Geoffrey Perkins
Encyclopedia
Geoffrey Howard Perkins (22 February 1953 - 29 August 2008) was a comedy
producer, writer and performer, and an important figure in British
comedy broadcasting
. This was recognised in December 2008 when he was awarded with an Outstanding Contribution to Comedy Award. Best known as the BBC head of comedy (1995–2001), he produced the first two radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
and is one of the people credited with creating the bizarre panel game Mornington Crescent
for I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
.
(now, as Sir Nigel, British ambassador to Washington), Michael Portillo
and Clive Anderson
, with whom he ran the debating society." Taking an early interest in drama, he worked with Clive Anderson to write, in 1970, a charity revue called Happy Poison.
Perkins read English at Lincoln College, Oxford
and while there wrote for and directed The Oxford Revue
s of 1974 and 1975, contributing to, among others, a comedy production called Radio Active. After his time at Oxford, Perkins joined the Ocean Transport and Trading Company "(in the same intake as his confrère Portillo), [where] Perkins was put to work studying waste timber in Liverpool
." Perkins did not last long in the field of commercial shipping, however (nor did Portillo). In 1977, drawing on his work for the Oxford Revue, Perkins joined "BBC Radio
's light entertainment
department [alongside] Cambridge graduates such as John Lloyd
and Griff Rhys-Jones.
, Perkins helped to revitalise the comedy panel show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
(launched five years earlier), introducing the incomprehensible Mornington Crescent
game which would become an enduring success.
' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
for BBC Radio 4
, taking over from pilot-producer Simon Brett
. Perkins assisted the notoriously slow writer in finishing the scripts, before John Lloyd "was drafted in to write large sections of the later episodes." Perkins also drew "on the resources of the Radiophonic Workshop" to help create the groundbreaking audio effects for the series.
In 1986, Perkins married Lisa Braun, "a BBC studio manager on The Hitch-Hiker's Guide."
shows, and initially based around the comedy parody group The Hee Bee Gee Bees, consisting of Philip Pope
, Angus Deayton
and Michael Fenton Stevens
. Prior to its leap from the revue to the radio, the production toured and appeared at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, after which it was picked up by BBC Radio 4
for a pilot called The Oxford Revue Presents Radio Active. Radio Active, "which poked fun at the amateurishness of some local radio broadcasting," went on to run for seven series, and won a Sony Award
. Perkins featured as a character called Mike Flex, a young cocky disc jockey.
Perkins, with Deayton, wrote much of the series and later saw it transferred to BBC2 television as the Grand Prix and Silver Rose of Montreux
-winner KYTV.
, winning the Monaco Radio Award for the show, and penning a 1987 tie-in book with Deayton and Jeremy Pascall.
In 2005 he cameoed in the fourth radio series of Hitchhiker's (The Quandary Phase), as the producer of the radio show Arthur Dent
worked on. Essentially playing a fictional version of himself from the first series with a fictional version of writer Douglas Adams
.
, an independent television and radio production company. Hat Trick's produced comedy programmes for the BBC
, ITV
and Channel 4
. The first main production of Perkins was Spitting Image
where he met Ben Elton
, and Harry Enfield
whom he got to develop the character of Douglas Hurd
by suggesting he adapt it along the lines of Frank Oz
's character Fozzie Bear
. As a result, Perkins developed shows for both performers, in the form of Elton's hosted Saturday Live and sketch show The Man From Auntie; and Enfield's Harry Enfield's Television Programme
. Perkins also developed Have I Got News For You
, Whose Line Is It Anyway?
, Drop The Dead Donkey
and Father Ted
for Hat Trick, many of which won awards including Bafta
s. The last show Perkins script edited for Tiger Aspect was the ITV
rejected The Fast Show
.
's Head of Comedy, requesting his contract stipulated "his continued role as a programme producer," as well as overseeing the department. He stayed in this role until 2001, growing increasingly dissatisfied at "official BBC snootiness about comedy (one annual report dismissed it with the phrase "all the way from high-value costume drama right the way down to sitcom")."
Perkins meticulously read 30 new scripts every week, but "found himself culturally marginalised at the BBC," saying:
Under Director General John Birt, Perkins also felt "hamstrung by the inevitable bureaucracy," which not only hindered programme-making, but saw Perkins spending "more time on budgets" than more creative pursuits.
Perkins felt that the changes in how the BBC was run
During Perkins' time as Head of Comedy, the BBC produced such hits including Coupling
, The Thin Blue Line
, Jonathan Creek
, The Fast Show
, The Royle Family
and My Family.. Perkins also personally "persuaded David Jason
and Nicholas Lyndhurst
to star in a fresh series of the 1980s classic Only Fools and Horses
, the first of which was screened at Christmas 2001."
and The Thin Blue Line
), in late 2001. In this role, he was able to pursue a more hands-on role in the "creative side of programme-making."
For Tiger Aspect, Perkins produced programmes including The Catherine Tate Show
for the BBC, and Benidorm
for ITV.
and Jones
, KYTV, Harry Enfield's Television Programme
, Harry Enfield and Chums and Coogan
's Run.
In addition to starring in KYTV, Perkins appeared in small cameo roles in several of the comedy programmes he produced, including Father Ted
, Operation Good Guys
, One Foot in the Grave
and The Catherine Tate Show
.
that he was too old to produce another comedy sketch series. Enfield approached Perkins with his ideas, which Perkins helped Enfield develop into the first series of Harry and Paul, starring Enfield and Paul Whitehouse
.
Perkins died from injuries after an accident involving a lorry
in Marylebone
High Street, London
, on 29 August 2008. A coroners' inquest in April 2009 revealed that Perkins had suffered from an undiagnosed case of channelopathies, which caused his heart to stop suddenly. The inquest ruled that Perkins had likely already died when he fell under the wheels of the lorry. The coroner recorded that he died from "natural causes".
On 5 September 2008 Perkins' last production for the BBC and Tiger Aspect - the second series of Harry and Paul - was aired. The first show was dedicated to his memory. In place of the usual closing credits, the show featured a short tribute to him and concluded with an out-take
of Perkins forgetting his lines in a sketch absent from the transmitted series.
On 8 November 2008, BBC Two
aired an evening of programmes in tribute to Perkins, comprising episodes of The Catherine Tate Show
, Father Ted
(a Channel 4
programme which the BBC was given special permission to broadcast as part of the tribute) and The Fast Show
, together with a special edition of Comedy Connections
about Perkins' career in comedy.
He was posthumously awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Comedy award at the British Comedy Awards
on 6 December 2008.
The recipients of both the BAFTAs awarded on 27 April 2009 to Harry and Paul for Best Comedy Programme and to The IT Crowd
for Best Situation Comedy dedicated their awards to Perkins.
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
producer, writer and performer, and an important figure in British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
comedy broadcasting
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
. This was recognised in December 2008 when he was awarded with an Outstanding Contribution to Comedy Award. Best known as the BBC head of comedy (1995–2001), he produced the first two radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy radio series written by Douglas Adams . It was originally broadcast in the United Kingdom by BBC Radio 4 in 1978, and afterwards on global short wave radio on the BBC World Service, National Public Radio in the U.S. and CBC Radio in...
and is one of the people credited with creating the bizarre panel game Mornington Crescent
Mornington Crescent (game)
Mornington Crescent is a spoof game, featured in the BBC Radio 4 comedy panel show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, which satirises complicated strategy games....
for I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, sometimes abbreviated to ISIHAC or Clue, is a BBC radio comedy panel game broadcast since 11 April 1972 at the rate of one or two series each year , transmitted on BBC Radio 4, with occasional repeats on BBC Radio 4 Extra and the BBC's World Service...
.
Early life
Perkins attended the Harrow County Grammar School, alongside such future-names as Nigel SheinwaldNigel Sheinwald
Sir Nigel Elton Sheinwald GCMG is a senior British diplomat, currently HM Ambassador to the United States of America, appointed in October 2007....
(now, as Sir Nigel, British ambassador to Washington), Michael Portillo
Michael Portillo
Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo is a British journalist, broadcaster, and former Conservative Party politician and Cabinet Minister...
and Clive Anderson
Clive Anderson
Clive Anderson is a British former barrister, best known for being a comedy writer as well as a radio and television presenter in the United Kingdom...
, with whom he ran the debating society." Taking an early interest in drama, he worked with Clive Anderson to write, in 1970, a charity revue called Happy Poison.
Perkins read English at Lincoln College, Oxford
Lincoln College, Oxford
Lincoln College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is situated on Turl Street in central Oxford, backing onto Brasenose College and adjacent to Exeter College...
and while there wrote for and directed The Oxford Revue
The Oxford Revue
The Oxford Revue is a comedy group featuring students from Oxford University, England. Founded in the early 1950s, The Oxford Revue has produced many prominent comedians and satirists. The Revue writes, produces and performs several shows each term...
s of 1974 and 1975, contributing to, among others, a comedy production called Radio Active. After his time at Oxford, Perkins joined the Ocean Transport and Trading Company "(in the same intake as his confrère Portillo), [where] Perkins was put to work studying waste timber in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
." Perkins did not last long in the field of commercial shipping, however (nor did Portillo). In 1977, drawing on his work for the Oxford Revue, Perkins joined "BBC Radio
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
's light entertainment
Light entertainment
Light entertainment is a term used to describe a broad range of usually televisual performances. These include comedies, variety shows, quiz/game shows, sketch shows and people/surprise shows.-Light entertainment in Britain:...
department [alongside] Cambridge graduates such as John Lloyd
John Lloyd (writer)
John Hardress Wilfred Lloyd CBE is a British comedy writer and television producer. He is the great nephew of John Hardress Lloyd.-Early life and career:...
and Griff Rhys-Jones.
Radio career
Tasked by department head David HatchDavid Hatch
Sir David Hatch was involved in production and management at BBC Radio, where he held many executive positions, including Head of Light Entertainment , Controller of BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 4 and later Managing Director of BBC Radio.- Education :He attended St John's School, Leatherhead and...
, Perkins helped to revitalise the comedy panel show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, sometimes abbreviated to ISIHAC or Clue, is a BBC radio comedy panel game broadcast since 11 April 1972 at the rate of one or two series each year , transmitted on BBC Radio 4, with occasional repeats on BBC Radio 4 Extra and the BBC's World Service...
(launched five years earlier), introducing the incomprehensible Mornington Crescent
Mornington Crescent (game)
Mornington Crescent is a spoof game, featured in the BBC Radio 4 comedy panel show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, which satirises complicated strategy games....
game which would become an enduring success.
The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
In mid-1977, Perkins produced the first series of Douglas AdamsDouglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy radio series written by Douglas Adams . It was originally broadcast in the United Kingdom by BBC Radio 4 in 1978, and afterwards on global short wave radio on the BBC World Service, National Public Radio in the U.S. and CBC Radio in...
for BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
, taking over from pilot-producer Simon Brett
Simon Brett
Simon Brett is a prolific writer of whodunnits. The son of a chartered surveyor, he was educated at Dulwich College and Wadham College, Oxford, where he got a first-class honours degree in English...
. Perkins assisted the notoriously slow writer in finishing the scripts, before John Lloyd "was drafted in to write large sections of the later episodes." Perkins also drew "on the resources of the Radiophonic Workshop" to help create the groundbreaking audio effects for the series.
In 1986, Perkins married Lisa Braun, "a BBC studio manager on The Hitch-Hiker's Guide."
Radio Active
In 1980, Perkins co-wrote and featured in the radio sketch show Radio Active, revised and adapted from the early Oxford RevueThe Oxford Revue
The Oxford Revue is a comedy group featuring students from Oxford University, England. Founded in the early 1950s, The Oxford Revue has produced many prominent comedians and satirists. The Revue writes, produces and performs several shows each term...
shows, and initially based around the comedy parody group The Hee Bee Gee Bees, consisting of Philip Pope
Philip Pope
Philip R. J. Pope is a British composer and actor. He was educated at Downside School and New College, Oxford.-Performer:He appeared in the Oxford Revue in Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1978 and 1979, both with Angus Deayton...
, Angus Deayton
Angus Deayton
Gordon Angus Deayton is an English actor, writer, musician, comedian and broadcaster. He is best known for his role as Victor Meldrew's long-suffering neighbour Patrick Trench in the comedy series One Foot in the Grave...
and Michael Fenton Stevens
Michael Fenton Stevens
Michael Fenton Stevens , sometimes credited as Michael Fenton-Stevens, is a UK actor and comedian, a founder member of The Hee Bee Gee Bees and the voice behind the Spitting Image 1986 number 1 hit "The Chicken Song"...
. Prior to its leap from the revue to the radio, the production toured and appeared at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, after which it was picked up by BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
for a pilot called The Oxford Revue Presents Radio Active. Radio Active, "which poked fun at the amateurishness of some local radio broadcasting," went on to run for seven series, and won a Sony Award
Sony Radio Academy Awards
The Sony Radio Academy Awards , started in 1983, are some of the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. They are run by ZAFER Associates in association with the Radio Academy...
. Perkins featured as a character called Mike Flex, a young cocky disc jockey.
Perkins, with Deayton, wrote much of the series and later saw it transferred to BBC2 television as the Grand Prix and Silver Rose of Montreux
Rose d'Or
The Rose d’Or is one of the most important international festivals in entertainment television. It was founded in Montreux in 1961 and has taken place in Lucerne since 2004. Producers, executives from independent and public service broadcasters and heads of production companies from over 40...
-winner KYTV.
Later radio work
Perkins, with Radio Active colleague and co-writer Deayton, later produced The Uncyclopaedia of Rock for Capital RadioCapital Radio
Capital London is a London based radio station which launched on 16 October 1973 and is owned by Global Radio. On 3 January 2011 it formed part of the nine station Capital radio network.- Pre-launch :...
, winning the Monaco Radio Award for the show, and penning a 1987 tie-in book with Deayton and Jeremy Pascall.
In 2005 he cameoed in the fourth radio series of Hitchhiker's (The Quandary Phase), as the producer of the radio show Arthur Dent
Arthur Dent
Arthur Philip Dent is a fictional character, the hapless protagonist and anti-hero in the comic science fiction series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams....
worked on. Essentially playing a fictional version of himself from the first series with a fictional version of writer Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
.
Hat Trick
Perkins left the BBC in 1988, to become a director of Hat Trick ProductionsHat Trick Productions
Hat Trick Productions is a British independent production company that produces television programmes, mainly specialising in comedy.-History:...
, an independent television and radio production company. Hat Trick's produced comedy programmes for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
and Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
. The first main production of Perkins was Spitting Image
Spitting Image
Spitting Image is a British satirical puppet show that aired on the ITV network from 1984 to 1996. It was produced by Spitting Image Productions for Central Television. The series was nominated for 10 BAFTA Awards, winning one for editing in 1989....
where he met Ben Elton
Ben Elton
Benjamin Charles "Ben" Elton is an English comedian, author, playwright and director. He was a leading figure in the British alternative comedy movement of the 1980s, as a writer on such cult series as The Young Ones and Blackadder, as well as also a successful stand-up comedian on stage and TV....
, and Harry Enfield
Harry Enfield
Henry Richard "Harry" Enfield is a BAFTA-winning English comedian, actor, writer and director.-Early life:...
whom he got to develop the character of Douglas Hurd
Douglas Hurd
Douglas Richard Hurd, Baron Hurd of Westwell, CH, CBE, PC , is a British Conservative politician and novelist, who served in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major between 1979 and his retirement in 1995....
by suggesting he adapt it along the lines of Frank Oz
Frank Oz
Frank Oz is a British-born American film director, actor, voice actor and puppeteer who is known for creating and performing the characters Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear in The Muppet Show, Cookie Monster, Bert and Grover in Sesame Street, and for directing films, including the 1986 Little Shop of...
's character Fozzie Bear
Fozzie Bear
Fozzie Bear is a Muppet, created by Jim Henson. He is an orange, particularly fuzzy bear who works as a stand-up comic and has a catchphrase, "Wocka Wocka Wocka". Shortly after telling the joke, he is usually the target of rotten tomatoes and ridicule, especially from hecklers Statler and Waldorf...
. As a result, Perkins developed shows for both performers, in the form of Elton's hosted Saturday Live and sketch show The Man From Auntie; and Enfield's Harry Enfield's Television Programme
Harry Enfield's Television Programme
Harry Enfield's Television Programme was a British sketch show starring Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse...
. Perkins also developed Have I Got News For You
Have I Got News for You
Have I Got News for You is a British television panel show produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is based loosely on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, and has been broadcast since 1990, currently the BBC's longest-ever running television panel show...
, Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Whose Line Is It Anyway? is a short-form improvisational comedy TV show. Originally a British radio programme, it moved to television in 1988 as a series made for the UK's Channel 4, for a 10 series run...
, Drop The Dead Donkey
Drop the Dead Donkey
- Major characters :* Gus Hedges — The unctuous Chief Executive of the company, and yes-man to Sir Roysten Merchant. A management stereotype, complete with clichés and clumsy metaphors, he swiftly transforms GlobeLink from a serious news network to a ratings-chasing tabloid channel...
and Father Ted
Father Ted
Father Ted is a comedy series set in Ireland that was produced by Hat Trick Productions for British broadcaster Channel 4. Written jointly by Irish writers Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan and starring a predominantly Irish cast, it originally aired over three series from 21 April 1995 until 1 May...
for Hat Trick, many of which won awards including Bafta
British Academy Television Awards
The British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . They have been awarded annually since 1954, and are analogous to the Emmy Awards in the United States.-Background:...
s. The last show Perkins script edited for Tiger Aspect was the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
rejected The Fast Show
The Fast Show
The Fast Show, known as Brilliant in the US, was a BBC comedy sketch show programme that ran for three series from 1994 to 1997 with a special Last Fast Show Ever in 2000. The show's central performers were Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Simon Day, Mark Williams, John Thomson, Arabella Weir and...
.
BBC Head of Comedy
In 1995, he resigned from Hat Trick and returned to the BBC as BBC TelevisionBBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
's Head of Comedy, requesting his contract stipulated "his continued role as a programme producer," as well as overseeing the department. He stayed in this role until 2001, growing increasingly dissatisfied at "official BBC snootiness about comedy (one annual report dismissed it with the phrase "all the way from high-value costume drama right the way down to sitcom")."
Perkins meticulously read 30 new scripts every week, but "found himself culturally marginalised at the BBC," saying:
- "Unfortunately, the term sitcom implies a great disdain. People say it with a curl of their lips."
Under Director General John Birt, Perkins also felt "hamstrung by the inevitable bureaucracy," which not only hindered programme-making, but saw Perkins spending "more time on budgets" than more creative pursuits.
Perkins felt that the changes in how the BBC was run
During Perkins' time as Head of Comedy, the BBC produced such hits including Coupling
Coupling
A coupling is a device used to connect two shafts together at their ends for the purpose of transmitting power. Couplings do not normally allow disconnection of shafts during operation, however there are torque limiting couplings which can slip or disconnect when some torque limit is exceeded.The...
, The Thin Blue Line
The Thin Blue Line
The Thin Blue Line is a colloquial term for police and police forces, designed by a police officer after seeing a blue light reflecting on a black marble wall during the first Official Police weeks in Washington DC...
, Jonathan Creek
Jonathan Creek
Jonathan Creek is a British mystery series produced by the BBC and written by David Renwick. Primarily a crime drama, the show is also peppered with broadly comic touches...
, The Fast Show
The Fast Show
The Fast Show, known as Brilliant in the US, was a BBC comedy sketch show programme that ran for three series from 1994 to 1997 with a special Last Fast Show Ever in 2000. The show's central performers were Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Simon Day, Mark Williams, John Thomson, Arabella Weir and...
, The Royle Family
The Royle Family
The Royle Family is a popular, BAFTA award-winning television comedy drama produced by Granada Television for the BBC, which ran for three series between 1998 and 2000, and specials from 2006 onwards...
and My Family.. Perkins also personally "persuaded David Jason
David Jason
Sir David John White, OBE , better known by his stage name David Jason, is an English BAFTA award-winning actor. He is best known as the main character Derek "Del Boy" Trotter on the BBC sit-com Only Fools and Horses from 1981, the voice of Mr Toad in The Wind In The Willows and as detective Jack...
and Nicholas Lyndhurst
Nicholas Lyndhurst
Nicholas Simon Lyndhurst is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Rodney Trotter in Only Fools and Horses, Gary Sparrow in Goodnight Sweetheart, and as Adam Parkinson in Carla Lane's series Butterflies...
to star in a fresh series of the 1980s classic Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses is a British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003...
, the first of which was screened at Christmas 2001."
Tiger Aspect
Having left the BBC, Perkins became Creative Director and an executive producer for independent production company Tiger Aspect, (whose previous programmes include The Vicar of DibleyThe Vicar of Dibley
The Vicar of Dibley is a British sitcom created by Richard Curtis and written for its lead actress, Dawn French, by Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer, with contributions from Kit Hesketh-Harvey. It aired from 1994 to 2007...
and The Thin Blue Line
The Thin Blue Line
The Thin Blue Line is a colloquial term for police and police forces, designed by a police officer after seeing a blue light reflecting on a black marble wall during the first Official Police weeks in Washington DC...
), in late 2001. In this role, he was able to pursue a more hands-on role in the "creative side of programme-making."
For Tiger Aspect, Perkins produced programmes including The Catherine Tate Show
The Catherine Tate Show
The Catherine Tate Show is a British television sketch comedy written by Catherine Tate and Aschlin Ditta. Tate also stars in all but one of the show's sketches, which feature a wide range of characters. The Catherine Tate Show airs on BBC Two and is shown worldwide through the BBC...
for the BBC, and Benidorm
Benidorm (TV series)
Benidorm is an award-winning British television comedy-drama that is produced by Tiger Aspect for ITV and written by Derren Litten, co-writer of The Catherine Tate Show, exploiting the working-class stereotype of this popular tourist destination....
for ITV.
Television writing and acting credits
Perkins' writing credits for television include The World According to SmithMel Smith
Melvin Kenneth "Mel" Smith is an English comedian, writer, film director, producer, and actor. He is most famous for his work on the sketch comedy shows Not the Nine O'Clock News and Alas Smith and Jones along with his comedy partner Griff Rhys Jones.- Early life :Smith's father, Kenneth, was born...
and Jones
Griff Rhys Jones
Griffith "Griff" Rhys Jones is a Welsh comedian, writer, actor, television presenter and personality. Jones came to national attention in the early 1980s for his work in the BBC television comedy sketch shows Not the Nine O'Clock News and Alas Smith and Jones along with his comedy partner Mel Smith...
, KYTV, Harry Enfield's Television Programme
Harry Enfield's Television Programme
Harry Enfield's Television Programme was a British sketch show starring Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse...
, Harry Enfield and Chums and Coogan
Steve Coogan
Stephen John "Steve" Coogan is a British comedian, actor, writer and producer. Born in Manchester, he began his career as a standup comedian and impressionist, working as a voice artist throughout the 1980s on satirical puppet show Spitting Image. In the early nineties, Coogan began creating...
's Run.
In addition to starring in KYTV, Perkins appeared in small cameo roles in several of the comedy programmes he produced, including Father Ted
Father Ted
Father Ted is a comedy series set in Ireland that was produced by Hat Trick Productions for British broadcaster Channel 4. Written jointly by Irish writers Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan and starring a predominantly Irish cast, it originally aired over three series from 21 April 1995 until 1 May...
, Operation Good Guys
Operation Good Guys
Operation Good Guys is a British mockumentary, a fly-on-the-wall documentary series about an elite police unit's bid to snare one of Britain's most powerful crime lords. It was first screened on BBC Two from 1997 - 2000. Blurring the line between fact and fiction, it witnesses, on camera, the total...
, One Foot in the Grave
One Foot in the Grave
One Foot in the Grave is a BBC television sitcom series written by David Renwick. The show ran for six series, including seven Christmas specials, two Comic Relief specials, over an eleven year period, from early 1990 to late 2000...
and The Catherine Tate Show
The Catherine Tate Show
The Catherine Tate Show is a British television sketch comedy written by Catherine Tate and Aschlin Ditta. Tate also stars in all but one of the show's sketches, which feature a wide range of characters. The Catherine Tate Show airs on BBC Two and is shown worldwide through the BBC...
.
Final years
In 2006, Harry Enfield was told by BBC Head of Programmes Peter FinchamPeter Fincham
Peter Fincham is a British television producer and executive, currently the Director of Television for the ITV network. He was also formerly the Controller of BBC One, the primary television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation, until his resignation on 5 October 2007, following...
that he was too old to produce another comedy sketch series. Enfield approached Perkins with his ideas, which Perkins helped Enfield develop into the first series of Harry and Paul, starring Enfield and Paul Whitehouse
Paul Whitehouse
Paul Whitehouse is a Welsh actor, writer and comedian. He became known for his work with Harry Enfield and as one of the stars of the popular BBC sketch show, The Fast Show. In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was in the top 50 comedy acts voted for by comedians and comedy insiders...
.
Perkins died from injuries after an accident involving a lorry
Lorry
-Transport:* Lorry or truck, a large motor vehicle* Lorry, or a Mine car in USA: an open gondola with a tipping trough* Lorry , a horse-drawn low-loading trolley-In fiction:...
in Marylebone
Marylebone
Marylebone is an affluent inner-city area of central London, located within the City of Westminster. It is sometimes written as St. Marylebone or Mary-le-bone....
High Street, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, on 29 August 2008. A coroners' inquest in April 2009 revealed that Perkins had suffered from an undiagnosed case of channelopathies, which caused his heart to stop suddenly. The inquest ruled that Perkins had likely already died when he fell under the wheels of the lorry. The coroner recorded that he died from "natural causes".
On 5 September 2008 Perkins' last production for the BBC and Tiger Aspect - the second series of Harry and Paul - was aired. The first show was dedicated to his memory. In place of the usual closing credits, the show featured a short tribute to him and concluded with an out-take
Outtake
An outtake is a portion of a work that is removed in the editing process and not included in the work's final, publicly released version. In the digital era, significant outtakes have been appended to CD and DVD reissues of many albums and films as bonus tracks or features, in film often, but not...
of Perkins forgetting his lines in a sketch absent from the transmitted series.
On 8 November 2008, BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
aired an evening of programmes in tribute to Perkins, comprising episodes of The Catherine Tate Show
The Catherine Tate Show
The Catherine Tate Show is a British television sketch comedy written by Catherine Tate and Aschlin Ditta. Tate also stars in all but one of the show's sketches, which feature a wide range of characters. The Catherine Tate Show airs on BBC Two and is shown worldwide through the BBC...
, Father Ted
Father Ted
Father Ted is a comedy series set in Ireland that was produced by Hat Trick Productions for British broadcaster Channel 4. Written jointly by Irish writers Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan and starring a predominantly Irish cast, it originally aired over three series from 21 April 1995 until 1 May...
(a Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
programme which the BBC was given special permission to broadcast as part of the tribute) and The Fast Show
The Fast Show
The Fast Show, known as Brilliant in the US, was a BBC comedy sketch show programme that ran for three series from 1994 to 1997 with a special Last Fast Show Ever in 2000. The show's central performers were Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Simon Day, Mark Williams, John Thomson, Arabella Weir and...
, together with a special edition of Comedy Connections
Comedy Connections
Comedy Connections was a BBC One documentary series produced by BBC Scotland that aired from 2003 to 2008. The show looked at the stories behind the production of some of Britain's comedy television programmes, showing how they tied in with the production of other comedy shows...
about Perkins' career in comedy.
He was posthumously awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Comedy award at the British Comedy Awards
British Comedy Awards
The British Comedy Awards is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year.-History:...
on 6 December 2008.
The recipients of both the BAFTAs awarded on 27 April 2009 to Harry and Paul for Best Comedy Programme and to The IT Crowd
The IT Crowd
The IT Crowd is a British sitcom by Channel 4, written by Graham Linehan, produced by Ash Atalla and starring Chris O'Dowd, Richard Ayoade, Katherine Parkinson and Matt Berry...
for Best Situation Comedy dedicated their awards to Perkins.