Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A writer for film, television and theatre, best known for co-creating The Likely Lads and Pottage with Iain La Frenais.
On the island
Eight records
When I was very young, I was 18, and I went to America on a scholarship and I had a year in Connecticut and New York. And one of the first things I enjoyed doing was listening to Count Basie, which I used to do in a club called Birdland...
I was brought up to really to like jazz when I was at school. Very eclectic. I mean I would have all sorts of records. But for a period through that period in the fifties, most of the music I listened to was jazz, and I would choose a Billie Holiday record. Also because it's just her artistry is quite timeless.
(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural WomanFavourite
Gerry Goffin, Carole King, Jerry Wexler
I don't hear as much of her now as I used to, but particularly in the sixties. I can remember being very moved by her because I thought she had a marvellous sense of emotion, and I would like to hear her singing Natural Woman.
I chose a track from one of my favorite albums. I love blues, especially blues guitarists. And it's a song called Born Under a Bad Sign, the words of which Dick and I both love, and it's by Albert King.
There was a a little collusion on this one in that Ian felt also, as I did, that we had to have a Beatles number, because the Beatles have loomed large in our lives, in the background of our lives anyway. So he left the choice of it to me, and I have picked a song which I think combines a... It's very happy and at the same time nostalgic...
I was trying to pick a record that really remind was reminiscent of the sixties, you know, which was an exciting period for us all. So I was thinking the Beatles we'd already chosen. I was thinking of Bob Dylan, and then I remember. That certainly the musician that used to excite me most, when I remember seeing him in a club was just knocked out, was Jimi Hendrix.
Royal Choral Society & Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
This is a complete contrast to everything else, but I like contrasts. And it's a piece of Mendelssohn's Elijah which I sang when I was at school actually and I rather like singing but it's it the nice thing is to be backed up by a lot of other people singing the same note and then you have a greater chance of being buried amongst them.
Don Felder, Don Henley, Glenn Frey
I was trying to choose one that maybe reminded me of the last few years, which is really is the move to America.
In conversation
Presenter asks
3:08What did you do when you left school [Ian]?
My first job was with a billing company and then I was a tobacco salesman. … I never considered it a job. I mean, I always considered it was filling in time to do something else.
Presenter asks
3:43What made you leave the north and come down south?
Newcastle, but it it is a place you leave. But I love Newcastle, I love it. But it was … something everyone did really. Just came to London. Literally with no idea of what I was going to do.
Presenter asks
4:25Where and when did you meet Dick?
We met in … The Uxbridge Arms. The Uxbridge Arms in Notting Hill. Quite by chance. … Someone introduced us. And Dick was then at the BBC, studio manager. Yes. We decided to write together.
Presenter asks
7:24What's your recollection of your first meeting with Ian?
Well, I remember that that the aftermath of it was that in fact I was on night shifts a lot of the time, so I was free during the day. He and his two friends were temporarily out of work, so they were available to play cards, so the the the first weeks of our relationship were mostly playing hearts during the day.
The keepsakes
No book or luxury recorded for this episode.
Presenter asks
10:59How did you bring [The Likely Lads] into budget with such a tiny budget?
Well, we never went north. We went to Harlsden, I think, actually. I mean, but a but a walk from the BBC Television Centre, but it still looks quite northern near the railway sidings. And um I think ignorance also helped a great deal um to get through on a on a tiny budget.
Presenter asks
21:23How do you work? Are you disciplined writers?
Yes, we are disciplined. I don't we couldn't do the amount of work we do without being disciplined. I mean, we did write a lot of things last year. So. We treat it like going to work. We now have offices there, our own office well, our own production company now. … We usually start quite early because we work best in the mornings.