Tributes have been paid to Gareth Gwenlan, the former producer of Only Fools And Horses who has died at the age of 79.
Actress Sue Holderness, best known for playing Marlene Boyce in the Peckham-based comedy, spoke with warmth about the late BBC producer on Twitter.
She said: “So sad to hear about Gareth Gwenlan – such a big part of my professional life. R.I.P.”
Gareth Gwenlan has died aged 79 (John Stillwell/PA)
Gareth, appointed the head of comedy at BBC TV in 1983, commissioned some of the corporation’s most popular comedies, including One Foot In The Grave, Blackadder, Yes Prime Minister and ‘Allo ‘Allo.
He was also behind Keeping Up Appearances, Birds Of A Feather, High Hopes and Bread.
To The Manor Born and The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin are among the producing credits of the respected television figure, who was awarded an OBE in 2013.
Gareth Gwenlan’s OBE was announced in the 2013 Birthday Honours list (Jonathan Brady/PA)
During his seven-year tenure in charge of BBC comedy, his department was the recipient of several Baftas and there was also recognition from America in the form of Primetime Emmys.
As the producer of Only Fools And Horses, Gareth was in the studio when David Jason performed one of the comedy’s most fondly remembered scenes.
David’s character Derek ‘Del Boy’ Trotter toppled through an open bar hatch as he was attempting to impress some ladies. Originally broadcast in 1989 episode Yuppy Love, it is a TV moment which continues to be recalled decades later.
David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst in BBC One’s Only Fools And Horses (BBC)
Talking about the famous stunt, Gareth said: “David timed it to perfection and it literally stopped the show.”
Born in Brecon, Gareth trained as an actor and teacher.
Reginald Perrin, starring the late Leonard Rossiter of Rising Damp fame, started him on his way as a young producer. “I did ‘Rise and Fall’ in 1975, and it was my first big break, working with the wonderful Leonard Rossiter. It was a success, and the rest of my career sort of fell in behind it,” he said at the time he received his OBE.
Comic actor Leonard Rossiter (PA)
Gareth was awarded a Royal Television Society Fellowship in 1997.
High Hopes actor Robert Blythe said in tribute: “Gareth was hugely successful, and rightly so, in the field of situation comedy.
“He was the man who knew more about it than anyone else alive. He will be sadly missed.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article