Alan Simpson

Non-comedy TV and film credits may be found here:
Alan Simpson on IMDb

Born

Wednesday 27th November 1929

Died

Wednesday 8th February 2017 (aged 87)

Title

Alan Simpson OBE

Member of

• Galton & Simpson

Nationality

English

Wife

Tessa Le Bars

Alan Simpson OBE was an English scriptwriter best known for the Galton and Simpson comedy writing partnership he formed with Ray Galton.

Born in Brixton and educated at Mitcham County Grammar School for Boys, Simpson met Galton whilst hospitalised for tuberculosis at Milford Sanatorium near Godalming in Surrey. One of the plot lines in Linda Grant's 2016 novel The Dark Circle was even based on Simpson's experience of broadcasting on hospital radio with Galton during their time at the sanatorium. Their first show while here was called Have You Ever Wondered?, described by the 89th issue of the sanatorium's Milford Bulletin in 1949 as "slick, up-to-the-minute, with a dash of satire, a worthy effort indeed". Whilst bed-ridden here, another patient, an engineer, got hold of a radio from an old RAF Lancaster bomber, which allowed them to spend all day long listening to British radio comedy and American performers such as Bob Hope and Jack Benny. Both Galton and Simpson were 17 years old at the time, and upon being discharged, they applied for and were offered roles at the BBC, writing sketches for a wide variety of comedians.

Having proven their worth by offering jokes to the well-known performer Derek Roy at five shillings a go, the duo were put on the BBC's payroll for eight guineas a week. After their breakthrough show, the Derek Roy vehicle Happy Go Lucky, the pair began to write for Frankie Howerd and Tony Hancock, writing material for The Frankie Howard Show and penning such works as Hancock's Half Hour - both radio show and BBC One sitcom. Following the success of this programme, which ran for 7 series between 1956 and 1961, Galton and Simpson wrote several other comedy series, including Comedy Playhouse, the fourth episode of which was entitled "The Offer" and featured two rag-and-bone men living in Shepherd's Bush.

Tom Sloane, the head of BBC light entertainment, offered Galton and Simpson the opportunity to create an entire show based around these figures, and this was how Steptoe And Son was born, a sitcom that ran for eight series between 1962 and 1974 - with a peak audience of nearly 30 million. Simpson would later describe situation comedy as follows: "Half an hour, with no funny voices or jokes as such, all comedy inspired by the characters, and a complete storyline, with no interruptions by a singer or instrumentalist."

Galton and Simpson joined forces with Eric Sykes, Spike Milligan, Frankie Howerd and Jonny Speight, who would later create Till Death Do Us Part, to form their own co-operative writers' agency, Associated London Scripts.

Notable among his many awards are the Guild of TV Producers and Directors' Scriptwriters of the Year (1959), the Screenwriters' Guild best comedy series for Steptoe And Son (1962, 1963, 1964, and 1965), and the Writers' Guild of Great Britain lifetime achievement award (1997).

After the shock of his wife's death, in later life married his manager Tessa Le Bars, who cared for him to the end. He was known for enjoying long drives through France in his Rolls-Royce, sampling culinary delights in various vineyards and restaurants. Simpson was awarded an OBE in 2000 and both he and Galton received a BAFTA fellowship on 8 May 2016 for their services to comedy. He famously said that he always desired to write about working-class characters - mostly losers, fools, or failures - whom he felt he understood best.

BAFTA Television Awards 2016

BAFTA Fellowship (Winner)

Chortle Awards 2013

Outstanding Contribution to Comedy (Winner)

British Comedy Awards 1997

Best Writing (Winner)

Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards 1972

Best Comedy Screenplay (Winner)
Best TV Comedy (Winner)

BAFTA Television Awards 1959

Best Scriptwriter (Winner)