Edward George Sherrin (18 February 1931 – 1 October 2007) was an English broadcaster, author and stage director. He qualified as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

and then worked in independent television before joining the BBC. He appeared in a variety of radio and television satirical shows and theatre shows, some of which he also directed.

Early life

Sherrin was born at Gawlers Farm, Low Ham, Somerset, the second son of smallholding farmer Thomas Adam Sherrin (1889–1965) and Dorothy Finch (née Drewett; 1895–1980). He was educated at

Sexey's School Sexey's School is a Church of England, co-educational state boarding and day school in Bruton, Somerset, England for 11-18 year olds. Sexey's School is named after Hugh Sexey who, in 1599, was appointed as a Royal auditor to Elizabeth I and la ...

, in Bruton, Somerset, and rendered his national service in the Royal Signals, being commissioned as an officer in 1950. Although he read law at Exeter College, Oxford, and subsequently qualified as a barrister (called to the bar by Gray's Inn), he became involved in theatre at Oxford and joined British television in 1956 shortly after the founding of independent television, producing shows for

ATV ATV may refer to: Broadcasting * Amateur television *Analog television Television stations and companies * Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra * ATV (Armenia) * ATV (Aruba), NBC affiliate * ATV (Australian TV station), Melbourne * ATV (Austria) * AT ...

in Birmingham.

Career

Sherrin joined the BBC in 1957 as a temporary production assistant, then began working for them as a producer in Television Talks in 1963. Specialising in

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

shows, he worked extensively in film production and television. In 1962, he was responsible for the first satirical television series '' That Was The Week That Was'' starring

David Frost Sir David Paradine Frost (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013) was a British television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme ' ...

and Millicent Martin and its successors '' Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life'' and '' BBC-3''. His other shows and films included '' Up Pompeii!'', '' Up the Front'', ''The Cobblers of Umbridge'', ''

World in Ferment In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

'', and ''

The Virgin Soldiers ''The Virgin Soldiers'' is a 1966 comic novel by Leslie Thomas, inspired by his own experiences of National Service in the British Army. It was Thomas' debut novel; he had previously published an autobiography. ''The Virgin Soldiers'' sold mill ...

''. In 1978, he also hosted ''We Interrupt This Week'', a lively and humorous news events quiz featuring two teams of well-known journalists and columnists sparring against one another. The show was a production of WNET/Channel 13 New York. Sherrin produced and directed many theatre productions in London's West End, including '' Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell'' and the musical revue '' Side by Side by Sondheim''. He received an Olivier Award in 1984 for directing and conceiving ''The Ratepayers' Iolanthe'', an adaptation by Sherrin and Alistair Beaton of the

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...

opera ''

Iolanthe ''Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri'' () is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, first performed in 1882. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh of fourteen operatic collaborations by Gilbert ...

''. Sherrin played the part of Addison in the film '' Orlando'' released in 1992. On BBC Radio 4, from 1986, he presented a light entertainment show on Saturday mornings (latterly evenings) called '' Loose Ends'', and ''

Counterpoint In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

'', a quiz show about all types of music, until forced off the air when his voice succumbed to throat cancer. He also toured the UK with his one-man show ''An Evening of Theatrical Anecdotes''. Sherrin wrote two volumes of

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

, several books of quotations and anecdotes, as well as some fiction; and several works in collaboration with Caryl Brahms.

Personal life

Openly gay, he was a patron of the London Gay Symphony Orchestra, as well as the

Stephen Sondheim Stephen Joshua Sondheim (; March 22, 1930November 26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. One of the most important figures in twentieth-century musical theater, Sondheim is credited for having "reinvented the American musical" with sho ...

Society of Singapore up until 1995. Sherrin was awarded a CBE in the

1997 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1997 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countries ...

. He was diagnosed with unilateral vocal cord paralysis in January 2007; this diagnosis was later changed to one of throat cancer, from which he died on 1 October 2007, aged 76.

Selected works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sherrin, Ned 1931 births 2007 deaths Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford BBC people British radio people Deaths from cancer in England Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Deaths from esophageal cancer English radio presenters English television personalities English theatre directors English writers British gay writers LGBT theatre directors LGBT writers from England Laurence Olivier Award winners People educated at Sexey's School People from Chelsea, London People from South Somerset (district) LGBT broadcasters from the United Kingdom Royal Corps of Signals officers 20th-century British Army personnel British barristers