Basden was educated at King"s College School, an independent school for boys in Wimbledon in South West London where he was in the same year as fellow actors Khalid Abdalla and Ben Barnes, followed by Pembroke College at the University of Cambridge. He was vice president of the Footlights and his contemporaries included Stefan Golaszewski, Sarah Solemani, Tim Key (who pretended to be studying for Doctor of Philosophy at Cambridge to be part of a Footlights production) and Dan Stevens.
He has written and performed extensively for comedy shows on the British Broadcasting Corporation and Channel 4 and often collaborates in two-man shows with fellow Cowards member Tim Key. Comedy and Television
Basden replaced Tim Minchin as the resident musician for the second series of Mark Watson Makes the World Substantially Better where he appears along with Tim Key and Mark Watson. He was a guest panellist on the British Broadcasting Corporation Two programme "Never Mind The Buzzcocks" on Wednesday, 4 November 2009.
In 2011 he wrote There Is A War starring himself and Phoebe Fox for the National Theatre"s Double Feature, and in the next year he appeared as musical side-kick to Key in his Radio 4 programme Tim Key"s Late Night Poetry.
In the spring of 2013, Basden co-wrote and appeared in the ancient Rome based Independent Television sitcom Plebs with Tom Rosenthal, Joel Fry, and Ryan Sampson. Basden featured in the six-part British Broadcasting Corporation Two comedy thriller, The Wrong Mans, as Noel.
The show was written by, and starred, Mathew Baynton and James Corden. The premiere was on 24 September 2013.
lieutenant consisted of six thirty-minute episodes, and Basden co-wrote the third episode.
Basden wrote the script for the sequel to The Wrong Mans, with the same title, which was first broadcast on British Broadcasting Corporation Two on 22 and 23 December 2014. lieutenant consisted of two hour-long episodes, and Basden acted in it as well, reprising the role of Noel. Stage
The Guardian gave it a positive review saying calling it "an idiosyncratic and highly enjoyable piece performed beautifully by a crack cast of upcoming comics".
They praised the quality of the jokes, while noting that the satire was light and subtle.
lieutenant was adapted into a Radio 4 sitcom, broadcast for three series from 2010 to 2012 and written by and starring Basden. lieutenant also stars Tim Key, Jonny Sweet, Anna Crilly and Katy Wix.
He was longlisted for the 2011 Evening Standard Theatre Most Promising Playwright for his stage adaption of Franz Kafka"s novel The Trial, called Joseph K. lieutenant also received positive reviews from The Guardian and the Daily Telegraph.
Basden"s one man show at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Tom Basden Won"t Say Anything won the if.comedy award for Best Newcomer. He also starred with Tim Key in the short film The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island, which won the United Kingdom Film Council Kodak Award for Best British Short Film. Basden was one of the writers of successful sitcom Fresh Meat, which earned him a nomination for the 2012 British Academy of Film and Television Arts Craft Break-Through Talent Award.
In 2010 his play Party was performed, about a group of rather childish university students holding a meeting to found their own political party.
