Geoffrey Perkins
| 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. 1986–2008) |
| Awards |
Best Comedy Programme or Series 1995 Father Ted |
Geoffrey Howard Perkins (22 February 1953 – 29 August 2008) was a British comedy producer, writer and performer. Best known as the BBC head of comedy (1995–2001), he produced the first two radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and is one of the people credited with creating the bizarre panel game Mornington Crescent for I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. In December 2008 he received an Outstanding Contribution to Comedy Award.
Perkins attended the Harrow County Grammar School, alongside Nigel Sheinwald, Michael Portillo and Clive Anderson, with whom he ran the debating society. Taking an early interest in drama, in 1970 he worked with Clive Anderson to write charity revue called Happy Poison.
Perkins read English at Lincoln College, Oxford and while there wrote for and directed The Oxford Revues of 1974 and 1975. After his time at Oxford, Perkins joined the Ocean Transport and Trading Company, where he was put to work studying waste timber in Liverpool. He did not last long in the field of commercial shipping. In 1977, drawing on his work for the Oxford Revue, Perkins joined "BBC Radio's light entertainment department [alongside] Cambridge graduates such as John Lloyd and Griff Rhys Jones.
Tasked by department head David Hatch, Perkins helped to revitalise the comedy panel show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue (launched five years earlier), introducing the incomprehensible Mornington Crescent game which would become an enduring success.
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