The Masters of Sitcom: From Hancock to Steptoe

Description

Ray Galton and Alan Simpson are two of the most influential and celebrated television scriptwriters of our time. Praised for inventing the sitcom, their own seminal creations are still standing the test of time with modern audiences - Hancock's Half Hour and Steptoe and Son are two of the most successful sitcoms ever made. This book is a charming tribute to their career in comedy, written in collaboration with Galton and Simpson themselves and with exclusive access to their personal archive of scripts. Readers will discover the fascinating story of their progress from variety shows to television, and how they came to create characters and programmes that have captured the nation's heart for generations. Their insightful comments on their own writing, along with their first-class understanding of the television writers' craft, make this anthology unique, informative and incredibly entertaining.

Christopher Stevens is an author and a national newspaper journalist. His authorised biography of Kenneth Williams, Born Brilliant, was broadcast as Radio 4's Book Of The Week, as well as being shortlisted for the Sheridan Morley Prize for Theatre Biography. Masters of Sitcom is a celebration and an anthology of Britain's greatest comedy writing duo, and draws on their complete archive of more than 600 scripts, including much material that was broadcast but not kept on tape. It is also based on many hours of interviews with Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, the creators of Hancock's Half Hour and Steptoe And Son. ??He lives in Bristol with his wife, Nicola, and his teenage sons, James and David.

Comedy without Galton and Simpson would be like literature without Dickens. Harry Enfield An excellent guide to two of Britain's sitcom pioneers. A must-buy for fans of classic comedy. Paul Merton Galton and Simpson are The Beatles of British comedy - they changed everything. Frank Skinner In Christopher Stevens their achievements have found a perceptive and sympathetic chronicler Sunday Express Breathtakingly funny Matt Lucas and David Walliams Descriptive and informative narrative written by an obvious enthusiast of their work Tony Hancock Archives Newsletter