Sid Green, co-writer of classic sketches for Morecambe and Wise, has died, aged 71.
He and the late Dick Hills were among the most prolific television comedy writing duos of the late 1950s and 1960s, penning punchlines for Bruce Forsyth, Arthur Askey, Sid James, Bob Monkhouse, Frankie Howerd, and others.
But it was for their work with the nation's favourite comics, Morecambe and Wise, that they became most associated.
Green and Hills were credited as the Morecambe And Wise Show's main writers from 1961 to 1968. They also appeared in person as extra characters during some of the sketches.
The duo had their own TV vehicles, That Show and Those Two Fellers, during the mid-1960s.
Philip Jones, Thames Television's former light entertainment boss, said: ''They were very good sketch writers, very much associated with ATV through Morecambe and Wise, Bruce Forsyth and many Saturday spectaculars.''
Green and Hills continued to write for Eric and Ernie in their first BBC1 colour series in 1968, but soon afterwards left
to sign an exclusive contract with ATV.
Two years later, they left Britain for America, where they joined teams of writers for The Johnny Carson Show.
By the mid-1980s, Green was back in Britain and writing for Freddie Starr, Michael Barrymore, and even for the Krankies, but the golden age of the variety comic had all but passed.
Green and Hills were both old boys of Haberdasher Askes school in south London and found their vocation writing its Old Boys Rugby Club Christmas pantomime.
Both had previously been officers in the forces, Green in the Army and Hills in the Navy.
They struggled to find a
home for their scripts until
rising star Dick King took them on as his regular writers in the
mid-1950s.
They went on to work for all the big names of the day - Eamonn Andrews, Charlie Drake, Bernard Bresslaw, Jewell and Warriss, and more.
Green was also the author of a bizarre 1960 comedy starring singer Anthony Newley, The Strange World Of Gurney Slade.
Green died in a hospital near his home in Frinton-on-Sea, Essex. He leaves a wife, Margaret, and three daughters.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article