British Comedy Guide
British Comedy Guide
Ray Galton
Ray Galton

Ray Galton

  • English
  • Actor and writer

Ray Galton features

The Likely Lads. Image shows from L to R: Terry Collier (James Bolam), Bob Ferris (Rodney Bewes) Features

Comedy Rewind: A likely story - The Likely Lads

Sunday 15th December 2024

As it celebrates its sixtieth anniversary we pay tribute to The Likely Lads, a pioneering series that helped popularise realism in television comedy.

Till Death Us Do Part. Image shows left to right: Alf Garnett (Warren Mitchell), Arthur Blenkinsopp (Eric Sykes). Credit: BBC Features

Comedy Chronicles: Up the polls! - Election campaigns and comedy

Sunday 30th June 2024

Comedy and politics regularly mix, but there has long been a significant hesitation amongst television broadcasters to poke fun during election campaign periods.

Image shows left to right: John Junkin, Barry Cryer Features

Comedy Chronicles: Taking on the tabula rasa: Inside the writing room

Sunday 19th May 2024

Writing comedy. Some like to do it standing up; some prefer sitting down; and others have ended up lying flat out on the floor. Graham McCann examines how some of Britain's finest comic minds got their words down on the page.

Hancock. Image shows left to right: Tony Hancock (Tony Hancock), Nurse Rawlings (Judith Stott) TV

Hancock and The Girl

Sunday 12th May 2024

Whilst the 1963 Hancock series is not well-known today, one episode in particular has stand-out quality to it that offers a tantalising glimpse of Tony Hancock's genius.

Hancock's Half Hour. Image shows left to right: Sidney Balmoral James (Sid James), Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock (Tony Hancock). Credit: BBC Live

Hancock's Half Hour on the stage at 70

Thursday 9th May 2024

Ahead of comedian Tony Hancock's centenary and the 70th anniversary of sitcom Hancock's Half Hour on radio, actor and producer John Hewer discusses his new stage production of three scripts from lost television episodes.

Educating Archie. Peter Brough. Copyright: BBC Radio

Steam radio: a Baby Boomer's personal memory of post-war wireless comedy

Thursday 7th March 2024

With ever-more BBC radio archival treats now available to buy and enjoy again, self-identified Baby Boomer Hercules Grytpype-Thynne shares his personal memories and pays tribute to some of the biggest shows of the post-war era in this ode to brilliant comedy on the wireless.

Sid James Features

Comedy Chronicles: The ITV Job - The day when the BBC almost lost British comedy

Sunday 26th June 2022

Graham McCann's column charts a fascinating 'what if' moment in British television comedy history: a fork in the road that had consequences of epic proportions in either direction.

Steptoe And Son. Image shows from L to R: Harold Steptoe (Harry H. Corbett), Albert Steptoe (Wilfrid Brambell). Copyright: BBC Features

Britain's sitcom invasion

Tuesday 31st August 2021

As his new book on 1970s sitcoms is published, author Robert Sellers takes a look at the topic of British sitcoms being re-made for an American audience, in the process sharing some of the conversations he had with the original writers involved.

Le Petomane. Joseph Pujol (Leonard Rossiter) Features

Comedy Chronicles: Classical gas - Galton & Simpson's Le Pétomane

Sunday 7th February 2021

This edition of Comedy Chronicles turns to one of Galton & Simpson's least-well-known works: a short comic film biopic of a famed French farter.

Very Nearly An Armful - The Galton & Simpson Story. Image shows from L to R: Alan Simpson, Ray Galton Features

Galton & Simpson - Big interview

Thursday 1st May 2014

Comedy writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson talk to us about their long and fruitful career, including working with the likes of Tony Hancock, and being involved in Frankie Howerd's US failure.

Very Nearly An Armful - The Galton & Simpson Story. Image shows from L to R: Alan Simpson, Ray Galton Features

Writers Galton and Simpson to be honoured

Friday 17th May 2013

Celebrated writing duo Ray Galton and Alan Simpson are to be honoured by the British Comedy Society with a blue plaque unveiling in June.

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