Johnny Speight (2 June 1920 – 5 July 1998) was an English television scriptwriter of many classic British

sitcoms 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 characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent setting, such as a home ...

. Speight emerged in the mid-1950s, writing for radio comics

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 ...

, Vic Oliver,

Arthur Askey Arthur Bowden Askey (6 June 1900 – 16 November 1982) was an English comedian and actor. Askey was known for his short stature (5' 2", 1.58 m) and distinctive horn-rimmed glasses, and his playful humour incorporating improvisation an ...

, and Cyril Fletcher. For television he wrote for Morecambe & Wise,

Peter Sellers Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English actor and comedian. He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series ''The Goon Show''. Sellers featured on a number of hit comi ...

and '' The Arthur Haynes Show''. Later, he began to write '' Till Death Us Do Part'', which included his most famous creation, the controversial bigot Alf Garnett. His shows often explored the themes of racism and

sexism Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but primarily affects women and girls. It has been linked to gender roles and stereotypes, and may include the belief that one sex or gender is int ...

through satire.

Life and career

John Speight was born into an Irish Catholic family in

Canning Town Canning Town is a town in the London Borough of Newham, East London, England, north of the Royal Victoria Dock. Its urbanisation was largely due to the creation of the dock. The area was part of the ancient parish and County Borough of West Ham, ...

West Ham West Ham is a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Newham. It is an inner-city suburb located east of Charing Cross. The area was originally an ancient parish formed to serve parts of the older Manor of Ham, a ...

, Essex (now

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

). He left school at 14, and after a series of odd jobs, tried his hand at writing, looking to

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...

as inspiration. He began contributing scripts to comedy shows in 1955, starting with '' Great Scott - It's Maynard!''. He later contributed to '' Sykes and a...'' (1960–65), which starred

Eric Sykes Eric Sykes (4 May 1923 – 4 July 2012) was an English radio, stage, television and film writer, comedian, actor and director whose performing career spanned more than 50 years. He frequently wrote for and performed with many other leading com ...

, Hattie Jacques and

Richard Wattis Richard Cameron Wattis (25 February 1912 – 1 February 1975) was an English actor, co-starring in many popular British comedies of the 1950s and 1960s. Early life Richard Cameron Wattis was born on 25 February 1912 in Wednesbury, Staffords ...

. Speight was one of many writers on that series which also included Sykes,

John Antrobus John Arthur Antrobus (born 2 July 1933) is an English playwright and screenwriter. He has written extensively for stage, screen, TV and radio, including the epic World War II play, ''Crete and Sergeant Pepper'' at the Royal Court. He authored t ...

and

Spike Milligan Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright and actor. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British India, where he spent his ...

. He created the iconic working class tramp figure played by Arthur Haynes in the latter's long-running and top-rating ATV comedy series. Haynes died in 1966.Profile
screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 26 December 2014. In 1965, Speight wrote a BBC TV pilot which became the 1966 series '' Till Death Us Do Part'' featuring

Warren Mitchell Warren Mitchell (born Warren Misell; 14 January 1926 – 14 November 2015) was an English actor best known for playing bigoted cockney Alf Garnett in television, film and stage productions from the 1960s to the 1990s. He was a BAFTA TV A ...

as Alf Garnett, a

reactionary In politics, a reactionary is a person who favors a return to a previous state of society which they believe possessed positive characteristics absent from contemporary.''The New Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought'' Third Edition, (1999) p. 729. ...

Conservative-voting working-class man with a chip on his shoulder and an angry word on everything. Garnett became one of the most memorable characters in British TV history. The 1971 US sitcom ''

All in the Family ''All in the Family'' is an American sitcoms in the United States, sitcom television series that aired on CBS for nine seasons from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979, with a total of 205 episodes. It was later produced as ''Archie Bunker's Pla ...

'' was based on this series. Also in 1965, he did uncredited screenplay work for the film '' You Must be Joking!''. Speight also played "Barmey Harry" in the second film

spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

, '' The Alf Garnett Saga'', in 1972 . Speight's later series '' Curry and Chips'' (1969) was a more controversial sitcom from LWT for the ITV channel, soon cancelled on the instructions of the

Independent Broadcasting Authority The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television ( ITV and Channel 4 and limited satellite television regulation – cable television was the responsibility of the Cable Author ...

. His next comedy was '' For Richer...For Poorer'' (1975), a one-off pilot which featured Harry H. Corbett as a left-wing answer to Alf Garnett. After a brief return of ''Till Death Us Do Part'' on ITV in 1981 as '' Till Death...'', Alf Garnett returned on the BBC's '' In Sickness and in Health'' which ran from 1985 to 1992. In 1985, he wrote the unbroadcast pilot "Jewel in the Crown" starring

and

, with Milligan wearing blackface and making racially charged jokes, while adopting a Pakistani accent. In 1988 Speight wrote a set of special short sketches for inclusion in London's Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI) in a feature called "Ask Alf". Using random access video visitors were invited to ask Alf Garnett his thoughts on a variety of subjects including museums. Warren Mitchell recorded the short sketches free of charge for MOMI while on tour in Australia. Speight's work brought him financial success, but despite driving a

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

he remained a life-long

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

. He was a subject of the television programme '' This Is Your Life'' in May 1970 when he was surprised by

Eamonn Andrews Eamonn Andrews, (19 December 1922 – 5 November 1987) was an Irish radio and television presenter, employed primarily in the United Kingdom from the 1950s to the 1980s. From 1960 to 1964 he chaired the Radio Éireann Authority (now the RTÉ ...

Death

In 1998, Speight died of

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

, aged 78 at his home in

Chorleywood Chorleywood is a village and civil parish in the Three Rivers District, Hertfordshire, on the border with Buckinghamshire, approximately northwest of Charing Cross. The village is adjacent to the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Be ...

.Johnny Speight, the writer who created Alf Garnett, dies of cancer aged 78
Retrieved 29 October 2016. LWT put forward a series of specials featuring

as Alf Garnett, giving his thoughts on a variety of subjects. The programmes were originally shelved by ITV controller David Liddiment.

TV writing credits

*'' Great Scott – It's Maynard!'' (1955) *''Evans Abode'' (1956) *''Frankie Howerd'' (1956) *''The Dickie Valentine Show'' (1956) *''Two's Company'' (1956) *''Early to Braden'' (1957) *''That's Life, Says Max Wall'' (1957) *''The Arthur Haynes Show'' (1957) *''Frankie Howerd In...'' (1958) *''The Show of 8 April (Seven Days Early)'' (1958) *''The Cyril Fletcher Show'' (1959) *''Ladies and Gentle-Men'' (1960) *'' Sykes and a...'' (1960) *'' The Compartment'' (1961) *''

That Was the Week That Was ''That Was the Week That Was'', informally ''TWTWTW'' or ''TW3'', is a satirical television comedy programme that aired on BBC Television in 1962 and 1963. It was devised, produced, and directed by Ned Sherrin and Jack (aka John) Duncan, and pr ...

'' (1962) *''Shamrot'' (1963) *''The Graham Stark Show'' (1964) *'' Till Death Us Do Part'' (1965) *''To Lucifer – A Son'' (1967) *''If There Weren't Any Blacks You'd Have to Invent Them'' (1968) *'' Curry and Chips'' (1969) *''Spate of Speight'' (1969) *''

'' (1971) *''Them'' (1972) *'' Ein Herz und eine Seele'' (1973) *''Frankie Howerd in Ulster'' (1973) *''Francis Howerd in Concert'' (1974) *''Marty Back Together Again'' (1974) *'' For Richer...For Poorer'' (1975) *''The Mike Reid Show'' (1976) *'' Spooner's Patch'' (with Ray Galton, 1979) *''The Tea Ladies'' (with Ray Galton, 1979) *''The Thoughts of Chairman Alf at Christmas'' (1980) *''Till Death...'' (1981) *''

The Lady Is a Tramp "The Lady Is a Tramp" is a show tune from the 1937 Rodgers and Hart musical '' Babes in Arms'', in which it was introduced by former child star Mitzi Green. This song is a spoof of New York high society and its strict etiquette (the first line ...

'' (1983) *'' In Sickness and in Health'' (1985) *''Carrott Confidential'' (1987) *''The Nineteenth Hole'' (1989) *''A Word with Alf'' (1997) *''An Audience with Alf Garnett'' (1997) *''The Thoughts of Chairman Alf'' (1998)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Speight, Johnny 1920 births 1998 deaths 20th-century English screenwriters 20th-century English male writers English male television writers Deaths from pancreatic cancer in England English comedy writers English people of Irish descent English socialists English television writers People from Canning Town People from Chorleywood English satirists British television show creators British satirical television show creators