Dennis Kirkland (2 December 1942 – 16 February 2006) was an English

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of video production on a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television net ...

and

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

best known for his long association with

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...

Benny Hill Alfred Hawthorne "Benny" Hill (21 January 1924 – 20 April 1992) was an English comedian, actor, singer and writer. He is remembered for his television programme ''The Benny Hill Show'', an amalgam of slapstick, burlesque and double ente ...

Early life and career

Born in

North Shields North Shields () is a town in the Borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth. Since 1974, it has been in the North Tyneside borough of Tyne and Wea ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

, England, Kirkland started out as a

child actor The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage or in film, movies or television. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associ ...

, appearing in television

advertisements Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

that aired on the then-new Independent Television upon its start-up in the 1950s. He then went behind-the-scenes, first as a

property master The property master, often called the prop(s) master, is an artistic and organizational employee in a film, television or theatrical production who is responsible for purchasing, acquiring, manufacturing, properly placing, and/or overseeing any p ...

for

Tyne Tees Television ITV Tyne Tees, previously known as Tyne Tees, Channel 3 North East and Tyne Tees Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. Tyne Tees launched on 15 January 1959 from stud ...

, and then on to short stints with the

Windmill Theatre The Windmill Theatre in Great Windmill Street, London, was a variety and revue theatre best known for its nude '' tableaux vivants'', which began in 1932 and lasted until its reversion to a cinema in 1964. Many prominent British comedians o ...

and

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Op ...

in London. Later he was hired by

Associated TeleVision Associated Television was the original name of the British broadcaster ATV, part of the Independent Television (ITV) network. It provided a service to London at weekends from 1955 to 1968, to the Midlands on weekdays from 1956 to 1968, and ...

as a floor manager, where he worked at the time Benny Hill hosted some TV programmes for ATV in 1967.

Career

In 1968, Kirkland joined

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a Broadcast license, franchise holder for a region of the British ITV (TV network), ITV television network serving Greater London, London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until th ...

as a floor manager, before becoming a warm-up man on ''

The Benny Hill Show ''The Benny Hill Show'' is a British comedy television show starring Benny Hill that aired on the BBC and ITV (from 1969) between 15 January 1955 and 1 May 1989. The show consisted mainly of sketches that were full of slapstick, mime, parody ...

''. He then moved up the ranks, directing children's shows such as ''

Rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

'' and ''

The Tomorrow People ''The Tomorrow People'' is a British children's science fiction television series created by Roger Price. Produced by Thames Television for the ITV Network, the series first ran from 30 April 1973 to 19 February 1979. The theme music was ...

'', as well as a

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...

show called ''What's on Next?'' Finally, in 1979 Kirkland was named producer/director of ''The Benny Hill Show'', remaining in those positions for the remainder of its run at Thames. During this period, he also worked with top comics including Tommy Cooper,

Ken Dodd Sir Kenneth Arthur Dodd (8 November 1927 – 11 March 2018) was an English comedian, singer and occasional actor. He was described as "the last great music hall entertainer", and was primarily known for his live stand-up performances. A life ...

Jim Davidson James Cameron Davidson (born 13 December 1953) is an English stand-up comedian, actor, singer and TV presenter. He hosted the television shows '' Big Break'' and ''The Generation Game''. He also developed two adult pantomime shows such as ''B ...

and

Eric Sykes Eric Sykes (4 May 1923 – 4 July 2012) was an English radio, stage, television and film writer, comedian, actor, and director whose performing career spanned more than 50 years. He frequently wrote for and performed with many other leading com ...

, whose 1979 remake of '' The Plank'' (directed by Sykes and produced by Kirkland) won at the Montreux TV Festival. But it was with Hill that Kirkland became best known. It was also during his run with the Hill show that the programme first became dogged by charges of sexism however, in no small part due to the addition of the dancing and singing troupe Hill's Angels on his watch, and after years of steadily declining ratings and rising production costs, Thames cancelled the Hill show in 1989; not long afterward, Kirkland's association with the company ended as well. Kirkland continued to work with Hill, directing a TV special in 1990 with outdoor scenes taped in New York, and was to direct a new Hill series for

Central Independent Television ITV Central, previously known as Central Independent Television, Carlton Central, ITV1 for Central England and commonly referred to as simply Central, is the Independent Television franchisee for the Midlands. It was created following the rest ...

when Hill died in 1992. Central went ahead with the show anyway, directed by Kirkland and fronted by

Freddie Starr Freddie Starr (born Frederick Leslie Fowell; 9 January 1943 – 9 May 2019) was an English stand up comedian, impressionist, singer and actor. Starr was the lead singer of Merseybeat rock and roll group the Midniters during the early 1960s, an ...

. Critics panned it calling it "''The Benny Hill Show'' without Benny." In 1993, he published a memoir about his friendship with Hill, ''Benny: The True Story'', re-released in 2002 as ''The Strange and Saucy World of Benny Hill''. He continued to work in television in Britain and Ireland until his death.

Personal life

Kirkland was married twice and had two sons and a daughter, the actress Joanna Kirkland.

Death

Kirkland was admitted to hospital in London in January 2006 because of a low sodium count and died shortly thereafter at the age of 63.

External links

*
Obituary
at

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

Obituary
at

The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...

Dennis Kirkland tribute page at Benny's Place
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirkland, Dennis 1942 births 2006 deaths British television directors British television producers People from North Shields Television people from London 20th-century British businesspeople