Ray Galton

Raymond Percy Galton (17 July 1930 – 5 October 2018) was an English radio and television scriptwriter, best known for the Galton and Simpson comedy writing partnership with Alan Simpson. Together they devised and wrote 1950s and 60s BBC sitcoms including Hancock's Half Hour (1954–1961), the first two series of Comedy Playhouse (1961–1963), and Steptoe and Son (1962–1974). Early life Galton was born in Paddington, West London, and after leaving school he worked for the Transport and General Workers Union. He contracted tuberculosis aged 18 in 1948 and was admitted to Milford Sanatorium near Godalming in Surrey, where he met fellow patient Alan Simpson. Galton and Simpson Later career Alan Simpson retired from scriptwriting in 1978 to concentrate on his business interests. Galton then often worked with Johnny Speight on scripts, including Spooner's Patch (1979–1982) about a corrupt police station. He also wrote scripts for sitcoms produced in Germany and Scandinavia. He co-wrote the ITV series Room at the Bottom (1986–1988) about television executives. His last sitcom was Get Well Soon in 1997 which he co-created with John Antrobus and which was based on his own experiences in a sanatorium. In October 2005, Galton and Antrobus premiered their play Steptoe and Son in Murder at Oil Drum Lane at the Theatre Royal, York. The play was set in the present day and related the events that led to Harold killing his father, and their eventual meeting thirty years later (Albert appearing as a ghost).