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Paul Mayhew-Archer MBE | |
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| Born | Paul William Archer 6 January 1953 [1] |
| Education | Eastbourne College |
| Alma mater | St Catharine's College, Cambridge |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, television and radio producer, script editor |
| Years active | 1987–present |
| Organization | BBC |
| Known for | The Vicar of Dibley My Hero Office Gossip Old Harry's Game Roald Dahl's Esio Trot I'm Sorry I Haven’t A Clue Radio Active |
| Spouse | Julie M Mayhew (m. 1975) [2] [3] |
| Children | 1 |
Paul William Mayhew-Archer MBE (born 6 January 1953 [4] ) is a British writer, producer, script editor and actor for the BBC. He is best known as the co-writer of The Vicar of Dibley and Esio Trot alongside Richard Curtis. His solo writing career includes My Hero and Office Gossip , which he created. He was the script editor for Old Harry's Game (which he also produces), Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps , Grownups , Home Again , Coming of Age and Big Top .
Mayhew-Archer is also an amateur actor who has appeared in Drop the Dead Donkey and Mrs. Brown's Boys .
In October 2020, [5] he was appointed MBE for services to people with Parkinson's disease and cancer.
Mayhew-Archer was born on 6 January 1953, as Paul William Archer; [4] he attended Eastbourne College and went on to study English at St Catharine's College, Cambridge. He spent his spare time at school writing plays. While at Cambridge, he was a scriptwriter and performer with Andy Hamilton in the Cambridge University Light Entertainment Society.[ citation needed ]
Before becoming a script writer for the BBC, [6] Mayhew-Archer was a Producer in the BBC Radio Light Entertainment Department, and before that was an English teacher.
His most notable works are The Vicar of Dibley (main co-writer with Richard Curtis, the series' creator) and My Hero (main co-writer with creator Paul Mendelson), although he has also script-edited Old Harry's Game (which he also produces), Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps , Grownups , Home Again , Coming of Age and Big Top , [7] as well as for the first series of Miranda . [8] Episodes of Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps contain scenes set in fictional pubs called The Mayhew (first series only) and The Archer, both named after him. He co-wrote Roald Dahl's Esio Trot for BBC One. He also wrote An Actor's Life for Me , a situation comedy series on radio and television, which starred John Gordon Sinclair as a struggling young actor. His other significant radio credits include producing I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue , Radio Active , and The Million Pound Radio Show .
In addition, Mayhew-Archer appeared on screen in an episode of Drop the Dead Donkey (1996) and as a Life Insurance Officer in the first episode of the second series of Mrs. Brown's Boys .
Mayhew-Archer started performing Stand-up comedy about his Parkinson's Disease diagnosis in 2017. [9] In 2018 he performed his solo stand-up comedy show 'Incurable Optimist' at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. [10]
In 2018 he appeared in a podcast with the Archbishop of Canterbury. Since March 2023 Mayhew-Archer has contributed to a podcast 'Movers and Shakers' which is "about life with Parkinson's". Recordings are made in a Notting Hill pub and presenters (Rory Cellan-Jones, Gillian Lacey-Solymar, Mark Mardell, Paul Mayhew-Archer, Sir Nicholas Mostyn and Jeremy Paxman) discuss "the highs and lows, trials and tribulations, of living with the condition". [11] [12] [13] In March 2024 The UK Broadcasting Press Guild made 'Movers and Shakers' its 'UK Podcast of the Year'. [14]
Mayhew-Archer resides in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, with his wife Julie (née Mayhew), whom he married in 1975. The couple have one son together. [15] In 2011, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. [16]
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