Peter Hugh Dennis (born 13 February 1962) is an English comedian, actor, writer, impressionist and voice-over artist, best known for being one half of Punt and Dennis with comedy partner Steve Punt, and playing Pete Brockman, the father in the BBC One sitcom Outnumbered. Since 2005, Dennis has been a regular panellist on the BBC Two satirical comedy show Mock the Week.

Biography

Dennis lives in Chichester, West Sussex, with his second wife, Catherine ("Kate") Abbot-Anderson whom he married in 1996. They have a son, Freddie (born 1997) and a daughter Meg (born 1999). His first marriage to Miranda Carroll ended in divorce in 1993.

On 10 July 2008, Dennis received an Honorary Fellowship from the University of Northampton.

Dennis took part in the 2007 L'Étape du Tour, cycling an open stage of the Tour de France for amateurs which was held in the mountains 2 weeks before the main event. This was discussed in the fifth series of Mock the Week and also QI series six, episode 5 'France'. He started in 2,400th place of 8,000 entrants, finishing in 3,400th from 4,000 who completed it, five hours behind the winner. On 30 October 2011, Dennis completed the Great South Run in Portsmouth for the Alzheimers Society.

Dennis was the subject of the BBC One programme Who Do You Think You Are? (broadcast on 12 September 2012) in which he tries to find out more about his two grandfathers and their backgrounds. His paternal great-grandfather was a miner at Kiveton Park Colliery near Sheffield whose younger son, Dennis' grandfather, served as an officer during World War I and was coincidentally trained at Dennis' alma mater St John's College. His maternal grandfather also served in France during the Great War and was in the Suffolk Regiment. Dennis has one brother, John David Dennis, who is a career diplomat, currently serving as the British Ambassador to Angola.