Roy Clarke | |
|---|---|
| Born | Royston Clarke 28 January 1930 [1] Austerfield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | TV Screenwriter |
| Years active | 1968–present |
| Notable work | Last of the Summer Wine (1973–2010) Open All Hours (1976–1985) Keeping Up Appearances (1990–1995) Still Open All Hours (2013–2019) |
| Spouse | Enid Kitching |
Royston Clarke OBE (born 28 January 1930) is an English comedy writer best known for creating the sitcoms Last of the Summer Wine , Keeping Up Appearances , Open All Hours and its sequel series, Still Open All Hours .
Clarke was born in Austerfield, then in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He was, in the words of his Who's Who entry, educated "badly during World War II". [2] His jobs before becoming a writer included a teacher, a policeman, a taxi driver and a salesman, in addition to being a soldier in the Royal Corps of Signals of the British Army. [3]
In the late 1960s, Clarke wrote thrillers for BBC Radio. The first in January 1968, The 17-Jewelled Shockproof Swiss-Made Bomb, featured Peter Coke, Ben Kingsley, Bob Grant and Anne Stallybrass. A couple of months later, Clarke wrote The Events at Black Tor, which was a police thriller which also featured Bob Grant, along with James Beck.
Clarke was the sole writer of the long-running Last of the Summer Wine , which at its peak had an audience of over 18 million viewers. It featured Bill Owen, Peter Sallis, Brian Wilde, Kathy Staff and Dame Thora Hird in leading roles. While Clarke was not involved in casting, he wrote the character named Clegg with Sallis specifically in mind. [4] Clarke also wrote a prequel to the series, First of the Summer Wine .
Other credits are: The Misfit , starring Ronald Fraser; Open All Hours , starring Ronnie Barker and David Jason; Keeping Up Appearances , starring Patricia Routledge; Ain't Misbehavin'. He created and wrote the short-lived fantasy drama, The Wanderer starring Bryan Brown, for Sky One. In 1974, he created the sitcom Oh No It's Selwyn Froggitt from an idea by its star Bill Maynard. [5] He wrote the pilot episode, but left to be replaced by Alan Plater when the programme went to series. [5] Rosie with Paul Greenwood was broadcast from 1977 to 1981.
Clarke has worked in film, penning the screenplay to Hawks (1988). [6] He also wrote the well-received drama A Foreign Field (1993). [7]
In 1994, Clarke was granted the Freedom of the Borough of Doncaster; the highest honour the Council can bestow. In 2002, he received an OBE for his contribution to British comedy.
In 2003, Clarke adapted his Last of the Summer Wine chronicle The Moonbather for a world premiere performance at the Scunthorpe Little Theatre Club. [8]
He was awarded the lifetime achievement award at the 2010 British Comedy Awards.
In 2013, he resurrected Open All Hours for a sequel series, Still Open All Hours starring David Jason. Six series were broadcast. [9] [10]
In 2016, he created a prequel to Keeping Up Appearances titled Young Hyacinth . The one-off episode premiered on 2 September 2016 on BBC One. [11]
Clarke resided in rural Goole in the East Riding of Yorkshire with his wife, Enid Kitching. [1] For some years he owned Horton Rounds in Northamptonshire, a Grade II listed house designed by the Northamptonshire architect Arthur A. J. Marshman. [12]
A British sitcom or a Britcom is a situational comedy programme produced for British television.
Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom set in Yorkshire created and written by Roy Clarke and originally broadcast by the BBC from 1973 to 2010. It premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973, and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. Alan J. W. Bell produced and directed all episodes of the show from late 1981 to 2010. The BBC confirmed on 2 June 2010 that Last of the Summer Wine would no longer be produced and the 31st series would be its last. Subsequently, the final episode was broadcast on 29 August 2010. Since its original release, all 295 episodes, comprising thirty-one series—including the pilot and all films and specials—have been released on DVD. Repeats of the show are broadcast in the UK on BBC One, Gold, Yesterday, and Drama. It is also seen in more than 25 countries, including various PBS stations in the United States and on VisionTV in Canada. With the exception of programmes 'rebooted' after long hiatuses, Last of the Summer Wine is the longest-running TV comedy programme in Britain and the longest-running TV sitcom in the world.
Keeping Up Appearances is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke. It originally aired on BBC1 from 1990 to 1995. The central character is an eccentric and snobbish middle class social climber, Hyacinth Bucket, who insists that her surname is pronounced "Bouquet". The show comprised five series and 44 episodes, four of which are Christmas specials. Production ended in 1995 after Routledge decided to move on to other projects. All 44 episodes have since been released on video, DVD and streaming media, and are regularly repeated on television networks throughout the world.
Open All Hours is a British television sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke for the BBC. It ran for 26 episodes in four series, which aired in 1976, 1981, 1982 and 1985. The programme was developed from a television pilot broadcast in Ronnie Barker's Seven of One (1973) comedy anthology series. Open All Hours ranked eighth in the 2004 Britain's Best Sitcom poll. A sequel, titled Still Open All Hours, aired from 2013 to 2019.
Hyacinth Bucket is a fictional character in the BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances, portrayed by Patricia Routledge. Routledge won a British Comedy Award in 1991, and was nominated for two BAFTA awards in 1992 and 1993 for her portrayal.
Peter John Sallis was an English actor, known for his work on British television. He was the voice of Wallace in the Academy Award-winning Wallace and Gromit films and played Norman "Cleggy" Clegg in Last of the Summer Wine from its 1973 inception until the final episode in 2010, making him the only actor to appear in all 295 episodes. Additionally, he portrayed Norman Clegg's father in the prequel series First of the Summer Wine.
Michael Hammond Bates was a British actor born in India. He was best known for playing Chief Guard Barnes who processes Alex in A Clockwork Orange, Cyril Blamire in Last of the Summer Wine (1973–75), and Rangi Ram in It Ain't Half Hot Mum (1974–77).
Josephine Ann Tewson was an English actress, known for her roles in British television sitcoms and comedies. She portrayed Edna Hawkins on Shelley (1979–1982), Jane Travers in Clarence (1988), and Miss Lucinda Davenport in Last of the Summer Wine (2003–2010). She portrayed the frequently put-upon neighbour Elizabeth "Liz" Warden in Keeping Up Appearances (1990–1995). Tewson's professional career lasted more than 65 years, from 1952 until her retirement in 2019.
First of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that aired on BBC1. The pilot originally aired on 3 January 1988, and the first series of episodes followed from 4 September 1988. The show ran for two series of six episodes each, with the final episode airing on 8 October 1989. The pilot episode was produced and directed by Gareth Gwenlan. Both series of episodes were produced and directed by Mike Stephens. The show has never been repeated by the BBC but has occasionally been repeated on Gold. The show was broadcast in Australia on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation network in the early 1990s.
Oh No It's Selwyn Froggitt is a British television sitcom produced by Yorkshire Television which originally aired on the ITV network from 1974 to 1978. Initially created by Roy Clarke from a concept by Bill Maynard, most of the series was written by Alan Plater. It starred Maynard as Selwyn Froggitt, a hapless but good-natured council labourer, handyman and working men's club secretary in the fictional Yorkshire town of Scarsdale. The programme was a major ratings success, with Froggitt's catchphrase "magic!" becoming widely known in the United Kingdom. It ran for four series, the last of which carried the title Selwyn and featured only Maynard reprising his role in the new location of a holiday camp.
Jack Smethurst was an English television and film comic actor. He was best known for his role as Eddie Booth in the British television sitcom Love Thy Neighbour.
The Magnificent Evans is a 1984 BBC situation comedy written by Roy Clarke and starring Ronnie Barker, Sharon Morgan and Myfanwy Talog.
The Funny Side of Christmas is a Christmas special broadcast by BBC1 on 27 December 1982.
Last of the Summer Wine's 31st and final series was aired in 2010, beginning on 25 July. All six episodes in series 31 were 30 minutes in length. All of the episodes were written by Roy Clarke and directed by Alan J. W. Bell.
Still Open All Hours is a British sitcom created for the BBC by Roy Clarke, and starring David Jason and James Baxter. It is the sequel to the sitcom Open All Hours, which both Clarke and Jason worked on throughout its 26-episode run from 1976 to 1985, following a 40th Anniversary Special in December 2013 commemorating the original series. The sitcom's premise focuses on the life of a much older Granville, who now runs his late uncle's grocery shop with the assistance of his son, continuing to sell products at higher prices alongside seeking to be with his love interest.
"Of Funerals and Fish" is the pilot episode of the world's longest-running television sitcom, Last of the Summer Wine (1973–2010), written by Roy Clarke. It was first broadcast on 4 January 1973 and became the first of 295 episodes. It was aired as the first episode of the thirteenth series of Comedy Playhouse, a comedy anthology series running from 1961–1975. The plot involved the trio going around discussing life and death.
Young Hyacinth is a prequel to the British sitcom Keeping Up Appearances, written by original writer Roy Clarke. The one-off special, set some forty years before the events of Keeping Up Appearances, follows the early life of Hyacinth Walton, as she desperately attempts to better her sisters and dad. The special premiered on 2 September 2016 on BBC One as part of the BBC Landmark Sitcom Season.
Katie Ann Redford is an English actress, writer and playwright. Since 2017, she has portrayed the role of Lily Pargetter in the BBC Radio 4 soap opera The Archers, as well as making appearances in television series including Doctors as Bethany Morris and Still Open All Hours as Beth. She also played characters in Young Hyacinth and Mount Pleasant. Redford is also a writer, having written an audio drama Yellow Lips in 2021 and her debut play Tapped in 2022.
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