Peter Harris (1933 – 23 February 2021) was an English television director, best known for his work on ''

The Muppet Show ''The Muppet Show'' is a sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and featuring the Muppets. The series originated as two pilot episodes produced by Henson for ABC in 1974 and 1975. While neither episode was moved forward as a s ...

'', ''

Spitting Image ''Spitting Image'' is a British satirical television puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. First broadcast in 1984, the series was produced by 'Spitting Image Productions' for Central Independent Television ...

'' and ''

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''.

Life and career

Harris was one of just two directors on the original ''

'', working on the first 73 episodes. In 1984, Harris became the director of the British satirical television puppet show ''

''. He was chosen for the role due to his previous work on ''The Muppet Show''. During the 1980s, Harris also directed the British game show ''

'', and coined several of the catchphrases of presenter

Jim Bowen James Brown Whittaker (born Peter Williams; 20 August 1937 – 14 March 2018), known professionally as Jim Bowen, was an English stand-up comedian, actor and television personality. He was the long-time host of the ITV game show ''Bullseye'', ...

, including "Stay out of the black and in the red, there's nothing in this game for two in a bed". Behind the scenes, Harris was also tasked with finding the prizes for the show, which included a range of speedboats. He died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

in a nursing home in

Ferndown Ferndown is a town and civil parish in Dorset in southern England, immediately to the north of Bournemouth and Poole. The parish, which until 1972 was called ''Hampreston'', includes the communities of Hampreston, Longham, Stapehill and Trick ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

, on 23 February 2021, at the age of 88.Tributes to Peter Harris, one of TV's best loved directors, behind Tiswas and Spitting Image
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References

External links

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2014 ITV interview
1930s births 2021 deaths Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in England English television directors {{UK-tv-bio-stub