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MIKE CRAIG  (1935 - 2010)

Nationality:    British
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    n/a


Mike Craig was a writer for Morecambe and Wise before becoming a comedy producer for the BBC in Manchester, where he was responsible fo Ken Dodds radio shows. Proud to have been born in Batley, West Yorkshire, he became addicted to comedy at the age of seven when he went to the Dewsbury empire and saw the variety and radio comic albert Modley whose catchphrase was: eeh, innit grand when youre daft? Thereafter, Craig always referred to Modley as his hero. Before taking up showbusiness as a career, he worked as a salesman for biscuit manufacturers Huntley and Palmer. In 1963, Craig and a friend, Lawrie Kinsley, a manager with a firm making ball bearings, started writing sketches they performed at local charity shows. at that time, the north of england boasted a thriving network of working mens clubs where entertainment was staged. Craig and Kinsley sold material to comics working the clubs, including Hope and Keen and Freddie Parrot Face Davies. They met Davies at the aBC Theatre in Blackpool and he told them he was on the lookout for jokes about budgerigars. On their way home to Dewsbury, they wrote him a sketch entitled The Parrots of Wimpole Street, which earned them £30 when it was performed on Val Doonicans television show the following week. It was the break they were hoping for. On television, they went on to contribute to The Jimmy Tarbuck Show (1968-75), Tarbucks Luck (1970-72), Thirty Minutes Worth (1972-73) with Harry Worth, Oh No, Its Selwyn Froggitt (1974-77) with Bill Maynard and The Morecambe and Wise Show, sharing the success of two of the much-loved Christmas specials, in one of which the previously prim Angela Rippon abandoned her newsreaders desk and performed a highly professional dance routine. Craig joined the BBC as a producer in 1977. He was responsible for all 15 series of The Grumbleweeds Radio Show (1979-88), Stilgoes around with songwriter Richard Stilgoe and some programmes of showbiz reminiscences, Such Is Life, with northern comic al Read. In addition, Craig had his own show, Its a Funny Business, on Radio 2, became a popular speaker on P&O cruise liners and wrote four books, Look Back With Laughter (volumes one to four). In 1987, he was made a member of the Grand Order of Water Rats, the only BBC producer to do so, and the following year he was given a tribute lunch by the Variety Club of Great Britain to honour his 25 years in comedy. In 2005, he was diagnosed with Picks Disease, a rare and incurable illness that causes dementiA. Mike Craig, who was born on March 11, 1935, died on October 28, 2010 aged 75.
http://www.thestage.co.uk/features/obituaries/feature.php/30191/mike-craig

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below is a list of Mike Craig's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

Day War Broke Out, The