Sydney Lotterby OBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (born Jan. 9 1926) is a 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...

 television producer

Television producer

The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...

 and director

Television director

A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...

. He started as a cameraman at 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...

 and progressed to becoming technical manager. He joined the BBC's Entertainment Department in 1958 and in 1963 became a producer/director.

Television comedy series which he produced or directed included: As Time Goes By

As Time Goes By (TV series)

As Time Goes By is a British sitcom that aired on BBC One from 1992 to 2005. Starring Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer, it follows the relationship between two former lovers who meet unexpectedly after not having been in contact for 38 years....

, May to December

May to December

May to December was a British sitcom which ran for 39 episodes, from 2 April 1989 to 27 May 1994 on BBC1. The series was written by Paul Mendelson and produced by Cinema Verity....

, Last of the Summer Wine

Last of the Summer Wine

Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and...

, Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister

Yes Minister

Yes Minister is a satirical British sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn that was first transmitted by BBC Television between 1980–1982 and 1984, split over three seven-episode series. The sequel, Yes, Prime Minister, ran from 1986 to 1988. In total there were 38 episodes—of which all but...

, Ever Decreasing Circles

Ever Decreasing Circles

Ever Decreasing Circles is a British situation comedy which ran on BBC1 for four series from 1984 to 1989.It was written by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey, and reunited them with Richard Briers, the star of their previous hit show, The Good Life. It was much less brash than most situation comedies,...

, Brush Strokes

Brush Strokes

Brush Strokes is a British television sitcom, broadcast on BBC television from 1986 to 1991. Written by Esmonde and Larbey and set in South London, it depicted the amorous adventures of a good-looking, wisecracking house painter, Jacko...

, Open All Hours

Open All Hours

Open All Hours is a BBC sitcom written by Roy Clarke which ran for four series a first run in 1976, a second run in 1981, third in 1982 and finally with a fourth run in 1985, with a pilot episode from the Seven of One series in 1973...

, Butterflies

Butterflies (TV series)

Butterflies is a British sitcom written by Carla Lane broadcast on BBC2 from 1978–83.The situation is the day-to-day life of the Parkinson family in a bittersweet style. There are both traditional comedy sources and more unusual sources such as Ria's unconsummated relationship with the...

, Ripping Yarns

Ripping Yarns

Ripping Yarns is a British television comedy series, shown on BBC 2 from 1976 to 1979. It was written by Michael Palin and Terry Jones of Monty Python fame...

, Porridge

Porridge (TV series)

Porridge is a British situation comedy broadcast on BBC1 from 1974 to 1977, running for three series, two Christmas specials and a feature film. Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, it stars Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale as two inmates at the fictional HMP Slade in Cumberland...

, Going Straight

Going Straight

Going Straight is a BBC sitcom which was a direct spin-off from Porridge, starring Ronnie Barker as Norman Stanley Fletcher, newly released from the fictional Slade Prison where the earlier series had been set....

, Broaden Your Mind

Broaden Your Mind

Broaden Your Mind is a British television comedy series starring Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden, joined by Bill Oddie for the second series...

, the final series of Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em

Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em

Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em was a BBC situation comedy, written by Raymond Allen and starring Michael Crawford and Michele Dotrice.The series followed the accident-prone Frank Spencer and his tolerant wife Betty through Frank's various attempts to hold down a job, which frequently end in...

, The Liver Birds

The Liver Birds

The Liver Birds is a British situation comedy, set in Liverpool, Merseyside, North-West of England, which aired on BBC1 from 1969 to 1978, and again in 1996. It was created by Carla Lane and Myra Taylor. The two Liverpool housewives had met at a local writers club and decided to pool their talents...

, Up Pompeii!

Up Pompeii!

Up Pompeii! is a British television comedy series broadcast between 1969 and 1970, starring Frankie Howerd. The first series was written by Talbot Rothwell, a scriptwriter for the Carry On films, and the second series by Rothwell and Sid Colin. Two later specials were transmitted in 1975 and...

and Sykes and A...

Sykes and A...

Sykes and a... is a black-and-white British sitcom starring Eric Sykes and Hattie Jacques that aired on BBC1 from 1960 to 1965. It was written by Eric Sykes, Johnny Speight, John Antrobus and Spike Milligan...

.

There was also a sketch in At Last The 1948 Show

At Last the 1948 Show

At Last the 1948 Show is a satirical TV show made by David Frost's company, Paradine Productions , in association with Rediffusion London...

in which there were four exactly alike men all called Sydney Lotterby. (The title of this sketch was "The Four Sydney Lotterbies

The Four Sydney Lotterbies

"The Four Sydney Lotterbies" was a British comedy sketch that was performed on an episode of the 1967-1968 sketch comedy TV series At Last the 1948 Show. The four main actors in the sketch were John Cleese, Marty Feldman, Tim Brooke-Taylor, and Graham Chapman, each of whom had a hand in writing...

.")
Apparently John Cleese

John Cleese

John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...

, the sketch's writer, liked the name.

He has won four BAFTAs for comedy, including for Porridge (and also for a special in 1974), Going Straight (1978) and Yes Minister (1980). He has also been nominated for eleven more. In 1994 Lotterby was appointed OBE.

External links

• Sydney Lotterby — (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...
  
  website)