Described as ‘one of the great Swedish authors of our time’, Henning Mankell passed away on Monday in Goteborg, Sweden at the age of 67. While Mankell was prolific across multiple genres, writing everything from plays to crime dramas to children’s books, he is best known worldwide for his ultra-gritty Wallander police procedural crime stories, […]
Read moreAlmost a decade ago, several of us had an incredible opportunity to spend a couple of weeks in Dublin with Frank McCourt, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Angela’s Ashes, Teacher Man and ‘Tis. Frank hosted our PBS special, Historic Pubs of Dublin, broadcast in March 2008. As host, Frank took viewers on a tour of Dublin telling it’s history through the […]
Read moreDavid Nobbs, the creator/writer of The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, one of the classic British situation comedies of all-time, has died at the age of 80. Based on a series of novels penned by Nobbs and first broadcast in the late 1970s, the series brilliantly told the story of middle aged, middle manager, Reginald […]
Read moreWhen news on Saturday broke of the passing of Cilla Black, a name synonymous with the likes of Dusty Springfield, Petula Clark and Lulu, and, arguably, one of Britain’s best known and most-loved female performers, I immediately went in search of the recent ITV biopic, Cilla, the three-part drama which chronicled the early career of Cilla […]
Read moreSome sad news from not just the British film world but the entire world of film yesterday morning. Sir Christopher Lee has died at the age of 93. Famous, in recent years, for his roles in the classic James Bond movie, The Man With the Golden Gun, The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, I […]
Read moreR.I.P. Terry Pratchett — Discworld has stopped spinning…. As sentiments on Twitter have poured in from around the world, the above tweet, which easily came in under the 140-character limit, seemed to say it all. The literary world is a much lonelier place today as Terry Pratchett, the mind palace that created the brilliant Discworld series […]
Read moreMulberry has finally come to take hold of Miss Rose Farnaby’s hand and escort her across the bridge… Actress Geraldine McEwan, known primarily in recent years for playing Agatha Christie sleuth Miss Jane Marple on ITV and PBS, has died at the age of 82. McEwan, who appeared in 12, 2-hour episodes as Miss Marple, […]
Read moreJeremy Lloyd, the co-creator/writer of such British comedy classics as Are You Being Served? and ‘Allo, ‘Allo, passed away on 23 December at the age of 84. These are getting harder and harder to write and, sadly, they seem to be coming around more frequently in recent years. This one, however, had an added level of […]
Read moreMore sad news from the world of comedy. Rik Mayall (pictured at left below), the co-creator/writer and star of The Young Ones has passed away at the age of 56. Not long after I was introduced to the likes of Monty Python’s Flying Circus and Fawlty Towers on public television, along came this somewhat […]
Read moreThese are getting harder and harder to write with each passing but they seem to come more frequently these days than any of us would like. The British comedy world, actually, the comedy world, lost a good friend this past week when Bob Larbey passed away. While you may not be familiar with the name, […]
Read more