Paul Mendelson

Last updated

Paul Mendelson
OccupationScreenwriter
Alma mater Cambridge University
Period1989–2006, 2010
GenreComedy, drama, adventure, science fiction

Paul A. Mendelson is an English television, film and radio scriptwriter.

Contents

Early life and career

He studied law at Cambridge University, where he gained a first class honours degree, after attending Newcastle Royal Grammar School, Glasgow High School and Harrow County Grammar. For a short time he ran the family law department of a small firm of city solicitors and then became an advertising copywriter for Ogilvy and Mather. Whilst working as creative director for a major London advertising agency, he began writing his first television series.

Writing career

Paul Mendelson's first hit television series was the BBC Comedy May to December , which ran for 39 episodes, from 2 April 1989 to 27 May 1994 on BBC One and was nominated for BAFTA best comedy. It starred Anton Rodgers as a widower solicitor in love with a much younger woman. He then created and wrote the BBC series So Haunt Me about a family home haunted by the ghost of a Jewish mother, played by Miriam Karlin. The show was produced by Cinema Verity for the BBC and originally aired from 1992 to 1994. Mendelson's most recent television situation comedy series in the UK is My Hero which ran for six seasons on BBC One from February 2000 to September 2006. Based on his own experiences with testicular cancer he wrote the acclaimed ITV play Losing It, starring Martin Clunes, for which he was nominated Televisual Awards Best Writer 2007. Having also survived prostate cancer, Mendelson is actively involved in cancer awareness charities and events.

Current projects

Paul Mendelson created the original idea and is creative consultant on the DreamWorks Animation/Fox forthcoming series 'Neighbors from Hell'. He writes original plays for BBC radio and adapts Joyce Porter's Chief Inspector Dover novels for BBC Radio 4. [1] Mendelson is currently developing his BBC radio play 'A Meeting in Seville' as a movie.

Writing credits

ProductionNotesBroadcaster
May to December
  • 38 episodes (1989–1994)
BBC One
Pigsty
  • 20 episodes (1990)
BBC One
So Haunt Me
  • 19 episodes (1992–1994)
BBC One
Under the Moon
  • Television film (1995)
BBC One
My Hero
  • 44 episodes (2000–2003, 2005–2006)
BBC One
Losing It
  • Television film (2006)
ITV
Neighbors from Hell TBS

Awards and nominations

YearAwardWorkCategoryResultReference
1991 British Academy Television Awards May to December (shared with Verity Lambert and Sydney Lotterby)Best Comedy SeriesNominated
2007Televisual AwardsLosing ItBest WritingNominated

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geoffrey Perkins</span> British comedy writer, producer and actor

Geoffrey Howard Perkins was a British comedy producer, writer and performer. He was BBC head of comedy between 1995 and 2001, and produced the first two radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He is one of the people credited with creating the panel game Mornington Crescent for I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. In December 2008 he posthumously received an Outstanding Contribution to Comedy Award.

Ronald Chesney and Ronald Wolfe were British television comedy scriptwriters, best known for their 1960s and 1970s sitcoms The Rag Trade, Meet the Wife (1963–66), On the Buses (1969–73) and Romany Jones (1972–75). When their partnership began in the mid-1950s, Chesney was already known to the public as a harmonica player.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terence Frisby</span> British writer

Terence Peter Michael Frisby was a British playwright, actor, director and producer, best known as the author of the play There's a Girl in My Soup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caroline Aherne</span> English actress, comedian and writer (1963–2016)

Caroline Mary Aherne was an English actress, comedian, writer and director. She was best known for performing as the acerbic chat show host Mrs Merton, in various roles in The Fast Show, and as Denise in The Royle Family (1998–2012), a series which she co-wrote. She won BAFTA awards for her work on The Mrs Merton Show and The Royle Family.

John Docherty is a Scottish writer, actor, presenter and producer.

David Peter Renwick is an English author, television writer, actor, director and executive producer. He created the sitcom One Foot in the Grave and the mystery series Jonathan Creek. He was awarded the Writers Guild Ronnie Barker Award at the 2008 British Comedy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Addison</span> British comedian, writer, actor, and director

Christopher David Addison is a British comedian, writer, actor, and director. He is perhaps best known for his role as a regular panellist on Mock the Week. He is also known for his lecture-style comedy shows, two of which he later adapted for BBC Radio 4.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mackenzie Crook</span> British actor

Mackenzie Crook is an English actor, comedian, director and writer. He played Gareth Keenan in The Office, Ragetti in the Pirates of the Caribbean films, Orell in the HBO series Game of Thrones, and the title role of Worzel Gummidge. He is also the creator and star of BBC Four's Detectorists (2014–2022), for which he won two BAFTA awards. He also plays major roles in TV series Britannia, as the opposite leading druids Veran and Harka.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reece Shearsmith</span> British comedian

Reeson Wayne "Reece" Shearsmith is an English actor, writer and comedian. He is best known for being a member of The League of Gentlemen, with Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss, and Jeremy Dyson. He later created, wrote and starred in the sitcom Psychoville, with Pemberton, as well as the dark comedy anthology series, Inside No. 9. He has had notable roles in Spaced and The World's End.

<i>May to December</i> British TV sitcom (1989–1994)

May to December is a British sitcom which ran for 39 episodes, from 2 April 1989 to 27 May 1994 on BBC1. The series was created by Paul Mendelson and produced by Cinema Verity. Set in Pinner, Greater London, it revolved around the romance between a widowed solicitor, Alec Callender and a much younger woman, Zoë Angell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeremy Dyson</span> British screenwriter

Jeremy Dyson is a British author, musician and screenwriter who, along with Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, is one of the League of Gentlemen. He also created and co-wrote the West End show Ghost Stories and its film adaptation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Nesbitt</span> Northern Irish actor (born 1965)

William James Nesbitt is an actor from Northern Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashley Jensen</span> Scottish actress and narrator (born 1969)

Ashley Jensen is a Scottish actress and narrator. She is best known for her role as Maggie Jacobs in Extras (2005–2007), in which she was nominated for an Emmy, Christina McKinney in Ugly Betty (2006–2010), Agatha Raisin in Agatha Raisin (2014–present) and DI Ruth Calder in Shetland (2023–present).

So Haunt Me is a British television sitcom about a family that moves into a home occupied by the ghost of its previous resident, a middle-aged Jewish mother. The show was created by Paul Mendelson who was also credited on another British sitcom May to December. So Haunt Me was produced by Cinema Verity for the BBC and originally aired from 1992 to 1994.

Hugh Hamilton Wilson Jr. was an American film director, writer and television showrunner. He was the creator of the TV series WKRP in Cincinnati and Frank's Place, and was the director of the film comedies Police Academy and The First Wives Club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhod Gilbert</span> Welsh comedian

Rhodri Paul Gilbert is a Welsh comedian and television and radio presenter who was nominated in 2005 for the Perrier Best Newcomer Award. In 2008 he was nominated for the main comedy award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Corden</span> English comedian, actor, singer and television host (born 1978)

James Kimberley Corden is an English actor, comedian, singer, writer, producer, and television host. In the United Kingdom, he is best known for co-writing and starring in the critically acclaimed BBC sitcom Gavin & Stacey. In the United States, he is best known as the host of The Late Late Show with James Corden, a late-night talk show that aired on CBS from 2015 to 2023.

Paul William Mayhew-Archer MBE 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, Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, Grownups, Home Again, Coming of Age and Big Top.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenton Allen</span>

Kenton Allen is a British television producer and executive. He became Chief Executive of Big Talk Productions in September 2008. He is a multi-award–winning programme-maker with credits including the BAFTA Award-winning sitcoms The Royle Family and Rev. and the Oscar-winning film Six Shooter. He was the Advisory Chair of the Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival 2012.

Clive Coleman is an English barrister turned journalist, who, from 2010 to 2020, has been the BBC News Legal Correspondent. He is also a playwright, film and sitcom writer.

References

  1. "Search results for Paul Mendelson". BBC . Retrieved 14 February 2012.