Vince Powell

Vincent Joseph Powell (6 August 1928 – 13 July 2009) was a British television scriptwriter. He collaborated with a writing partner, Harry Driver, until 1973. Early life Powell was born as Vincent Joseph Smith to Roman Catholic parents in Miles Platting, Manchester. When he was five, his mother died; two years later, his father remarried. Powell began a career as a tailor following the lead of his father, while performing as a comedian in the evenings. He met Harry Driver on the local club circuit. Their performing partnership under the name Hammond and Powell lasted until 1955 when Driver's health and physical mobility became severely impaired by the onset of polio. Career With his writing partner, Harry Driver, the partnership was hired to write material for comedian Harry Worth in Manchester for the BBC in 1960. The show, Here's Harry (co-written with Frank Roscoe) ran for five years. The partnership was better known for writing for ITV franchise holders from the early-1960s, beginning with Coronation Street from 1961; Powell ceased writing for the programme in 1964, but Driver's involvement continued until he died in 1973. Powell and Driver created and wrote 11 sitcoms for ITV in an eight-year period, including the shows Bless This House (with Sid James) and Love Thy Neighbour, though other writers contributed scripts to both series. The latter programme, according to The Times, was "one of television's most notorious, if at the time highly popular, comedies". While it was "intended to debunk racial stereotypes" it "came to be widely condemned for doing exactly the opposite." Other popular series created and written by them for ITV include: