Ray Galton
| Ray Galton OBE |
|
|---|---|
| Born | Raymond Percy Galton 17 July 1930 Paddington, London, England |
| Occupation | Scriptwriter |
| Nationality | British |
| Period | 1954–1997 |
| Genre | Television |
| Notable works |
Steptoe and Son (1962–74) Hancock's Half Hour (1954-1961) Comedy Playhouse (1961–75) Get Well Soon (1997). |
Ray Galton, OBE (born 17 July 1930) is an English scriptwriter, best known for the Galton and Simpson comedy writing partnership with Alan Simpson. Together they devised and wrote the BBC sitcom Steptoe and Son (1962–1974), Hancock's Half Hour (1954–1961) and Comedy Playhouse (1961–1975).
Galton was born in Paddington, West London, and after leaving school he worked for the Transport and General Workers Union. He contracted tuberculosis aged 18 in 1948 and was admitted to Milford Sanatorium near Godalming in Surrey where he met fellow patient Alan Simpson.
Alan Simpson retired from scriptwriting in 1978 to concentrate on business interests. Galton then often worked with Johnny Speight on scripts, including Spooner's Patch (1979-1982) about a corrupt police station. He also wrote scripts for sitcoms produced in Germany and Scandinavia. His last sitcom was Get Well Soon in 1997 which he co-created with John Antrobus and which was based on his own experiences in a sanatorium. In October 2005, Galton and Antrobus premiered their play Steptoe and Son in Murder at Oil Drum Lane at the Theatre Royal, York. The play was set in the present day and related the events that lead to Harold killing his father, and their eventual meeting thirty years later (Albert appearing as a ghost).
Has won two BAFTA awards among many others such as a British Comedy Award. He was appointed an OBE in 2000 and he and Simpson received a BAFTA Fellowship on 8 May 2016.
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