Dick Sharples
Encyclopedia
Dick Sharples is a British TV
scriptwriter of British
sitcoms. He has also written novels, plays and drama series (for both television and radio).
. He began his career as a cartoonist and a writer for a Manchester Advertising Agency. One of the agency's customers was comedian Al Read
who ran a meat pie company called H. Read and Son. Sharples wrote the tagline "potatoes and meat, simply heat" for the company's fritters.
A chance meeting with a local, jobbing printer called Archie Carmichael led to Sharples writing his first novel whilst still a teenager. The Man Who Rode By Night was a 40,000 word Western, and led to Sharples being paid 21 shillings for every thousand words.
One of Sharples' first television writing credits was for the 1956 Associated TeleVision
series Joan and Leslie, starring Harry Towb
and Noel Dyson
. Other early television work included writing episodes of soap opera
Compact, drama series The Saint
, and Dixon of Dock Green
. Early screenplays included collaborating with Gerald Kelsey (one of the Joan and Leslie co-writers) on the 1961 comedy film The Golden Rabbit
which starred Willoughby Goddard
.
Up to now, Sharples had concentrated on delivering scripts for other peoples' series. This was, however soon to change. In 1969 Sharples wrote a one-off comedy episode called In Loving Memory
. Broadcast on 4 November 1969, the story was based in a rural Yorkshire
undertakers. It starred Edward Chapman
as Jeremiah Unsworth, and Marjorie Rhodes
as his daughter Ivy. Also cast was Christopher Beeny
as Ivy's slightly silly nephew. Almost ten years later, the Unsworths returned to television in a seven part series. Christopher Beeny returned to the role of nephew Billy, but the other roles were re-cast. Thora Hird
took on the role of Ivy, whilst Freddie Jones
played Jeremiah. The first episode of the series was broadcast on 21 May 1979 and ran for five series, the final episode being broadcast on 27 March 1986. In the long gap between the pilot and the first series, Sharples worked on many other series, including a four year stint as script editor on the UK version of General Hospital (UK TV series
.
Sharples had proved himself as a writer who could carry a long-running series, so it was inevitable that further shows would follow. In 1981, Sharples penned another Thora Hird comedy vehicle called Hallelujah!
. Running for two series, it was set in a Northern branch of the Salvation Army and co-starred Patsy Rowlands
.
With In Loving Memory coming to an end, Sharples turned to writing Farrington of the F.O.
, a sitcom starring Angela Thorne
as the eponymous Farrington. Set in a British consulate in an unidentified Latin American country, the series co-starred Joan Sims
who had made several guest appearances for Sharples in In Loving Memory. For the second series, the title was modified to simply Farrington, and the show came to an end after 14 episodes.
series The Bill
, Sharples was contacted by Belgische Radio en Televisie
about their proposed re-make of In Loving Memory. Re-named R.I.P., many episodes followed the original Sharples storylines, and the series ran from 1992 - 1994.
Also in 1990, Sharples published another novel Soap in the Afternoon: The Secret Life of Angie St. Clair, Night Nurse Extraordinary, followed by Getting Even: The Biggest Heist in History in 2007.
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
scriptwriter of British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
sitcoms. He has also written novels, plays and drama series (for both television and radio).
Life and career
Dick Sharples was born in ManchesterManchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
. He began his career as a cartoonist and a writer for a Manchester Advertising Agency. One of the agency's customers was comedian Al Read
Al Read
Al Read was a popular British radio comedian active throughout the 1950s and 1960s.Read was born in Broughton, Salford, Lancashire and was a sausage maker in his father's business. He became known as a popular after dinner speaker with wry and well-observed humour in clubs. In 1950 Read made his...
who ran a meat pie company called H. Read and Son. Sharples wrote the tagline "potatoes and meat, simply heat" for the company's fritters.
A chance meeting with a local, jobbing printer called Archie Carmichael led to Sharples writing his first novel whilst still a teenager. The Man Who Rode By Night was a 40,000 word Western, and led to Sharples being paid 21 shillings for every thousand words.
One of Sharples' first television writing credits was for the 1956 Associated TeleVision
Associated TeleVision
Associated Television, often referred to as ATV, was a British television company, holder of various licences to broadcast on the ITV network from 24 September 1955 until 00:34 on 1 January 1982...
series Joan and Leslie, starring Harry Towb
Harry Towb
Harry Towb was a Northern Irish actor.-Early life and career:Towb's father was Russian and his mother was Irish. He attended the Finiston School and Technical College, Belfast...
and Noel Dyson
Noel Dyson
Noel Dyson was an English actress. Dyson appeared in a number of films but is best remembered as a versatile television actress who became a very familiar face to British viewers in a career spanning almost 50 years...
. Other early television work included writing episodes of soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Compact, drama series The Saint
The Saint (TV series)
The Saint was an ITC mystery spy thriller television series that aired in the UK on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It centred on the Leslie Charteris literary character, Simon Templar, a Robin Hood-like adventurer with a penchant for disguise. The character may be nicknamed The Saint because the...
, and Dixon of Dock Green
Dixon of Dock Green
Dixon of Dock Green was a popular BBC television series that ran from 1955 to 1976, and later a radio series. Despite being a drama series, it was initially produced by the BBC's light entertainment department.-Overview:...
. Early screenplays included collaborating with Gerald Kelsey (one of the Joan and Leslie co-writers) on the 1961 comedy film The Golden Rabbit
The Golden Rabbit
The Golden Rabbit is a 1962 British comedy film directed by David MacDonald and starring Timothy Bateson, Maureen Beck and Willoughby Goddard...
which starred Willoughby Goddard
Willoughby Goddard
Willoughby Wittenham Rees Goddard was a British actor whose trademark rotund figure was well known on television and in films for over 40 years.Goddard was born in Bicester, Oxfordshire. He played Mr...
.
Up to now, Sharples had concentrated on delivering scripts for other peoples' series. This was, however soon to change. In 1969 Sharples wrote a one-off comedy episode called In Loving Memory
In Loving Memory (TV series)
In Loving Memory is a British period sitcom set in an undertakers business that starred Thora Hird and Christopher Beeny. A pilot was transmitted in 1969 by Thames Television who rejected the idea before it was finally accepted by Yorkshire Television in 1979 where it further ran for five series...
. Broadcast on 4 November 1969, the story was based in a rural Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
undertakers. It starred Edward Chapman
Edward Chapman (actor)
Edward Chapman was an English actor who starred in many films and television programmes, but is chiefly remembered as "Mr. Wilfred Grimsdale", the officious superior and comic foil to Norman Wisdom's character of Pitkin in many of his films from the late 1950s and 1960s.Chapman was born in...
as Jeremiah Unsworth, and Marjorie Rhodes
Marjorie Rhodes
Marjorie Rhodes was a British actress.One of her best-known roles was as Lucy Fitton, the mother of Bill Naughton's northern comedy All in Good Time. She played the role on Broadway, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award in 1965...
as his daughter Ivy. Also cast was Christopher Beeny
Christopher Beeny
Born in London, Beeny began his career at the age of six when he danced for the ' Ballet Rambert. He spent several years at the ' Arts Educational School before later progressing to 'RADA.His first screen role was in the 1952 film The Long Memory...
as Ivy's slightly silly nephew. Almost ten years later, the Unsworths returned to television in a seven part series. Christopher Beeny returned to the role of nephew Billy, but the other roles were re-cast. Thora Hird
Thora Hird
Dame Thora Hird DBE was an English actress.-Early life and career:Hird was born in the Lancashire seaside town of Morecambe. She first appeared on stage at the age of two months in a play her father was managing...
took on the role of Ivy, whilst Freddie Jones
Freddie Jones
Frederick Charles "Freddie" Jones is an English character actor.Jones was born in the town of Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, the son of Ida Elizabeth and Charles Edward Jones. He became an actor after ten years of working as a laboratory assistant with a firm making ceramic products,...
played Jeremiah. The first episode of the series was broadcast on 21 May 1979 and ran for five series, the final episode being broadcast on 27 March 1986. In the long gap between the pilot and the first series, Sharples worked on many other series, including a four year stint as script editor on the UK version of General Hospital (UK TV series
General Hospital
General Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....
.
Sharples had proved himself as a writer who could carry a long-running series, so it was inevitable that further shows would follow. In 1981, Sharples penned another Thora Hird comedy vehicle called Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! (TV series)
Hallelujah! was a British sitcom made by Yorkshire Television for the ITV network and was broadcast from April 1983 to December 1984.The series was set in a Salvation Army citadel in the fictional Yorkshire town of Brigthorpe during series 1...
. Running for two series, it was set in a Northern branch of the Salvation Army and co-starred Patsy Rowlands
Patsy Rowlands
Patsy Rowlands was an English actress who is best remembered for her roles in the Carry On films, as Betty in the popular ITV Thames sitcom Bless This House, and as Alice Meredith in the Yorkshire Television sitcom Hallelujah!.-Early years:She was born in Palmers Green, London and attended a...
.
With In Loving Memory coming to an end, Sharples turned to writing Farrington of the F.O.
Farrington of the F.O.
Farrington of the F.O. was a British television comedy series by Dick Sharples about the staff of the British Consulate in "one of the armpits of Latin America". It was produced by Yorkshire Television and broadcast from 1986 to 1987...
, a sitcom starring Angela Thorne
Angela Thorne
Angela Thorne is an English actress who is best known for her roles in To the Manor Born and Anyone for Denis?-Early life:Angela Thorne was born in Karachi, British India, , in 1939...
as the eponymous Farrington. Set in a British consulate in an unidentified Latin American country, the series co-starred Joan Sims
Joan Sims
Joan Sims was an English actress best remembered for her roles in the Carry On films, and latterly for playing Madge Hardcastle in As Time Goes By.-Early life:...
who had made several guest appearances for Sharples in In Loving Memory. For the second series, the title was modified to simply Farrington, and the show came to an end after 14 episodes.
Later career
After writing a 1990 episode of the Thames TelevisionThames Television
Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....
series The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
, Sharples was contacted by Belgische Radio en Televisie
Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep
The Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie , or VRT, is a publicly-funded broadcaster of radio and television in Flanders ....
about their proposed re-make of In Loving Memory. Re-named R.I.P., many episodes followed the original Sharples storylines, and the series ran from 1992 - 1994.
Also in 1990, Sharples published another novel Soap in the Afternoon: The Secret Life of Angie St. Clair, Night Nurse Extraordinary, followed by Getting Even: The Biggest Heist in History in 2007.
Selected TV writing credits
- Joan and Leslie (1956)
- All Aboard (1958)
- No Hiding Place (1960)
- Compact (1962)
- The Saint (1962)
- United! (1965)
- Adam Adamant Lives! (1966-7)
- Dr. Finlay's Casebook (1965-9)
- Joan and Leslie (1969)
- Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width (1971)
- In Loving Memory (1969, 1979–86)
- Hallelujah! (1983-4)
- Farrington of the F.O. (1986-7)
- The Bill (1990)
Unmade television script
- Doctor Who: The Prison in Space, aka The Amazons (late 1960s) NB This script was made into a non-full-cast radio drama by Big Finish ProductionsBig Finish ProductionsBig Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
in 2011.