Gareth Gwenlan
Producer of some of Britain's favourite tv comedy series, including Only Fools and Horses.
- Born:
-
1937
- Place of Birth:
- Brecon
"I have long believed that there's a lot of untapped or unseen talent in Wales, and it's often been a puzzle to me why it doesn't travel accross the border. If we can produce national singers and musicians, why not comedy talent?"
Gareth Gwenlan
- Trivia:
- As well as producing the programme, Gareth Gwenlan also made an appearance in the 1993 Only Fools and Horses Christmas special (Fatal Extraction) as the policeman on horseback who temporarily breaks up the riot to let Del, Raquel and Damien pass through.
- Biography:
-
Gareth Gwenlan is an actor-turned tv director and producer. His CV reads like a roll call of classic British TV comedy shows: Only Fools and Horses, Perrin, Butterflies, To the Manor Born, to name but a few.
He was born in Brecon, in 1937 and began his career as an actor at the Theatre Royal, York, in 1960 before becoming actor/director at the Derby Playhouse, between 1962 and 1964. During this time, he directed more than 40 productions ranging from comedies and thrillers, musicals and pantomimes, to Ibsen and Strindberg.
In 1964, he was appointed Principal Lecturer in Drama and Opera at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester where he produced operas such as Otello and Madame Butterfly.
A year later, he joined the BBC Drama department before moving to the Comedy department in 1967. He spent the next two years in Pakistan as a BBC advisor to the countrys central television company.
Comic Relief
On returning to the UK, he directed and produced many top comedies, including Wodehouse Playhouse with John Alderton, The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin with Leonard Rossiter, Butterflies with Wendy Craig, Solo with Felicity Kendal, To The Manor Born with Penelope Keith, Double First with Michael Williams, On The Up with Dennis Waterman, Only Fools And Horses with David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst, Waiting For God with Graham Crowden and Stephanie Cole, The Legacy of Reginald Perrin and three series of Next of Kin starring Penelope Keith.
As Head of Comedy for BBC Television from 1983 until 1990, Gareth Gwenlan was responsible for commissioning a number of classic comedy series including Yes Prime Minister, Bread, Black Adder, Allo Allo, One Foot In The Grave, Birds of a Feather and Keeping Up Appearances. During his tenure, the department won the Best Comedy at the BAFTA Awards every year and counted three EMMYs - television's equivalent of the Oscars - among it's other awards.
As a producer/director, he has collected 12 BAFTA nominations and two Academy Awards. He was awarded a Royal Television Society Fellowship in 1997 as well as winning six other industry awards that year. In 1998 he was elected a Fellow of the Welsh College of Music and Drama. Most recently, he produced the 2001 Christmas special of Only Fools and Horses which attracted over 21 million viewers.
In 2002 he was appointed head of BBC Wales new comedy department, leading a team of writers and nurturing new Welsh comedy talent. The first new series to emerge was High Hopes, a collaboration with Satellite Citys Boyd Clack.
- Moment of Glory:
- The last episode of the 1996 Christmas trilogy of Only Fools and Horses drew an audience of more than 21m, the biggest ever at the time for any pre-recorded tv programme in Britain
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