Paul Mayhew-Archer

Last updated

Paul Mayhew-Archer
MBE
Born
Paul William Archer

(1953-01-06) 6 January 1953 (age 71) [1]
Education Eastbourne College
Alma mater St Catharine's College, Cambridge
Occupation(s)Writer, television and radio producer, script editor
Years active1987–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
SpouseJulie M Mayhew (m. 1975) [2] [3]
Children1

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 .

Contents

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.

Early life

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 ]

Career

Before becoming a script writer for the BBC, [6] Mayhew-Archer worked in radio as a producer of comedy programmes including I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue , and before that as 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 Radio Active .

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 performed stand-up comedy at the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. [9]

Podcast

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". [10] [11] [12] In March 2024 The UK Broadcasting Press Guild made 'Movers and Shakers' its 'UK Podcast of the Year'. [13]

Personal life

Mayhew-Archer resides in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, with his wife Julie (née Mayhew), whom he married in 1975. The couple have one son together. [14] In 2011, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. [15]

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Roald Dahl's Esio Trot, or simply Esio Trot, is a British comedy drama television film directed by Dearbhla Walsh and written by Richard Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer, based on the 1990 novel, Esio Trot, by Roald Dahl. In the film, a retired bachelor falls in love with his neighbour, a widow who keeps a tortoise as a companion after the death of her husband.

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References

  1. ↑ "FreeBMD Entry Info".
  2. ↑ https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?scan=1&r=255477650:2674&d=bmd_1682618632
  3. ↑ https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?scan=1&r=255634065:9052&d=bmd_1682618632
  4. 1 2 Find The Company: Paul Mayhew Archer Archived 2 January 2015 at archive.today Linked 2 January 2015
  5. ↑ Oxford Mail 10 October 2020
  6. ↑ "Paul Mayhew-Archer on Sitcoms". BBC . Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  7. ↑ Paul Mayhew-Archer Interview, Best British TV.
  8. ↑ "Miranda: Production Details", British Comedy Guide.
  9. ↑ "Paul Mayhew-Archer: 'I want to show people with Parkinson's can do comedy". The Guardian . 20 July 2018.
  10. ↑ "In some ways, Parkinson's has meant a new lease of life': meet the Movers and Shakers". Guardian. London. Retrieved 21 March 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ↑ "Movers and Shakers podcast: Jeremy Paxman and Rory Cellan-Jones tell of a life with Parkinson's". iNews. London. Retrieved 21 March 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. ↑ "The Movers and Shakers podcast is 'de-grimifying' disability". iNews. London. Retrieved 21 March 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. ↑ "The Winner of the UK Podcast of the Year" (Tweet). London. Retrieved 21 March 2024– via Twitter.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{Cite tweet}}: Missing or empty |user=; Missing or empty |number= (help)
  14. ↑ https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?scan=1&r=272745968:5242&d=bmd_1682618632
  15. ↑ "Paul Mayhew-Archer MBE".
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