Ian La Frenais
| Ian La Frenais | |
|---|---|
| Born |
7 January 1936 Monkseaton, Northumberland, England |
| Occupation | Screenwriter |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Dame Allan's Boys School, Newcastle upon Tyne |
| Period | 1964–present |
| Genre | Television |
| Spouse | Doris Vartan (1984–present) |
| Relatives | Gladys and Cyril La Frenais (parents) |
Ian La Frenais, OBE (born 7 January 1936), is an English writer best known for his creative partnership with Dick Clement. They are most famous for television series including The Likely Lads, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, Porridge and its sequel Going Straight, Lovejoy and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.
His father was an accountant and as a child at Park Primary School in Whitley Bay La Frenais enjoyed art and writing. He then attended Dame Allan's Boys School, Newcastle upon Tyne and completed his National Service in the British Army. After working as a salesman for a tobacco company he began composing songs for a weekly satirical programme on Tyne Tees Television and moved to London where he worked for a market research company.
Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement have enjoyed a long and successful career embracing films, television and theatre.
Their partnership began in the mid sixties with The Likely Lads, and by the end of the decade they had also written three feature films: The Jokers, Otley, (directed by Clement) and Hannibal Brooks. Clement also directed Not Only...But Also, with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, and, for the big screen, Iris Murdoch's A Severed Head.
In the early seventies two other features were made - Villain, starring Richard Burton, and Catch Me a Spy, starring Kirk Douglas. In this same period they created their award winning series Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, followed by Porridge, Thick as Thieves and Going Straight. There were big screen versions of both The Likely Lads and Porridge, and a 'rockumentary', To Russia With Elton, in 1979.
Earlier in this decade, they adapted Keith Waterhouse's Billy Liar into the stage musical Billy, starring Michael Crawford, which ran at London's Drury Lane Theatre for two and a half years.
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