Calman was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Glasgow in 2018; she was honoured for her work in broadcasting and comedy, as well as campaigning on issues related to LGBT rights and mental health.

Comedy and television career

Calman reached the semi-finals of the BBC New Comedy Awards in 2005 and was a finalist in the Funny Women competition in 2006. The Channel 4 sketch show Blowout won a Scottish BAFTA in 2007, with Calman among the cast. In 2009, she won Best New Scottish Comedian at the Real Radio Variety Awards.

Between 2011 and 2013, Calman played therapist Nadine in the comedy Fresh Meat. Her debut Radio 4 solo series, Susan Calman is Convicted won the 2013 Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards for 'Best Radio Comedy'. She also featured in the 2012 sitcom Dead Boss for BBC Three.

In 2013, Calman wrote about receiving online abuse after joking about the Scottish independence referendum on the Radio 4 satirical comedy programme The News Quiz, including accusations of betraying her country, and of being "racist" towards other Scots.

Since 2014, Calman has been a regular panellist on the CBBC panel show The Dog Ate My Homework, and has appeared in 10 episodes of the show. In July 2014, Calman appeared in the BBC Scotland one-off stand-up/sketch show Don't Drop the Baton, which featured sketches about the 2014 Commonwealth Games, and narrated the BBC Three dating show Sexy Beasts. She is a frequent guest panellist on BBC Two's QI and on BBC Radio 4's The News Quiz.

In September 2017, she became the presenter of the BBC One daytime quiz show The Boss. In December 2017 Calman was voted TV Star of the Year by readers of the Radio Times.

Calman has fronted the Channel 5 travel show Secret Scotland since February 2019.

In 2018, Calman's podcast Mrs Brightside - A cheerful look at depression was first broadcast on BBC Sounds.

On 1 October 2019, Calman was announced as the new presenter for series 15 of Great British Menu on BBC Two. Filming took place in Stratford-upon-Avon and was completed in November 2019. The show was to be broadcast in spring 2020.

Her 2019 show Susan Calman Makes Me Happy premiered on BBC Radio 4 on 20 November 2019. The show also featured her wife, Lee.

Since 2020, Susan Calman has been the 'face of' the Bank of Scotland, starring in multiple adverts.

Writing

In May 2016, Calman published her first book, entitled Cheer Up Love: Adventures in depression with the Crab of Hate. Her second book Sunny Side Up: a story of kindness and joy followed in September 2018. A lifelong fan of Doctor Who, Calman was a contributor to the YA anthology The Day She Saved the Doctor: Four Stories from the TARDIS, published in March 2018. The title of Calman's story is Clara & The Maze of Cui Palta.

''Strictly Come Dancing''

On 15August 2017, Calman was announced as the ninth contestant on series 15 of Strictly Come Dancing. She was partnered with professional dancer Kevin Clifton. They were the ninth pair to be eliminated, in week 10 of the competition. In a 2018 interview, Calman said she felt happiest "dancing with Kevin Clifton on Strictly."

Calman was criticised for not insisting on a same-sex dance partner for Strictly Come Dancing, but she rejected the comments as being unfair, saying: "No one is holding me hostage in this room, making me wear a dress and dance with a man. I want to learn how to dance... I have protested, I have picketed, I have fought, I have been spat on, I have been punched — and I want to dance."

Personal life

Calman is the daughter of Ann Wilkie, a former primary school deputy head, and Sir Kenneth Calman, an oncologist. Her father was chancellor of the University of Glasgow and former chief medical officer for Scotland, then England and Wales. She has an older brother and sister.

Calman came out as a lesbian in 1993 at the age of 19, and has spoken of her difficulties growing up gay in Glasgow. "It wasn't easy, not at all. Glasgow is a lovely city, but when I was growing up there was one lesbian bar, and there was a club for men, but there was no internet, there was no way of finding out [about other people]."{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2012/mar/03/susan-calman-saturday-interview

After nine years together, Calman and her partner Lee, who is also a lawyer, had a civil partnership ceremony in 2012. They married in 2016. They keep cats, and in 2018 had five.{{cite news

Calman says she was "desperately unhappy" as a teenager, and self-harmed and attempted suicide at 16. She has openly discussed her experience with depression in interviews and in her books.

Filmography

Television

Stand-up DVD releases

• 2015 – Lady Like (Go Faster Stripe)

Books

• 2016 – Cheer Up Love: Adventures in Depression with the Crab of Hate, Published by Two Roads ()
• 2018 – Doctor Who: The Day She Saved The Doctor, Published by BBC Children's Books
• 2018 – Sunny Side Up: a story of kindness and joy, published by Hachette UK ()

References

References

1. (2023-10-02). "Susan Calman: Who is the Scottish Comedian? What has she been in? Is she married?".
2. (20 January 2017). "Dan McGolpin welcomes Susan Calman to BBC Daytime as new commissions for 2017 announced".
3. "Join Susan Calman, Des Clarke and Amy Irons for Hogmanay 2019".
4. (4 January 2011). "MacAulay and Co: Susan Calman sits in". BBC Radio Scotland.
5. Clark, Tim. (11 December 2012). "Susan Calman to present CBBC's Extreme Schools".
6. (January 2016). "Bad Language".
7. (1 August 2006). "So would you heckle a lawyer?". [[The Scotsman]].
8. Bowditch, Gillian. (26 July 2009). "Susan Calman: the lawyer who became our pint-sized new comic pin-up". [[The Times]].
9. (13 June 2018). "Strictly star Susan Calman collects honorary degree from Glasgow University". [[The Irish News]].
10. Logan, Brian. (7 May 2013). "Susan Calman finds that Scottish independence is no joke". [[The Guardian]].
11. Peterkin, Tom. (2 May 2013). "Susan Calman: Death threats for independence satire". The Scotsman.
12. Hunt, Julia. (11 September 2017). "Susan Calman to present new show Armchair Detectives". [[Irish Independent]].
13. (29 December 2017). "Susan Calman named TV star of the year". [[The Sunday Post]].
14. (15 May 2018). "Susan Calman joins Channel 5".
15. (8 February 2019). "Tonight's TV: Secret Scotland and Humpback Whales: A Detective Story". [[The National (Scotland).
16. "BBC Sounds - Susan Calman's Mrs Brightside - Downloads".
17. "BBC - Susan Calman to present BBC Two's Great British Menu - Media Centre".
18. "BBC Radio 4 - Susan Calman Makes Me Happy, Episode 1".
19. (2020-09-19). "TV REVIEW: Secret Scotland with Susan Calman. Did it float your canal boat?".
20. "Susan Calman – Comedian, Actress and Writer - Books".
21. (22 August 2017). "Strictly 2017: The line-up in full".
22. (9 September 2017). "Strictly 2017: Susan Calman cries after being partnered with Kevin Clifton". [[Metro (British newspaper).
23. Greenstreet, Rosanna. (2018-11-24). "Susan Calman: 'When was I happiest? Dancing with Kevin Clifton on Strictly'". The Guardian.
24. Gibb, Jessica. (15 October 2017). "Who is Susan Calman? Scottish comedian who got caught up in ''Strictly'' same-sex dance partner row". [[Daily Mirror]].
25. "Susan Calman Makes Me Happy - Episode 1 - BBC Sounds".
26. "Calman, Sir Kenneth (Charles), (born 25 Dec. 1941)".
27. (26 October 2016). "The One Show, 26 October 2016". [[The One Show]].
28. "Made Of Human with Sofie Hagen: 14. Susan Calman - Your psychiatric ward or mine? (PART TWO) on Apple Podcasts".
29. (29 August 2018). "Why Susan Calman keeps a punchbag in her garage".
30. "Episode 13- Susan Calman (Part One)".
31. (12 September 2017). "Susan Calman to host BBC game show Armchair Detectives".
32. "Christmas Cruising with Susan Calman".
33. "Susan Calman's Grand Week by the Sea".
34. "Big Antique Adventure with Susan Calman".
35. "Cruising the Canary Islands with Susan Calman".
36. "Great British Cities with Susan Calman".
37. (13 December 2017). "Susan Calman writes a Doctor Who story".