Mark Kermode

Kermode is the author of several books on film and music, including It's Only a Movie; The Good, the Bad and the Multiplex; Hatchet Job; and How Does It Feel?. He is the co-author of Hollywood: Sixty Great Years (with Jack Lodge, John Russell Taylor, Adrian Turner, Douglas Jarvis and David Castell), The Movie Doctors (with Simon Mayo), and Mark Kermode's Surround Sound (with Jenny Nelson). He has also written three volumes for the BFI's Modern Classics series – on The Exorcist, The Shawshank Redemption and Silent Running. Since the late 1980s he has contributed to the BFI's film magazine Sight & Sound and its predecessor The Monthly Film Bulletin, and since January 2016 he has presented a monthly live show, MK3D, at the British Film Institute (BFI), South Bank. It is the BFI's longest-running live show. Kermode previously co-presented the BBC Radio 5 Live show Kermode and Mayo's Film Review, and previously co-presented the BBC Two arts programme The Culture Show. Between 2018 and 2021, he co-wrote and presented three seasons of the BBC Four film documentary series Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema, and between 2019 and 2024 he presented a weekly film music show on Scala Radio. He is a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and a founding member of the skiffle band the Dodge Brothers, for which he plays double bass. Since 2008, the Dodge Brothers (with Neil Brand) have provided live accompaniment for silent films such as Beggars of Life, Hell's Hinges, White Oak and The Ghost That Never Returns.

Mark Kermode studied at University of Manchester and Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is film criticism and music. Residence is recorded at Brockenhurst. Employment is recorded with British Broadcasting Corporation, The Observer and Sight & Sound.

• Name — Mark Kermode • Birth Name — Mark Fairey • Birthplace — London, England • Born — 2 July 1963 • Education — St Mary's CoE Primary School, Finchley, Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School; University of Manchester • Occupation — * Film critic • presenter • writer • musician • Employer — Freelance • Television — The Film Review The Culture Show Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema • Children — 2

Kermode was born in the Royal Free Hospital in the London Borough of Camden. He was educated at the state-funded Church of England primary school St Mary's at Finchley, and was granted a Barnet-council-funded free place at The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School in Elstree, Hertfordshire under the Direct grant grammar school scheme in 1974, at the same time as actor Jason Isaacs. Kermode's mother was a GP, who was born in Douglas, Isle of Man, and practised in Golders Green, north London. His father, the son of a travelling flour salesman, worked in the London Hospital in Whitechapel. His grandmother was Swiss German. Mark was raised as a Methodist, and later became a member of the Church of England. His parents divorced when he was in his early twenties, and he subsequently changed his surname to his Manx mother's maiden name by deed poll. He earned his PhD in English at the University of Manchester in 1991, writing a thesis on horror fiction. While in Manchester, he lived in the notorious Hulme Crescents estate.

In February 2010, Random House released his autobiography, It's Only a Movie, which he describes as being "inspired by real events". Its publication was accompanied by a UK tour. In September 2011, he released a follow-up book entitled The Good, the Bad and the Multiplex, in which he expresses his opinions on the good and bad of modern films, and vehemently criticizes the modern multiplex experience and the 3D film craze that had grown in the years immediately preceding the book's publication. In 2013, Picador published Hatchet Job: Love Movies, Hate Critics in which he examines whether professional "traditional" film critics still have a role in a culture of ever increasing numbers of online bloggers and amateur critics. In 2017, he collaborated with his idol William Friedkin on the feature documentary The Devil and Father Amorth, as a writer. The film had its first showing at the Venice Film Festival on 31 August 2017.

Kermode was a regular presenter on BBC Two's The Culture Show and appeared regularly on Newsnight Review. During a 2006 interview with Kermode for The Culture Show in Los Angeles, Werner Herzog was shot with an air rifle. Herzog appeared unflustered, later stating: "It was not a significant bullet. I am not afraid". Kermode co-hosted an early 1990s afternoon magazine show on BBC Radio 5 called A Game of Two Halves, alongside former Blue Peter presenter Caron Keating. Kermode appeared in a cameo role as himself in the revival of the BBC's Absolutely Fabulous on 1 January 2012. In April 2008, Kermode started a twice-weekly video blog hosted on the BBC website, in which he discussed films and recounts anecdotes. He retired the podcast for its tenth anniversary at the close of 2018, with special episodes on his most and least favourite movies of the previous decade. Kermode has recorded DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD audio commentaries for Tommy (with Ken Russell), The Devils (with Ken Russell and Mike Bradsell), The Ninth Configuration (with William Peter Blatty), The Wicker Man (with Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee and Robin Hardy), Gregory's Girl, Cruising (with William Friedkin), Bait, Enys Men (both with Mark Jenkin) and (with Peter O'Toole) Becket. He appears in the DVD extras of Lost in La Mancha, interviewing Terry Gilliam, and Pan's Labyrinth, in which he interviews Guillermo del Toro about the film, which he has called a masterpiece. Kermode has written books, published by the BFI in its Modern Classics series, on The Exorcist, Silent Running and The Shawshank Redemption and his documentary for Channel 4, Shawshank: The Redeeming Feature, is on the film's tenth anniversary special edition DVD. Kermode's family connections with the Isle of Man have led to him playing a role in Manx culture and the arts. This has seen him host various talks on the island. He has also been involved with the annual Isle of Man Film Festival. Kermode became patron of the Sir John Hurt Film Trust in November 2019. He is a visiting fellow at the University of Southampton.

Kermode played double bass for a skiffle/rockabilly band called the Railtown Bottlers in the early 1990s. They were the house band on the BBC show Danny Baker After All for a series, starting in 1993, in which he performed with the Madness lead singer Suggs, Nick Heyward, Alison Moyet, Aimee Mann, Nanci Griffith, Tim Finn and Squeeze. In 2001 he formed skiffle quartet the Dodge Brothers, playing double bass. Talking about playing the chromatic harmonica with an orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, he said: "Somehow I got away with it. You can listen to it. It's not terrible, it's not brilliant, but it's fine." Kermode says that sheer persistence is the key to his musical success: "I'd rate enthusiasm and persistence over talent. And that's been a guiding light, that you shouldn't be put off by being unprepared or technically inept. I have managed to surround myself with other people who can play. And actually that's the trick".

Kermode is married to Linda Ruth Williams, a professor who lectures on film at the University of Exeter. From October to November 2004, they jointly curated a History of the Horror Film season and exhibition at the National Film Theatre in London. Kermode and Williams have two children. Kermode has been described as "a feminist, a near vegetarian (he eats fish), a churchgoer and a straight-arrow spouse who just happens to enjoy seeing people's heads explode across a cinema screen". In the mid-1980s, Kermode was an "affiliate" of the Revolutionary Communist Group (RCG) and was involved in the Viraj Mendis Defence Campaign, against the deportation of one of the group's members to Sri Lanka. This developed into a high-profile national campaign involving people from left-wing groups such as the RCG, local residents of Manchester and extending to church leaders and Labour Party Members of Parliament. Kermode describes himself in this period as "a red-flag waving bolshie bore with a subscription to Fight Racism Fight Imperialism and no sense of humour".

The authorities additionally record the headings Mark James Patrick Kermode and Mark James Patrick Fairey. His recorded language was English. His recorded confession was Anglicanism. He married Linda Ruth Williams.

Mark Kermode worked in film criticism and music. He was employed by British Broadcasting Corporation, The Observer and Sight & Sound. He worked at Brockenhurst.

Mark Kermode is recorded as television presenter, musician, journalist and film critic.