---
name: "Simon Bird"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/simon-bird"
fi1m_id: "simon-bird"
imdb_id: "nm3020713"
tmdb_id: 218948
wikidata_id: "Q591596"
roles: ["Director","Actor"]
born: "19 August 1984"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 5
average_fi1m_score: 81
average_as: "director"
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-09-17T19:44:02.331805+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Simon Bird

## Identity

Simon Bird

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/simon-bird
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** simon-bird
- **IMDb ID:** nm3020713
- **TMDB ID:** 218948
- **Wikidata ID:** Q591596
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Bird, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q591596, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3020713/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/218948

Director and actor. Born 19 August 1984 in Guildford, Surrey, England, UK.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Actor
- **Born:** 19 August 1984, Guildford, Surrey, England, UK
- **Active:** 2008–present
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 5: 2 acting, 2 directing, 1 producing
- **Average Fi1m score:** 81, as director, over 2 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 84 (1), 2010s 74 (1), 2020s 83 (3)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Bird, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q591596, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3020713/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/218948

## Coming up

- *Star Wars: Starfighter* (2027-05-26)

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*The Inbetweeners*](https://film.one/tv/the-inbetweeners.md) (84), [*Amandaland*](https://film.one/tv/amandaland.md) (80)
- **Disney+:** [*Such Brave Girls*](https://film.one/tv/such-brave-girls.md) (82)
- **Apple TV:** [*Friday Night Dinner*](https://film.one/tv/friday-night-dinner.md) (74)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Simon Bird

> Simon Bird gives comic actors room to be unpleasant without making every offence a demand for attention. We like his dry, patient approach, though his preference for small stories can leave too little happening.

In *Such Brave Girls* (2023), a cruel remark tells us something about the woman making it, rather than simply giving us another offence to count. Bird and fellow director Marco Alessi trust the ensemble to do that work, and the programme is much funnier for it. We laughed at Louise Brealey’s appalling mother; the directors let her be dreadful without making the performance feel like an effort to shock. This is the strongest reason to take Bird seriously as a director: he gives unpleasant characters time to become worth watching.

His move behind the camera followed the role of Will McKenzie in *The Inbetweeners* (2008–2010). The short *Ernestine & Kit* (2016) came before his feature debut, *Days of the Bagnold Summer* (2020). Television work including *Pls Like* (2021) and *Ellie & Natasia* (2022) followed. The recurring preference is for understated, character-led comedy, often centred on families, with little plot to hurry the actors along.

On *Days of the Bagnold Summer*, screenwriter Lisa Owens adapts Joff Winterhart’s graphic novel, and Bird gives the domestic setting formal compositions and the low-key leads room to work. The limitation is the thin story: careful attention to small events does not necessarily give a feature enough to sustain it. That makes *Such Brave Girls* a useful development, because the characters’ capacity for cruelty supplies plenty for the actors to do.

Kat Sadler writes and stars in the programme, with Edward Tucker responsible for cinematography. Bird’s support for keeping difficult material firmly within comedy suits it: a cruel remark can remain funny without an accompanying explanation of why it matters. The directors do not make the gross-out humour feel like a competition to offend, although the family’s self-absorption can still become tiring. There is enough restraint to let the actors supply the nastiness, and enough faith in their timing to leave them to it. Start with *Such Brave Girls*, provided an evening with an appalling family sounds like a pleasure.

## Biography

Simon Bird is an English actor, comedian, writer and director. He was born on 19 August 1984 in Guildford, Surrey.

Bird is best known for playing Will McKenzie in the E4 series *The Inbetweeners* (2008–2010) and its two films (2011 and 2014), and Adam Goodman in the Channel 4 series *Friday Night Dinner* (2011–2020). As a director his credits include the feature *Days of the Bagnold Summer* (2020) and episodes of the series *Such Brave Girls* (2023) and *Amandaland* (2025).

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (5)

### Performed in (2)

- *Friday Night Dinner* (2011), Fi1m 74, as Adam Goodman — [page](https://film.one/tv/friday-night-dinner.md)
- *The Inbetweeners* (2008), Fi1m 84, as Will McKenzie — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-inbetweeners.md)

### Directed (2) — the average rests on these

- *Amandaland* (2025), Fi1m 80, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/amandaland.md)
- *Such Brave Girls* (2023), Fi1m 82, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/such-brave-girls.md)

### Produced (1)

- *Small Axe* (2020), Fi1m 88, Line Producer — [page](https://film.one/tv/small-axe.md)

## Complete filmography (29)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Star Wars: Starfighter* (2027), Actor
- *Celebrity Sabotage* (2026), series, as HQ mission voice
- *Steal* (2026), series, as Oliver Davies
- *Amandaland* (2025), series, Director — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/tv/amandaland.md)
- *Such Brave Girls* (2023), series, Director — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/such-brave-girls.md)
- *A Whole Lifetime with Jamie Demetriou* (2023), Executive Producer
- *Everyone Else Burns* (2023), series, as David Lewis
- *Ellie & Natasia* (2022), series, as Simon Bird · Director
- *Beauty and the Beast: A Comic Relief Pantomime for Christmas* (2021), as Remy
- *How We Forgot to Save the Planet* (2021), as Executive Producer
- *Simon Bird: Debrief* (2021), Director
- *Small Axe* (2020), series, Line Producer — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/small-axe.md)
- *Days of the Bagnold Summer* (2020), Director
- *Sandylands* (2020), series, as Nathan
- *You, Me and Him* (2018), as Ben Miller
- *The Darkest Universe* (2016), as Adrian
- *Ernestine & Kit* (2016), Writer, Director
- *The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm* (2014), Line Producer
- *The Inbetweeners 2* (2014), as Will McKenzie
- *The Harry Hill Movie* (2013), as Vet
- *Chickens* (2013), series, as Cecil Mowbray · Creator
- *The Look of Love* (2013), as Jonathan Hodge
- *The Inbetweeners Movie* (2011), as Will McKenzie
- *Friday Night Dinner* (2011), series, as Adam Goodman — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/tv/friday-night-dinner.md)
- *The King Is Dead* (2010), series, Creator
- *The Inbetweeners* (2008), series, as Will McKenzie — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-inbetweeners.md)
- *Comedy Showcase* (2007), series, Writer
- *Pretend I'm Not Here*, Director
- *The Inbetweeners 3*, as Will McKenzie

## Gallery

- ![Simon Bird](https://film.one/media/person/43460/gallery-936dc4486b66.jpg) Simon Bird — Alison Martin, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5e/Simon_Bird%2C_2010.jpg/1280px-Simon_Bird%2C_2010.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Actor from The Inbetweeners: Simon Bird at the at the BAFTA's 2009.](https://film.one/media/person/43460/gallery-0df7ed5086c9.jpg) Actor from The Inbetweeners: Simon Bird at the at the BAFTA's 2009. — Damo1977, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Simon_Bird_2009.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Simon Bird at the Baftas TV Awards 2010.](https://film.one/media/person/43460/gallery-94a7dc396cb7.jpg) Simon Bird at the Baftas TV Awards 2010. — Alison Martin, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f9/Simon_Bird_2010.jpg/1280px-Simon_Bird_2010.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Simon Bird at the Baftas TV Awards 2010.](https://film.one/media/person/43460/gallery-bb99f24419e3.jpg) Simon Bird at the Baftas TV Awards 2010. — Alison Martin, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Simon_Bird_2010_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Simon Bird](https://film.one/media/person/43460/gallery-5052f6182ac6.jpg) Simon Bird — Image via TMDB
- ![Simon Bird at British Academy Television Awards 2009](https://film.one/media/person/43460/gallery-8e839aa709e9.jpg) Simon Bird at British Academy Television Awards 2009 — Damien Everett, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Simon_Bird_at_the_BAFTA%27s_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/simon-bird