Surrey's Luke Kempner hit the comedy scene with a Youtube parody of ITV's hit show Downton Abbey, which spawned a sell-out, award-winning show at the Edinburgh Festival and beyond. Now he's on the BBC in Murder in Successville
The Smallfield resident and Guildford School of Acting graduate appeared in UK tours of musicals like Les Miserables and Avenue Q, and presented his own radio programme of music and impressions on Magic Radio. Nevertheless, it was success with a Youtube video spoofing Downton Abbey that drove him to concentrate on impressionism.
Luke Kempner (right) as Alan Carr, under interrogation with brother Jimmy
Downstairs At Downton features Kempner putting his comedic talents to work as twelve different characters from the period drama and quickly won praise by big names in the talent industry, from Stephen Fry to Tom Jones (watch the video above).
He then teamed up with director Owen Lewis to expand the show into a ninety-minute comedic play, renamed The Only Way Is Downton. No mean feat, especially with one actor playing over thirty characters, but it took Edinburgh by storm and sold out on tour.
Now he's starring in BBC3 comedy Murder in Successville and putting his talent for mimicry to show. Each week, a special guest visits the celebrity-ridden town of Successville to help solve a heinous crime, battling through a series of celebrity impressions alongside their foul-mouthed partner DI Sleet.
It's a bizarre, surreal and utterly hilarious experience - so far, Luke's portrayed comic host Alan Carr as a slightly mad gangster and famous physics professor Brian Cox as an unhinged forensics officer. You'll be able to see him take on another role next Wednesday at 10pm.
Check out Luke's Youtube channel to see more of his impressions
You can watch Murder in Successville on BBC iPlayer