Deborah Ann Barham (20 November 1976 – 20 April 2003) was an English comedy writer who died at the age of 26 of heart failure brought on as a result of

anorexia Anorexia nervosa (AN), often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by Calorie restriction, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. Individuals wit ...

. As well as writing for TV and radio, Barham wrote columns for newspapers and magazines.

Life

Barham was born 20 November 1976 in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

, England. She was educated at Sheffield High School and was a bright student, but left school early as she was unhappy there. She began her professional writing career at the age of 15, moved to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

at the age of 16, and was working as a BBC contract writer at the age of 17. In 1995, Barham developed anorexia nervosa. Her early work was submitted under the name D. A. Barham, out of concern that a teenage girl would not be accepted in a world traditionally dominated by

Oxbridge Oxbridge is a portmanteau of the University of Oxford, Universities of Oxford and University of Cambridge, Cambridge, the two oldest, wealthiest, and most prestigious universities in the United Kingdom. The term is used to refer to them collect ...

-educated men. During her eleven-year career she wrote for comedians including

Clive Anderson Clive Stuart Anderson (born 10 December 1952) is an English television and radio presenter, comedian, writer and former barrister. Winner of a British Comedy Award in 1991, Anderson began experimenting with comedy and writing comedic scripts dur ...

Rory Bremner Roderick Keith Ogilvy "Rory" Bremner,"Rory Bremner". '' Who Do You Think You Are?''. Wall to Wall for BBC One. 2 February 2009. No. 1, series 6. (born 6 April 1961) is a Scottish impressionist and comedian, noted for his work in political sati ...

Angus Deayton Gordon Angus Deayton (; born 6 January 1956) is an English actor, writer, musician, comedian and broadcaster. Deayton was the original presenter of two successful British comedy panel shows, ''Have I Got News for You'' (1990–2002) and ''Woul ...

Bob Monkhouse Robert Alan Monkhouse (1 June 1928 – 29 December 2003) was an English comedian, television presenter, writer and actor. He was the host of television game shows including '' The Golden Shot'', '' Celebrity Squares'', '' Family Fortunes'' and ' ...

and

Graham Norton Graham William Walker (born 4 April 1963), known professionally as Graham Norton, is an Irish comedian, broadcaster, actor, and writer. He is a five-time BAFTA TV Award winner for the comedy chat show ''The Graham Norton Show'' (2007–present) ...

, and for

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

programmes including '' The News Huddlines'', ''

The News Quiz ''The News Quiz'' is a British topical panel game broadcast on BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in 1977. The show, created by John Lloyd from an idea by Nicholas Parsons, has seen several hosts, including Barry Norman, Barry Took, Simon Hogg ...

'', '' Loose Ends'' and ''

Week Ending ''Week Ending'' was a satirical radio current affairs sketch show broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1970 and 1998. It was devised by writer-producers Simon Brett and David Hatch and was originally hosted by '' Nationwide'' presenter Michael B ...

''. She also wrote the eight-part radio sitcom ''The Elephant Man'', which starred

Peter Serafinowicz Peter Szymon Serafinowicz ( ; born 10 July 1972) is an English actor, comedian, director and screenwriter. His film roles include the voice of Darth Maul in '' Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace'' (1999), Pete in '' Shaun of the Dead' ...

and was broadcast on

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

in 1996. Though little known by the general public, she was greatly respected in the profession, and had a reputation for mental quickness, her writing being not only of high quality but also fast and prolific, even during her illness. She wrote a column for ''

Computeractive ''Computeractive'' (sometimes written as ''Computeract!ve'', to reflect the logo) is a fortnightly computer magazine published by Future plc in the United Kingdom. History and profile It was first published in February 1998 by Nielsen Holdings, ...

'' magazine for the few years prior to her death. The radio show '' About a Dog'' was based on her last comedy proposal.

Bibliography

* Peter Barham & Alan Hurndall (2006) ''The Invisible Girl: A Father's Moving Story of the Daughter He Lost'' Harper Element

References

English comedy writers Writers from Sheffield 1976 births 2003 deaths Deaths from anorexia nervosa People educated at Sheffield High School, South Yorkshire {{UK-writer-stub