Jessica Knappett

Jessica Amy Knappett was born in the Bingley district of Bradford West Yorkshire. She attended Woodhouse Grove School in nearby Apperley Bridge before studying Drama and English at the University of Manchester. She was a co-founder of Lady Garden, a sketch comedy group formed in Manchester in 2005. The group performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2008, 2009, and 2010. They also toured throughout England, performing at comedy festivals in Sheffield, Manchester, and Brighton in 2008. They were Hackney New Act & Laughing Horse finalists in 2009.Knappett was the creator, writer, executive producer, and star of the E4 sitcom Drifters, in which she played Meg. She described the show as a semi-autobiographical and therapeutic re-writing of her own history. It was repeated on Channel 4. and commissioned for a further three seasons.

Knappett played Lisa in The Inbetweeners Movie and appeared in the Alan Partridge Movie Alpha Papa and the TV film Irreversible. Other credits include Drunk History for Comedy Central, Mid Morning Matters with Alan Partridge for Sky One, Twenty Twelve for BBC Two, Meet the Parents for E4, and How Not to Live Your Life and Lunch Monkeys for BBC Three. She also played Carly in the BBC Radio 4 comedy series Shedtown alongside Johnny Vegas. She has recorded a string of pilot episodes, including Everything Happens for No Reason written by Richard Herring, alongside Noel Fielding.

Knappett appearances on panel shows include 8 Out of 10 Cats, Hypothetical, and The Last Leg. She has written for The Guardian. She was a contestant on the seventh season of Dave's comedy gameshow Taskmaster, falling off the stage during a task in one episode. The stage extension was later named The Knappett in her honour.