Jimmy Perry dies aged 93
- Sitcom writer Jimmy Perry has died, aged 93
- He is best known for creating Dad's Army, and later co-writing with producer David Croft
- Other credits include huge hits Hi-De-Hi! and It Ain't Half Hot Mum
Jimmy Perry OBE has died at the age of 93, after a short illness.
The sitcom writer is best known for creating Dad's Army, which he would go on to co-write 80 episodes of with BBC producer David Croft. Famously, he originally conceived the sitcom whilst an out-of-work actor, trying to write a role for himself.
Croft & Perry continued their working relationship with other period hits such as It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Hi-De-Hi!, and You Rang, M'Lord?.
Perry's other credits include High Street Blues, The Gnomes Of Dulwich, Room Service and Lollipop Loves Mr. Mole.
Born in Barnes, south-west London, in 1923, Perry served in the Home Guard from the age of 16, an experience upon which he would base Dad's Army.
Aspiring to be a "great actor or comedian", his antique dealer father dismissed his ambitions as those of a "stupid boy". In 1941, as he turned 18, Perry was called up for service and joined the Royal Artillery. He was sent to Burma to become part of a Concert Party entertaining fellow troops. This experience would directly inspire It Ain't Half Hot Mum.
After the war Perry embarked on an acting career. He spent time as a Butlin's Red Coat - an experience upon which he would later base Hi-De-Hi! - and during the early 1960s he was actor-manager at Watford Repertory Theatre, where he met and worked with many of the actors who would later frequent his sitcoms with David Croft.
Dad's Army was devised by Perry in 1967. His agent, Ann, was the wife of David Croft, a successful BBC comedy producer, and she persuaded her husband first to hire Jimmy for a number of small on-screen roles, before getting him to read the initial scripts for The Fighting Tigers, the format that would later become the famous wartime sitcom. However, when it came time to make the show, Croft convinced Perry to focus on the scripts, with James Beck given the role he had conceived for himself; cheeky spiv Private Walker.
The comedy is still repeated every Saturday afternoon on BBC Two with around a million viewers regularly tune in, making it the channel's most-watched programme of the day almost every single week. Yesterday's episode again achieved this feat, with 818,000 viewers. Speaking in an interview recently to promote the new Dad's Army film, Perry said he thought the wartime comedy remains so popular with audiences as it reminds people of a time when "they could be proud to be British".
Last Christmas, speaking ahead of a comedy drama about the creation of the comedy, We're Doomed! The Dad's Army Story, he explained how the sitcom almost never made it to the screen.
An initial report from the BBC's market research team compiled during development of the show included negative feedback, but he and David Croft kept this from BBC management. "The report came in to David's office - and it wasn't very good. It wasn't damning but it was very sort of lukewarm. I said, 'What are you going to do about this, David?' And he said, 'I'll tell you what I'm going to do. It goes in there...' and he put it at the bottom of the pile in his in-tray. And as far as I know, it'll still be there when they're pulling the place down!"
However, both he and producer/director/co-writer David Croft were prouder of their later sitcom, It Ain't Half Hot Mum.
Reportedly now deemed too politically incorrect by the BBC to be shown on television again, Perry said in a 2014 article: "I believe it's equally as funny as Dad's Army, and full of characters just as memorable - the blustering sergeant-major, the camp drag artiste and the Indian orderly who was more British than the Brits", adding "Too many executives at the BBC have rather too little idea what reality looks like. They are Oxbridge graduates trained by other Oxbridge graduates who learnt what they know from still more Oxbridge graduates. The real world doesn't get a look-in at today's BBC."
In an interview with The Telegraph to mark his 90th birthday, Perry explained his frustration at modern politically-correct criticisms of the sitcom: "It was David's and my favourite. All [co-star] Michael Bates wore was a light tan. He wasn't blacked up! Michael spoke fluent Urdu, and was a captain in the Gurkhas."
He added: "We were rehearsing It Ain't Half Hot Mum. They said: 'Tea up! We'll do another half hour and then we can go home.' I said: 'Do you know, I'm enjoying myself so much I don't want to go home!' I didn't want to leave it. I loved it."
Jimmy Perry was born on 20th September 1923 and awarded the OBE in 1978. His autobiography, A Stupid Boy, was published in 2002. He passed away at home following a battle with a short illness. He is survived by his long term partner, Mary Husband.
BBC Comedy Commissioner Shane Allen, speaking on behalf of the BBC, says: "Jimmy Perry is a Goliath of British comedy writing. He was behind some of the longest running and most loved sitcoms on British television spanning the 60s, 70s and 80s. His work will be enjoyed and appreciated for many years to come. Our thoughts are with his friends and loved ones at this sad time."