Comedy writer Alan Simpson dies.

[Cycleops]

Alan Simpson teamed up with Ray Galton when they met in hospital both ill with TB.
Alan had been given the last rites but recovered and discovered a love of comedy with his friend and formed a writing partnership which last for over seventy years.

They wrote for Tony Hancock but later created the classic Steptoe & Son which made them famous. It was the first comedy which featured social realism and black humour. They worked with many comedians of the day and latterly with Paul Merton.

A sad loss but he will be fondly remembered by many of us who enjoyed his humour.

 

[byegad]

Another talent lost.
Thankfully much of his work will live on in recordings.

 

[Tin Pot]

I still enjoy it - radio iplayer steptoe and hancock has helped me off to sleep for years now.

Fascinates me that stuff from way before I was born entertains me so much.

 

[classic33]

The sneezing into the meat, then the butcher trying to put it back on sale. Would it work now I wonder.

 

[Cycleops]

The sneezing into the meat, then the butcher trying to put it back on sale. Would it work now I wonder.

Was that Steptoe? I just laughed when I read it. It's a different world today so maybe not but perhaps in a different format,

 

[classic33]

Was that Steptoe? I just laughed when I read it. It's a different world today so maybe not but perhaps in a different format,

Uncle Albert after some cheap meat. Sirloin steak used as a hankie.

The antics that made them famous from the long-running series is just what the viewer gets here whether its Harold having to go to work with a sandwich made from fag hash and mangle-flattened cheese! or Albert sneezing on a prime cut of steak just to get it cheaper ("It's not for me, it's for the dog"!)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070734/reviews

 

[subaqua]

And now Ray Galton is RIP

 

[Cycleops]

Yes, sadly his partner who had been battling dementia has now passed, one of the great comedy duos;

Ray Galton: Steptoe and Son writer dies aged 88 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45772088

 

[Yellow Fang]

Steptoe & Son and Hancock's Half Hour were more like tragicomedies. I've sometimes thought Steptoe and Son would have worked better with women, because women more often sacrifice their prospects to care for people. I have not actually watched much of Tony Hancock. Anyhow, I am sure Alan Simpson was part of one of the great British sitcom writer partnerships.

 

[postman]

I was only watching them both last night,a documentary about Sid James.

 

[User169]

The sneezing into the meat, then the butcher trying to put it back on sale. Would it work now I wonder.

Yes of course.