Geoffrey Perkins facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Geoffrey Perkins
|
|
|---|---|
Geoffrey Perkins hosting Channel 4 panel game Don't Quote Me, 1990
|
|
| Born |
Geoffrey Howard Perkins
22 February 1953 Bushey, Hertfordshire, England
|
| Died | 29 August 2008 (aged 55) London, England
|
| Occupation | Comedy writer, producer and performer |
| Years active | 1972–2008 |
| Spouse(s) | Lisa Braun (m. 1986) |
| Children | 3 |
| Awards | Best Comedy Programme or Series 1995 Father Ted |
Geoffrey Howard Perkins (born 22 February 1953 – died 29 August 2008) was a British comedy genius. He was a producer, writer, and performer who made many people laugh. From 1995 to 2001, he was in charge of comedy at the BBC. He helped create the first two radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He also helped invent the funny game Mornington Crescent for the radio show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. After he passed away, he received a special award in December 2008 for his amazing work in comedy.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Geoffrey Perkins went to Harrow County Grammar School. There, he was friends with people like Clive Anderson, who later became a famous TV host. They even ran the school's debating club together.
In 1970, Geoffrey became very interested in drama. He worked with Clive Anderson to write a show for charity called Happy Poison.
Geoffrey then studied English literature at Lincoln College, Oxford university. While he was a student, he directed and wrote for the university's comedy group, The Oxford Revue, in 1974 and 1975. After university, he worked for a shipping company for a short time. But he soon went back to comedy.
In 1977, Geoffrey joined the BBC Radio's light entertainment team. He worked with other talented people like John Lloyd and Griff Rhys Jones.
In 1986, Geoffrey married Lisa Braun. She was a BBC studio manager who worked on Hitchhiker's Guide.
Radio Career Highlights
Geoffrey Perkins had a big impact on radio comedy. He helped make many popular shows.
Revitalizing I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
The head of the BBC radio department, David Hatch, asked Geoffrey to help make the comedy panel show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue more exciting. This show had started five years earlier. Geoffrey helped introduce the very silly and confusing game called Mornington Crescent. This game became a huge and lasting success for the show.
Producing The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
In 1977, Geoffrey produced the first series of Douglas Adams' famous show, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, for BBC Radio 4. He took over from the pilot's producer, Simon Brett.
Douglas Adams was known for writing slowly. Geoffrey helped him finish the scripts. Later, John Lloyd joined to write large parts of the later episodes. Geoffrey also used the Radiophonic Workshop to create amazing sound effects for the series. These sounds were very new and exciting for radio at the time.
Creating Radio Active
In 1980, Geoffrey Perkins helped write and perform in the radio sketch show Radio Active. This show was based on his earlier work with The Oxford Revue. It started as a comedy group called The Hee Bee Gee Bees.
Radio Active made fun of how amateur some local radio stations sounded. It ran for seven series and won a Sony Award. Geoffrey played a character named Mike Flex, a young and confident disc jockey. Geoffrey and Angus Deayton wrote most of the series. Later, the show was turned into a TV series called KYTV for BBC2. This TV show also won awards.
Later Radio Projects
Geoffrey Perkins and his Radio Active co-writer, Angus Deayton, later produced The Uncyclopaedia of Rock for Capital Radio. This show won the Monaco Radio Award. They also wrote a book about it in 1987.
In 2005, Geoffrey had small acting roles in the fourth radio series of Hitchhiker's (called The Quandary Phase). He played the producer of the radio show where Arthur Dent worked. It was like he was playing a fictional version of himself from the first series, alongside a fictional version of writer Douglas Adams.
Television Career and Influence
Geoffrey Perkins moved from radio to television, where he continued to create popular comedy shows.
Working at Hat Trick Productions
In 1988, Geoffrey left the BBC to become a director at Hat Trick Productions. This was an independent company that made comedy shows for different TV channels like the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4.
One of Geoffrey's first big projects at Hat Trick was Spitting Image. There, he met Ben Elton and Harry Enfield. He helped Harry Enfield develop a character by suggesting he make it like Fozzie Bear from The Muppets. Because of this, Geoffrey helped create shows for both performers: Saturday Live (hosted by Ben Elton), The Man from Auntie (a sketch show with Elton), and Harry Enfield's Television Programme.
Geoffrey also helped develop other famous shows for Hat Trick, including Have I Got News For You, Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Drop The Dead Donkey, and Father Ted. Many of these shows won important awards like BAFTAs.
Leading Comedy at the BBC
In 1995, Geoffrey left Hat Trick and went back to the BBC. He became the Head of Comedy for BBC Television. He made sure his contract allowed him to keep producing shows, not just manage the department. He stayed in this role until 2001. He became quite unhappy with what he called "official BBC snootiness about comedy."
Geoffrey carefully read 30 new scripts every week. However, he felt that the BBC didn't value comedy enough. He said that people would say "sitcom" with a "curl of their lips," showing they looked down on it. He also felt held back by the BBC's rules and paperwork. He spent more time on budgets than on creating new shows.
Geoffrey felt that the way the BBC was run put the people who made shows against those who paid for them. He said:
(They) set the people that produce programmes in direct opposition to the people responsible for actually paying for and broadcasting them.
There have been occasions when you say, 'Let's just make a deal', knowing everyone is unhappy; where no one gets the budget they want to make their programme. There are people who are inspired by that, but I'm not one of them.
Even with these challenges, many successful shows were made during Geoffrey's time as Head of Comedy. These included Coupling, The Thin Blue Line, Jonathan Creek, The Fast Show, The Royle Family and My Family. He also convinced David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst to star in new episodes of Only Fools and Horses. The first of these new episodes aired at Christmas in 2001.
Moving to Tiger Aspect
After leaving the BBC, Geoffrey Perkins joined Tiger Aspect in late 2001. This was another independent production company. In this new role, he could be more involved in the "creative side of programme-making." For Tiger Aspect, Geoffrey produced shows like The Catherine Tate Show for the BBC and Benidorm for ITV.
Television Writing and Acting
Geoffrey Perkins wrote for several television shows. These include The World According To Smith & Jones, KYTV, Harry Enfield's Television Programme, Harry Enfield and Chums and Coogan's Run.
Besides starring in KYTV, Geoffrey also had small acting roles in some of the comedy shows he produced. You might spot him in Father Ted, Operation Good Guys, One Foot in the Grave and The Catherine Tate Show. He also hosted a panel game show called Don't Quote Me on Channel 4 in 1990.
In 2006, Harry Enfield was told by the head of BBC One that he was too old to make another comedy sketch series. Harry Enfield then talked to Geoffrey Perkins about his ideas. Geoffrey helped Harry develop these ideas into the first series of Harry and Paul, which starred Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse. The show was broadcast in April 2007.
Death and Tributes
Geoffrey Perkins passed away on 29 August 2008. At first, people thought he died from injuries after an accident involving a lorry in Marylebone High Street, London. However, an investigation in April 2009 found that Geoffrey had an undiagnosed heart condition. This condition caused his heart to stop suddenly. The investigation concluded that he had probably already died when he fell. So, the official cause of death was "natural causes".
On 5 September 2008, just a week after his death, the second series of Harry and Paul was broadcast. The first episode was dedicated to Geoffrey's memory. Instead of the usual ending credits, it showed a short tribute to him. It also included a funny moment (an outtake) of Geoffrey forgetting his lines in a sketch that wasn't shown in the series.
On 8 November 2008, BBC Two showed an evening of programmes to honor Geoffrey Perkins. These included episodes of The Catherine Tate Show, Father Ted (which the BBC got special permission from Channel 4 to show), and The Fast Show. There was also a special episode of Comedy Connections that looked back at Geoffrey's career in comedy.
He was given the Outstanding Contribution to Comedy award after his death at the British Comedy Awards on 6 December 2008. When Harry and Paul won the Best Comedy Programme award and The IT Crowd won Best Situation Comedy at the BAFTAs on 27 April 2009, both awards were dedicated to Geoffrey Perkins.
