Raymond Allen (scriptwriter)

Raymond Allen (born 15 March 1940 in Ryde, Isle of Wight)[1] is a British television screenwriter and playwright best known for creating the 1970s BBC sitcom Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em.

Raymond Allen
BornMarch 1940 (age 80)[1]
Ryde, Isle of Wight, UK
OccupationScreenwriter, playwright, former newspaper reporter
Period1971–1978, 2016
GenreComedy

Early life

Allen attended Ryde Secondary Modern School on the Isle of Wight. After leaving school he started out as a cub reporter for the Isle of Wight Times at the age of 16.

He served in the RAF, then returned to the island, taking jobs washing dishes in hotels and cleaning at Shanklin's Regal Cinema. He wrote around 40 serious plays but was commercially unsuccessful. The script for his first sitcom was rejected by ITV, but his second, which would become Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, was accepted by the BBC, and he was invited to write six further episodes. Two more series followed. He subsequently contributed nine episodes of The Little and Large Show[1] and sold some one-off plays, but was unable to repeat his early success.[2]

In 2016 Allen contributed with some of the dialogue for a special one-off episode of Some Mothers' Do Ave 'em for Sport Relief.

Writing credits
Production Notes Broadcaster
Dave Allen at Large "Episode #1.1" (1971) BBC1
Some Matters of Little Consequence 1 episode (1971) BBC2
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em 22 episodes (1973–1975, 1978) BBC1
Comedy Playhouse "The Dobson Doughnut" (1974) BBC1
The Little and Large Show 9 episodes (1978) BBC1

Personal life

Allen lives in Ryde[2] with his wife Nancy, whom he married in 2017.[3]

References
  1. "Raymond Allen". imdb.com. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  2. McCarrick, Jackie (January–February 2006). "Raymond Allen was the creative skill behind Frank Spencer" (PDF). Island News (2). Shanklin, Isle of Wight. pp. 10–11. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  3. Robertson, Peter (18 March 2016). "Writer Raymond Allen reflects on Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em Success". Island Echo. Archived from the original on 2 April 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
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