Wilfred Duncan Wood (24 March 1925 – 11 January 1997) was a British comedy producer, director and writer, who has been described as "the founding father of the British TV sitcom". His best-known achievements were to produce all of

Tony Hancock Anthony John Hancock (12 May 1924 – 25 June 1968) was an English comedian and actor. High-profile during the 1950s and early 1960s, he had a major success with his BBC series ''Hancock's Half Hour'', first broadcast on radio from 1954, ...

's ''Half Hours'' for

BBC TV BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 19 ...

during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and later, also with Hancock's former writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, the

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

'' Steptoe and Son'' for most of its run. From 1970 to 1973, he was the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

's Head of Comedy. He left in 1973 to become Head of Light Entertainment at Yorkshire Television and was responsible for commissioning '' Rising Damp''.

Life and career

Born in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, he trained with the

as an

outside broadcast Outside broadcasting (OB) is the electronic field production (EFP) of television or radio programmes (typically to cover television news and sports television events) from a mobile remote broadcast television studio. Professional video camera ...

engineer, before serving in south east Asia with the Royal Signals during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He returned to the BBC in 1948, working on the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

, and in the early 1950s started working as a producer of radio variety programmes, such as '' Workers' Playtime'', on which he worked with up-and-coming comedians including Dick Emery,

, and Benny Hill. He moved into television in 1953, and worked on a wide range of programmes including dancing and

panel show A panel show or panel game is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participates. Celebrity panelists may compete with each other, such as on ''The News Quiz''; facilitate play by non-celebrity contestants, such as on ' ...

s. He became a specialist producer of comedy programmes, following initial success in 1955 with the

sketch show 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 ...

Great Scott - It's Maynard! ''Great Scott - It's Maynard!'' was a British television series which aired on the BBC from 1955 to 1956. It was a popular comedy sketch series starring Bill Maynard and Terry Scott, with musical guests including Petula Clark. It was produced by D ...

''. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he produced many of the BBC's most popular comedy shows, featuring Benny Hill, Frankie Howerd, Ken Dodd, and others. In 1956, he became producer and director of

's ''

Hancock's Half Hour ''Hancock's Half Hour'' was a BBC radio comedy, and later television comedy series, broadcast from 1954 to 1961 and written by Galton and Simpson, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The series starred Tony Hancock, with Sid James, Sidney James; the r ...

'', working closely with writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. According to writer

Graham McCann Graham McCann is a British author and historian who has written extensively on film and television stars and British comedy series. He is a former lecturer and fellow at the University of Cambridge where he taught social and political theory. Mc ...

, Wood "took the trouble to cast the occasional players just as carefully as he did the regular characters...Then came the cameras and the editing... where Wood went far beyond his contemporaries... because of the way that, step by step, he shaped and set out the syntax of sitcom shooting."Graham McCann, "Duncan Wood: The maestro", ''British Comedy Guide'', 20 March 2022
Retrieved 27 March 2022 In 1960 he was appointed as Chief Assistant Head of Programmes in the BBC's Light Entertainment Department, where he produced '' Steptoe and Son'', the first sitcom to have serious 'straight' actors in the leading roles, with scripts (again by Galton and Simpson) who brought "darkness... honesty, compassion and insight" to their scripts. Also during the 1960s, he produced such series as ''

Citizen James ''Citizen James'' is a BBC sitcom that ran for three series between 24 November 1960 and 23 November 1962. The show featured comedian and actor Sid James and Sydney Tafler with Bill Kerr and Liz Fraser appearing in early episodes. It was initial ...

'', '' Hugh And I'', ''

The Bed-Sit Girl ''The Bed-Sit Girl'' is a British television sitcom that aired on BBC1 from 1965 to 1966. Created by Chesney and Wolfe for Sheila Hancock, ''The Bed-Sit Girl'' aired for two series. Hancock played Sheila Ross, a typist who lives in a bedsit and ...

'', ''

Harry Worth Harry Bourlon Illingsworth (20 November 1917 – 20 July 1989), professionally known as Harry Worth, was an English comedy actor, comedian and ventriloquist. Worth portrayed a charming, gentle and genial character, totally bemused by life, ...

'', ''

Oh Brother! ''Oh, Brother!'' is a British television sitcom starring Derek Nimmo, which aired on BBC1 from 13 September 1968 to 27 February 1970. Synopsis The series was set in the fictional Mountacres Monastery, with Nimmo cast as the well-meaning but ine ...

'', '' The World of Beachcomber'', and many editions of '' Comedy Playhouse''. From 1970 to 1973, he was the

's Head of Comedy, replacing Michael Mills. He left in 1973 to become Head of Light Entertainment at Yorkshire Television and was responsible for commissioning '' Rising Damp''. He retired in 1984 but continued to work as a consultant for several years. He died in 1997 at the age of 71.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Duncan 1925 births 1997 deaths British television producers Mass media people from Bristol