Raymond Allen (scriptwriter)
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Raymond John Allen (15 March 1940 – 2 October 2022) was a British television screenwriter and playwright. He was best known for creating the 1970s
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sitcom ''
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em ''Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'' is a British sitcom broadcast on BBC1, created and written by Raymond Allen (scriptwriter), Raymond Allen and starring Michael Crawford and Michele Dotrice. It was first broadcast in 1973 and ran for two series, inc ...
''. He wrote comedy sketches for entertainers
Frankie Howerd Francis Alick Howard (6 March 1917 – 19 April 1992), better known by his stage-name Frankie Howerd, was an English actor and comedian. Early life Howerd was born the son of soldier Francis Alfred William (1887–1934)England & Wales, Deat ...
and Dave Allen and later
Max Wall Max Wall (12 March 1908 – 21 May 1990) was an English actor and comedian whose performing career covered music hall, films, television and theatre. Early years Wall was born Maxwell George Lorimer, son of the successful music hall entert ...
,
Little and Large ''Little and Large'' were a British comedy double act comprising straight man Syd Little (born Cyril John Mead; 19 December 1942) and comic Eddie Large (born Edward Hugh McGinnis; 25 June 1941 – 2 April 2020). Comedy duo They formed their p ...
and
Hale and Pace Hale and Pace were an English comedy double-act that performed in clubs and on radio and television in the United Kingdom in the 1980s and 1990s. The duo was made up of Gareth Hale and Norman Pace, with the ''Hale and Pace'' television show r ...
.


Early life

Allen was born in
Ryde Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 23,999 according to the 2011 Census and an estimate of 24,847 in 2019. Its growth as a seaside resort came af ...
on the
Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...
on 15 March 1940. His father, Les Allen, worked as a railway supervisor; his mother was Ivy (Ayley). Allen attended Ryde Secondary Modern School in his hometown until he was sixteen. He started out as a cub reporter for newspaper the ''Isle of Wight Times'', but quit after 18 months due to the unsocial hours he had to work at. He then served in the
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
, working at its accounts office in Gloucestershire for three years. He then returned to the island, taking jobs washing dishes in hotels and cleaning at
Shanklin Shanklin () is a seaside resort and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the Isle of Wight, England, located on Sandown Bay. Shanklin is the southernmost of three settlements which occupy the bay, and is close to Lake, Isle of Wight, Lake ...
's Regal Cinema.


Career

Allen deciding to become a playwright, wrote around 30 serious plays however these where commercially unsuccessful for more than a decade. The script for his first sitcom was rejected by
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, but his second script, conceived under the working title ''Have A Break, Take A Husband'' would be accepted by the BBC, and revolve around a couple Frank and Betty Spencer taking a honeymoon at a hotel, however BBC producer and director Michael Mills, thought the story should be better reserved for later, which would become episode 4, with the first episode instead would feature Frank Spencer becoming a sales rep, the series would evolve into which would become ''Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'', and with the casting of
Michael Crawford Michael Patrick Smith, (born 19 January 1942), known professionally as Michael Crawford, is an English tenor, actor and comedian. Crawford is best known for playing both the hapless Frank Spencer in the sitcom ''Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'' an ...
in the title role he would create numerous of the characters traits himself. Allen was subsequently invited to write six further episodes, with two more series coming afterwards. Allen followed this up with ''The Dobson Doughnut'' (1974) but only the
pilot episode A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...
was broadcast. Two other sitcom proposals – ''Don't Move Now'' (1976) and ''You're a Genius'' (1977) – were produced but were not broadcast. Allen subsequently contributed to nine editions of ''
The Little and Large Show ''The Little and Large Show'' was a sketch comedy series broadcast on BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broad ...
'' and sold some one-off plays. He also wrote for ''All Cricket and Wellies'' (1986), as well as the children's show ''Fast Forward'' in 1987. However, he was unable to repeat his early success. He did have more positive results on the stage with ''One of Our Howls Is Missing'', which toured in 1979.


Later life and death

In 2016, Allen contributed some of the dialogue to a special one-off episode of ''Some Mothers' Do 'Ave 'Em'' for charity ''
Sport Relief ''Sport Relief'' was a biennial charity event from Comic Relief, in association with BBC Sport, established in 2002. It was the idea of Kevin Cahill, CBE, who had joined Comic Relief in 1991 to establish a new department as Director of Educati ...
'' in association with
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. He married Nancy Williams the following year. She had one son from a previous relationship. They resided in Ryde during his later years. ''Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'' was adapted for the stage by Guy Unsworth and started touring in 2018. Allen died on 2 October 2022, on the Isle of Wight. He was 82, and had suffered from cancer.


Writing credits


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Raymond 1940 births 2022 deaths 20th-century Royal Air Force personnel British television writers People from Ryde Royal Air Force airmen 20th-century English dramatists and playwrights English male dramatists and playwrights