James Gilbert (producer)
| James Gilbert | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Cecil James Gilbert 15 May 1923 Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom |
| Died | 7 July 2016 (aged 93) |
| Occupation | TV Producer/Director |
| Years active | 1959–2003 |
| Television |
The Two Ronnies Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? Last of the Summer Wine French Fields |
Cecil James "Jimmy" Gilbert (15 May 1923 – 7 July 2016) was a Scottish television producer, director and executive for the BBC.
Gilbert was born in Edinburgh and he was educated at Edinburgh Academy, Edinburgh University and RADA. He served as a pilot with RAF Coastal Command during World War II, flying Handley Page Halifax and Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft from RAF Wick, Scotland.
As the co-devisor of The Frost Report, with David Frost, it was Gilbert who brought together Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett, as well as most of the members of Monty Python. With the first director of The Two Ronnies', Terry Hughes, Gilbert created the format of the series which began in 1971. According to The Daily Telegraph obituary of Gilbert, the two men "were largely responsible for establishing the pattern of the show with its quick-fire verbal gags, double entendres and cavalcade of naive caricatures of British life: bumbling colonels, half-witted yokels and bosomy barmaids". The series ran until 1986. In addition to The Two Ronnies, he was an early producer of Last of the Summer Wine (1973), plus the first series of Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (also 1973). For the last series, Gilbert won a BAFTA in 1974 for Best Comedy, and was also nominated that year for Last of the Summer Wine in the category.
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