We’ve got a couple of dogs, a few parrots, cockatoos and frogs and lizards.. It’s fun living with animals
Comic on multigenerational home and menagerie
Bill Bailey is no stranger to making people laugh on stage, and he can easily do the same at home with his menagerie of animals. He only has to stub his toe and they laugh along with his family.
“The parrots are not that chatty, but they do laugh,” Bill says.
“If I do anything like stub my toe or bang my elbow, which I tend to do, they find it hilarious.
“I think parrots are empathetic and they pick up on the atmosphere of a room. So, if I stub my toe and swear, somebody in our house will laugh, and then she will laugh – our parrot.
“It’s like being mocked by two different species. It is quite humiliating.”
Bill shares his West London home with his wife Kristin, a former costume designer, his 20-year-old son Dax, his 91-year-old dad Christopher and a minizoo, which totalled 50 pets at one point.
Luckily he says Kristin loves animals as much as he does. As well as cats and dogs, 20 years ago he says the couple started off “quite small as you do”.
We had a rabbit, then a guinea pig. When people know you look after animals, word gets around. People show up and say, ‘Can you look after this parrot?’ It grew from there,” he says.
“We have now slimmed it down to a more manageable number, about 20. We have got a lot of rescue animals that, for whatever reason, people couldn’t look after, and we have given them a home.
“We’ve got a couple of dogs, a few parrots, cockatoos and frogs, lizards. It’s fun living with animals.”
Luckily, when it comes to feeding all those animals, his career is on a high following his Strictly Come Dancing win with Oti Mabuse in 2020, along with packed-out UK shows before he takes his Thoughtifier tour across Europe.
But Bill, 59, is concerned that arts jobs and opportunities for many others are becoming limited to those with access to the bank of Mum and Dad.
“To make a living as a performer and in the arts is very difficult. It’s one of the most precarious professions,” he says. “So it’s always been hard but in more recent times it seems that it’s a lot harder without financial backing.
“If you have the support of family – people who can and are willing to support you through the times you are not earning, it’s easier – not necessarily
to get work but to get the training you need, the preparation you need to keep going. If you’re trying to juggle three jobs and raise kids, it’s really hard.”
This is why Bill is backing Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s pledge to ensure arts access and education is more widely available, after Labour analysis showed almost half of all British stars nominated for major awards in the past decade were privately educated.
Earlier this month, Bill presented BBC Two’s Bring the Drama programme,
available on iPlayer, which attempts to help redress the issue. The series gives eight people from all walks of life, who had dreamt of a life on stage, their chance to achieve it, with access to top casting directors and drama coaches. "Some of those who took part have gone on to secure roles in shows like Waterloo Road and EastEnders and get agents,” Bill says. “Arts education Shouldn’t be seen as a luxury, that’s why providing opportunities is so important. So I do agree with Sir Keir. What bothers me is that arts subjects are deemed less important than other subjects.
“Access to arts is not just about getting jobs in the industry. It teaches you all kinds of other skills along the way.
“It builds confidence and awareness of others. It’s about life skills, soft skills you need to get on.”
Born in Bath in 1965, Bill went on to study music. After college, he began his career in stand-up before making his TV debut in the late 1980s children’s show Motormouth, followed by CV highlights including panel shows and his role as Manny Bianco in the BAFTA-winning Channel 4 cult sitcom Black Books.
Kristin has been at his side throughout. They met in 1987 and married in 1998.
Dax was born into a multi-generational home in 2003, as Bill’s mum, Madryn, lived with them until she died of bowel cancer in 2005.
Bill began working with Macmillan Cancer Support as a result, which remains important to him, particularly after losing his friend, fellow comedian Sean Lock, to the disease in 2021.
It’s clear as he chats about home life that Bill feels very lucky. He says: “Dax has only ever known living with his grandad. It’s nice, I grew up in a multigenerational household too.
“Our grandparents lived with us, along with my mum, dad, and me, it’s come full circle, the way life does sometimes.”
One of Bill’s favourite things is when three generations of Bailey men are able to enjoy time together. “Dax, me, and my dad all went to see the Dune film, and all bonded over that. Dax is a big fan of it, I’m a big fan, and my dad says, ‘Well, I’ve read all the original books.’
“So him and my son, they’re sharing notes, sharing books, it’s wonderful. “Something like that can span generations and spark conversations,” he says.
When it comes to talking to the animals, Bill was born to play Doctor Dolittle, played for laughs obviously, with a stubbed toe or two.
■ Bill is performing at outdoor shows in Glasgow, Scarborough and Halifax this summer, www.billbailey.co.uk/live, Bring the Drama is available on BBC iPlayer.