Wilfred Duncan Wood (24 March 1925 – 11 January 1997) was a British comedy producer, director and writer, who has been described as "the founding father of the British TV sitcom". Wood's best-known achievements were to produce all of

Tony Hancock Anthony John Hancock (12 May 1924 – 25 June 1968) was an English comedian and actor. High-profile during the 1950s and early 1960s, he had a major success with his BBC series '' Hancock's Half Hour'', first broadcast on radio from 1954, ...

's ''Half Hours'' for

BBC TV BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios ...

during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and later the

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

Steptoe and Son ''Steptoe and Son'' is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about a father-and-son rag-and-bone business in 26a Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush, London. Four series were broadcast by the BBC in black a ...

'' for most of its run, created by Hancock's former writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. From 1970 to 1973, Wood was the

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 ...

's Head of Comedy. He left in 1973 to become Head of Light Entertainment at

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

and was responsible for commissioning ''

Rising Damp ''Rising Damp'' is a British sitcom, written by Eric Chappell and produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV, which was originally broadcast from 2 September 1974 until 9 May 1978. Chappell adapted the story from his 1973 stage play ''The Banana ...

''.

Life and career

Born in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, he trained with the

as an

outside broadcast Outside or Outsides may refer to: * Wilderness Books and magazines * ''Outside'', a book by Marguerite Duras * Outside (magazine), ''Outside'' (magazine), an outdoors magazine Film, theatre and TV * Outside TV (formerly RSN Television), a televi ...

engineer, before serving in south east Asia with the

Royal Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communications an ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He returned to the BBC in 1948, working on the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

, and in the early 1950s started working as a producer of radio

variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

programmes, such as '' Workers' Playtime'', on which he worked with up-and-coming comedians including

Dick Emery Richard Gilbert Emery (19 February 19152 January 1983) was an English comedian and comic actor. His broadcasting career began on radio in the 1950s, and his self-titled television series ran from 1963 to 1981. Life and career Richard Gilbert Emer ...

, and

Benny Hill Alfred Hawthorne "Benny" Hill (21 January 1924 – 18 April 1992) was an English comedian, actor and scriptwriter. He is best remembered for his television programme, ''The Benny Hill Show'', a comedy-variety show whose amalgam of slapstick, bu ...

. He moved into television in 1953, and worked on a wide range of programmes including dancing and

panel show A panel show or panel game is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participate. Celebrity panelists may compete with each other, such as on '' The News Quiz''; facilitate play by non-celebrity contestants, such as on ' ...

s. He became a specialist producer of comedy programmes, following initial success in 1955 with the

sketch show Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in ...

Great Scott - It's Maynard! Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" * Artel Great (bo ...

''. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he produced many of the BBC's most popular comedy shows, featuring Benny Hill,

Frankie Howerd Francis Alick Howard (6 March 1917 – 19 April 1992), better known by his stage-name Frankie Howerd, was an English actor and comedian. Early life Howerd was born the son of a soldier Francis Alfred William (1887–1934)England & Wales, Deat ...

Ken Dodd Sir Kenneth Arthur Dodd (8 November 1927 – 11 March 2018) was an English stand-up comedy, comedian, actor and singer. He was described as "the last great music hall entertainer" and was primarily known for his live stand-up comedy, stand-up pe ...

, and others. In 1956, he became producer and director of

's ''

Hancock's Half Hour ''Hancock's Half Hour'' was a BBC radio comedy, and later television comedy series, broadcast from 1954 to 1961 and written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The radio series starred Tony Hancock, with Sidney James, Bill Kerr and,at various ...

'', working closely with writers

Ray Galton Raymond Percy Galton (17 July 1930 – 5 October 2018) was an English radio and television scriptwriter. He was best known as part of the Galton and Simpson comedy writing partnership with Alan Simpson. Together they devised and wrote 1950s an ...

and Alan Simpson. According to writer

Graham McCann Graham McCann is a British author and historian who has written extensively on film and television stars and British comedy series. He is a former lecturer and fellow at the University of Cambridge where he taught social and political theory. McCan ...

, Wood "took the trouble to cast the occasional players just as carefully as he did the regular characters...Then came the cameras and the editing... where Wood went far beyond his contemporaries... because of the way that, step by step, he shaped and set out the syntax of sitcom shooting."Graham McCann, "Duncan Wood: The maestro", ''British Comedy Guide'', 20 March 2022
Retrieved 27 March 2022 In 1960 he was appointed as Chief Assistant Head of Programmes in the BBC's Light Entertainment Department, where he produced ''

'', the first sitcom to have serious 'straight' actors in the leading roles, with scripts (again by Galton and Simpson) who brought "darkness... honesty, compassion and insight" to their scripts. Also during the 1960s, he produced such series as ''

Citizen James ''Citizen James'' is a BBC sitcom that ran for three series between 24 November 1960 and 23 November 1962. The show featured comedian and actor Sid James and Sydney Tafler with Bill Kerr and Liz Fraser appearing in early episodes. It was initial ...

'', '' Hugh And I'', '' The Bed-Sit Girl'', '' Harry Worth'', ''

Oh Brother! ''Oh, Brother!'' is a British television sitcom starring Derek Nimmo, which aired on BBC1 from September 13, 1968 to February 27, 1970. Synopsis The series was set in the fictional Mountacres Monastery, with Nimmo cast as the well-meaning but ...

'', ''

The World of Beachcomber ''The World of Beachcomber'' was a surreal television comedy show produced by the BBC inspired by the Beachcomber column in the ''Daily Express'' newspaper. Description The show, like the column, consisted of a series of unrelated pieces of hum ...

'', and many editions of ''

Comedy Playhouse ''Comedy Playhouse'' is a long-running British anthology series of one-off unrelated sitcoms that aired for 128 episodes from 1961 to 1975. Many episodes later graduated to their own series, including '' Steptoe and Son'', '' Meet the Wife'', ' ...

''. From 1970 to 1973, he was the

's Head of Comedy, replacing Michael Mills. He left in 1973 to become Head of Light Entertainment at

and was responsible for commissioning ''

''. He retired in 1984 but continued to work as a consultant for several years. He died in 1997 at the age of 71.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Duncan 1925 births 1997 deaths BBC executives BBC television producers British television producers ITV people Mass media people from Bristol