2001 in television may refer to:

Jessie Wallace (born Karen Jane Wallace; 25 September 1971) is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for her portrayal as Kat Moon in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.

Wallace was born at 204 Durants Road, Enfield, North London, to James, a telecommunications engineer, and Annette, a secretary. Her parents divorced when she was aged three and, unusually, she and her sister were raised by their father (however, she did see her mother at weekends). She adopted her stage name after her late grandmother.

After schooling, Wallace trained as a make-up artist at the College of North East London in Tottenham and worked at the Royal Shakespeare Company for two years. She met and became friends with actor Iain Glen, who helped her apply for London drama college The Poor School, from where she graduated in 1999. While undertaking auditions - including for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard, she worked as a real life barmaid at her local pub, The Royal Oak in Loughton, Essex.

Her first television appearance was in an episode of the ITV police drama series The Bill in 1999. Wallace is best known for playing the role of Kat Slater in BBC One soap opera EastEnders between 2000 and 2005. In Summer 2008, Wallace said she hadn't ruled out a return to EastEnders. In February 2010 it was announced that Shane Richie was returning as Alfie Moon, leading to large amounts of speculation as to whether Jessie would also be returning. On the 9th February 2010 the BBC confirmed that Jessie Wallace would be returning to EastEnders, reprising her role as Kat Slater. She and Alfie returned to screens in the Autumn of 2010.

Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television series, several stage plays, comics, a computer game, and in 2005 a feature film. Adams's contribution to UK radio is commemorated in The Radio Academy's Hall of Fame.

Adams also wrote Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987) and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988), and co-wrote The Meaning of Liff (1983), Last Chance to See (1990), and three stories for the television series Doctor Who. A posthumous collection of his work, including an unfinished novel, was published as The Salmon of Doubt in 2002.

Adams became known as an advocate for environmental and conservation causes, and also as a lover of fast cars, cameras, and the Apple Macintosh. He was a staunch atheist, famously imagining a sentient puddle who wakes up one morning and thinks, "This is an interesting world I find myself in—an interesting hole I find myself in—fits me rather neatly, doesn't it? In fact it fits me staggeringly well, must have been made to have me in it!" Biologist Richard Dawkins dedicated his book, The God Delusion (2006), to Adams, writing on his death that, "Science has lost a friend, literature has lost a luminary, the mountain gorilla and the black rhino have lost a gallant defender."

Nicholas John "Nick" Frost (born 28 March 1972) is an English actor, comedian and screenwriter. He is best known for his work with Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg in the role of Mike Watt in the television comedy Spaced, as well as the film characters Ed in Shaun of the Dead, PC/Sgt. Danny Butterman in Hot Fuzz, Clive Gollings in Paul, and drug-dealer Ron in Attack the Block. He is also well known for his various roles in the sketch show Man Stroke Woman.

Frost was born in Dagenham, Essex, the son of office furniture designers. Frost attended Beal High School.

He worked as a waiter and appeared in corporate training video clips such as 'Chris Carter and The Coverplan Challenge', a Dixons Group sales video, before gaining fame as Tim's Army-obsessed best friend Mike in the British comedy Spaced, which was written by Pegg and Jessica Hynes and aired on Channel 4 for two series. In 2001, Frost played a small role in a one-off episode of Victoria Wood's Acorn Antiques. This was a specially written episode shown during the series, "The Sketch Show Story" that Victoria narrated, in which Frost played an armed robber who 'shot dead' Acorn Antiques' most lovable character, Mrs Overall (Julie Walters).

Michael Smiley is a Irish comic and actor currently living in England.

Smiley was born in 1963 in Belfast, and moved to London in his 20s with his wife. He began doing stand-up in 1993, after accepting a bet at an open-mic night. He had worked previously as a cycle courier (like his character in Spaced) and as a DJ.

He became well-known for his role as Tyres O'Flaherty the bicycle riding raver in two episodes of Simon Pegg (with whom he and Nick Frost shared a flat) and Jessica Stevenson's television series Spaced, and for his appearances at the Edinburgh Fringe and the Melbourne Comedy Festival. He also played Jordan, a former member of the British Army's Parachute Regiment in the 2008 horror film Outpost as well as a Tyres-like zombie in Shaun of the Dead.

In 2003, he guest starred in the Doctor Who audio drama Creatures of Beauty. In 2004 he appeared in season 2, episode 4 of Hustle as Max the forger. He also was a small character in episode 2 "The Model" of 15 Storeys High.

He has also appeared in all three series of The Maltby Collection on Radio 4 as Des Wainwright, an eccentric security Guard who keeps repeating himself and reminding people he was in the SAS. He is presently playing the part of Benny "Deadhead" Silver in the BBC drama series Luther.