Super-producer Bill Dare dies
- Prolific writer and producer Bill Dare has died following an accident abroad
- He was behind hit shows including Dead Ringers, The Now Show and The Mary Whitehouse Experience
- Working primarily in radio, he regularly fought for and championed new writers and performers
The Now Show creator Bill Dare has died, his agent confirmed this evening.
The writer and producer was primarily active in radio comedy, with his most notable achievement the long-running satirical sketch show Dead Ringers, which he created and produced across both its original radio and television incarnations.
Aged 64, Dare died over the weekend following a traffic accident that occurred whilst holidaying in South America.
The son of actor, writer and wit Peter Jones, Dare - full name Bill Dare Jones - is one of British comedy's great but often undersung influencers, championing new writing and performing talent through a range of comedy series.
From producing Week Ending and creating The Mary Whitehouse Experience to helming the tenth to seventeenth series of hit ITV sketch show Spitting Image, his work was hugely influential, critically lauded and popular with audiences.
The original radio incarnation of Dead Ringers marks its 25th anniversary later this year, having become one of BBC Radio 4's most successful and long-running comedy formats. His most recent work was the sitcom The Island for unusual Productions, which is currently mid-way through its first series.
In a statement, the JFL Agency said: "Bill was a truly legendary producer and writer, and his comedy instincts were second to none. He made Dead Ringers into a national institution for the BBC, due to mark its 25th anniversary this year. But Bill's creativity was unbounded - sketch shows, sitcoms, entertainment formats, novels, stage shows - he created them all and brought great pleasure to an untold number of viewers and listeners. He was also a great champion of talent, both writing and performing, and he will be remembered for working with the best of his generation at the same time as creating opportunities for the next."
His multiple and varied accolades include winning a BBC Audio Award for Please Use Other Door in 2023, a radio sketch show format he devised specifically to give early writing and performing credits to new comic talent.
Julia McKenzie, Comedy Commissioner for BBC Radio 4 said tonight: "I am so terribly sorry to hear this tragic news and my thoughts are with Bill's wife, family and friends. Bill has been a huge part of Radio 4 comedy for decades, as a writer and producer, and listeners will have heard his legendary name at the end of many of their favourite shows.
"Bill was a comedy obsessive, and very instinctive about making the funniest choices when it came to writing, directing and editing. He cared so much about his work that in the production booth during Dead Ringers you'd see him crouched over the script, utterly focused on the show. Dead Ringers was on air over many momentous political events, including several general elections and Brexit, which always necessitated writing overnight, and every time he nailed the comedy but also the emotional dimension which made a lot of his satire so powerful. He was funny and very dry in person, amusingly cynical when he needed to be and always pushed to keep the comedy he made, and particularly satire, spiky. I've known and worked with him for 18 years and like many I can't believe he has gone, he will leave a big hole in the comedy world and in our hearts."
Richard Morris, Creative Director of Comedy and Entertainment at BBC Studios Audio, says: "Bill was a legendary figure in the comedy world and we, his friends and colleagues in radio will miss him hugely. Not only did he create and develop so many of Radio 4's most popular comedy shows - from The Now Show to Dead Ringers - but he was also a great source of creative encouragement to so many new writers and performers who he supported taking their first steps in the industry. We'll miss the sharp wit and wisdom he brought to every production he worked on."
A graduate of the University of Manchester where he studied English and Philosophy, Dare is survived by his wife, Lucy, and daughter Rebecca.
In 2011 he created Brian Gulliver's Travels, a satire about someone visiting other worlds, which also became a successful book. He joked in a BCG interview, "I get to put my philosophy degree to good use, and not many philosophy graduates can say that".