Beryl Vertue

Beryl Frances Vertue (née Johnson; 8 April 1931 – 12 February 2022) was an English television producer, media executive, and agent. She was founder and chairman of the independent television production company Hartswood Films. Early life and career Vertue was born in Croydon, Surrey on 8 April 1931. She attended Mitcham county school, and left at 15 to take a typing course. She began her working life as a secretary in a shipping firm, and remained here for six years until she contracted tuberculosis. She was sent to a sanatorium on the Isle of Wight. Shortly after her recovery, a school friend, Alan Simpson, invited her to join Associated London Scripts (ALS) as a secretary and she began working with the writers' cooperative in 1955. She was reluctant to work there, as it was an hour-long commute from her home. She asked for what she thought would be a prohibitive sum of ten pounds a week, and to her horror they agreed. She started by typing up Spike Milligan's scripts for The Goon Show. Later she was tasked with phoning the BBC regarding contracts for Simpson and his colleague Ray Galton. She managed to negotiate a doubling of their income for Hancock's Half Hour. After this she became their chief negotiator and agent, almost by accident, representing Galton and Simpson as well as the comedy writers Spike Milligan, Eric Sykes, Johnny Speight and Terry Nation (for whom she negotiated to keep partial rights to his Dalek creation for Doctor Who). She also represented comedians Tony Hancock (until 1961) and Frankie Howerd. Howerd's career was in eclipse, and he was considering changing occupation by running a pub. She managed to dissuade him, and got him a booking at the Blue Angel, a London nightclub, which revived his career.