From Rags to Gags: The Memoirs of a Comedy Writer

by Vince Powell, Barry Cryer, Cilla Black

During the early 70's, often referred to as The Golden Years of Television Comedy, many television situation comedies, all written by Vince Powell and his late partner Harry Driver, appeared regularly in the top ten TV ratings and were watched by up to 16 million or more viewers shows such as George & the Dragon, Never mind the Quality Feel the Width, Bless This House, Nearest & Dearest, For the Love of Ada and Spring & Autumn. Harry Driver had been struck down by polio at the start of their writing partnership and spent most of his life in a wheelchair. After his death in 1973 Vince carried on writing alone to write more successful TV programmes including Surprise Surprise, Blind Date, Mind Your Language, A Sharp Intake of Breath, Never the Twain and Young at Heart. During his long career Vince met, and became friends with many of the stars he worked with including Sid James, Arthur Lowe, Tommy Cooper, David Niven, Michael Aspel, Sir David Jason, Morecambe & Wise, Bruce Forsyth, Cilla Black, Sir Donald Sinden and Sir John Mills, all of whom you will meet within the pages of his autobiography.

312 pages, Hardcover

First published May 27, 2010

Reviews

[Calum Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vince Powell churned out a lot of sitcoms - some were good, many were poor, a few were abysmal (Bottle Boys, anyone?) This memoir functions as a fascinating insight into a particular era of British television, in the 60s and 70s - a period in which, remarkably, the services of a writer like Powell were in high demand for series upon series of Love Thy Neighbour, Mind Your Language and all the rest. For anyone like me with an inexplicable interest in this somewhat grisly era, Powell's book is a terrific guide. This is partly on its own terms, with its breezy and vivid, if haphazard, narrative detailing his humble beginnings in Manchester; his early forays as a stand-up comic; his meeting with long-term collaborator Harry Driver; and all the subsequent successes and failures, dealing with networks and 'stars' etc that came with being a prolific and successful churner-outer of comedy scripts - often it seems whilst being pissed as a newt. Some of its pleasures are also, it must be said, probably less intentional but very revealing - not least the whole complex of attitudes exemplified in his straight-faced defence of shows like Love Thy Neighbour, and his wide-eyed befuddlement at "the state of television comedy today" and why his own particular skill-set seems in less demand in the 2000s than it was in the 1970s. Who, after all, could possibly prefer The Office to Bless This House?? Probably strictly for TV/sitcom nerds only, but Powell's memoir in more ways than one offers fascinating insights into a bygone era.