15 Unlikely British TV Shows To Spawn Hollywood Stars

2. Alfresco €“ Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson

You won't remember Alfresco. I don't remember Alfresco. Until writing this list, I have never even heard of Alfresco. Yet, it was responsible for launching the careers of Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson. Yes, Sense and Sensibility's Emma Thompson launched her television career in a comedy sketch show which also featured Robbie Coltraine and Ben Elton (I'd credit The Comic Strip Presents for those two, which is why they're not featured here). In a remarkable coincidence, it also featured Siobhan Redmond in an early role, who later went onto be a main cast member in Alan Cumming's The High Life. Alfresco was born out of characters originally used by Fry, Laurie and Thompson at Cambridge University. It was unsurprising that they managed to get their own series almost immediately upon leaving University €“ the 1981 revue performance featuring all three won the very first Perrier Award for comedy at the Edinburgh Festival. It also featured Tony Slattery and Sandi Toksvig in other roles, which are names that'll be familiar to British readers. But Alfresco itself is pretty unremarkable €“ it was called that because it was a sketch show that was filmed on location. The first series by all accounts was pretty dark, and it got cancelled after a second series. While Fry and Laurie went off and formed a well-known double act and Thompson eventually wandered from comedy shows (including the self titled "Thompson") before making her first film appearance in The Tall Guy alongside Jeff Goldblum. Thompson went on to win a Best Actress Oscar for Howard's End in her very first nomination (she also won the Golden Globe, again in her first nomination). Then three years later she won a second Academy Award €“ this time for Best Adapted Screenplay for Sense and Sensibility. She had five Oscar Nominations between 1993 and 1996, plus eight Golden Globes between '93 and 2014. Laurie of course gained the role of Gregory House in House, and has since been appearing in prominent roles in films, and won two Golden Globes himself. Fry hasn't headlined any films yet, but he's well known and respected enough and has a Golden Globe nomination to his name. All that from a sketch show on ITV.