Ian La Frenais

2022-09-18T04:31:40Z

135.84.24.2: /* Writing credits (with Dick Clement) */

{{Short description|English writer}}
{{EngvarB|date=November 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}}
{{BLP sources|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox writer
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE}}
| name = Ian La Frenais
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1937|1|7}}
| birth_place =[[Monkseaton]], [[Northumberland]], England<ref name=bio/>
| education = [[Dame Allan's Boys School]], [[Newcastle upon Tyne]]
| occupation = Screenwriter
| spouse = Doris Vartan (1984–present)
| relatives = Gladys and Cyril La Frenais <small>(parents)</small><ref name=bio>[http://www.filmreference.com/film/2/Ian-La-Frenais.html Ian La Frenais Biography (1937–)]</ref>
|genre=Television
|period=1964–present
}}
'''Ian La Frenais''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE}} (born 7 January 1937) is an English writer best known for his creative partnership with [[Dick Clement]]. They are most famous for television series including ''[[The Likely Lads]]'', ''[[Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?]]'', ''[[Porridge (TV series)|Porridge]]'' and its sequel ''[[Going Straight]]'', ''[[Lovejoy]]'' and ''[[Auf Wiedersehen, Pet]]''.

==Early life==
La Frenais was born in [[Monkseaton]], [[Northumberland]]; his father was an accountant. As a child at Park Primary School in [[Whitley Bay]], La Frenais enjoyed art and writing. He then attended [[Dame Allan's School, Newcastle|Dame Allan's Boys School]] in [[Newcastle upon Tyne]], and completed his [[National Service]] in the [[British Army]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Weight |first=Richard |title=Porridge (BFI TV Classics) |date=2019 |isbn=978-1844573349 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gw-_DwAAQBAJ&dq=dick+clement+royal+air+force&pg=PT18}}</ref> After working as a salesman for a tobacco company, he began composing songs for a weekly [[List of satirical television news programs|satirical programme]] on [[Tyne Tees Television]] and then moved to London where he worked for a [[market research]] company.<ref name=Porridge>{{cite book|year=2001|author1=Richard Webster |author2=Dick Clement |author3=Ian la Frenais |isbn=0-7472-3294-6|title=Porridge The Inside Story|publisher=Headline Book Publishing}}</ref>

==Writing partnership with Dick Clement==
Ian La Frenais and [[Dick Clement]] have enjoyed a long and successful career embracing films, television and theatre. Their partnership began in the mid-1960s with the hit television show ''[[The Likely Lads]]'', and by the end of the decade they had also written three feature films: ''[[The Jokers]]'', ''[[Otley (film)|Otley]]'' (directed by Clement) and ''[[Hannibal Brooks]]''.

In the early 1970s, they worked on two other features: ''[[Villain (1971 film)|Villain]]'', starring [[Richard Burton]], and ''[[To Catch a Spy|Catch Me a Spy]]'' (again directed by Clement), starring [[Kirk Douglas]]. In this same period, they created their award-winning TV series ''[[Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?]]''; this was followed by ''[[Porridge (TV series)|Porridge]]'', ''[[Thick as Thieves (TV series)|Thick as Thieves]]'' and ''[[Going Straight]]''. There were big-screen versions of both ''[[The Likely Lads (film)|The Likely Lads]]'' and ''[[Porridge (film)|Porridge]]'', and a '[[Concert film|rockumentary]]', ''[[Elton John's 1979 tour of the Soviet Union|To Russia With Elton]]'', in 1979.

Earlier that decade they had adapted [[Keith Waterhouse]]'s ''[[Billy Liar]]'' into the stage musical ''[[Billy (musical)|Billy]]'', starring [[Michael Crawford]], which ran at London's [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane|Drury Lane Theatre]] for two-and-a-half years.

By the late 1970s, they were living in [[California]], where they wrote ''[[On the Rocks (U.S. TV series)|On the Rocks]]'', an American version of ''Porridge'', and ''[[The Prisoner of Zenda (1979 film)|The Prisoner of Zenda]]'', a feature film starring [[Peter Sellers]].

In the 1980s, their work included most of the TV series ''[[Auf Wiedersehen, Pet]]'', which was voted [[ITV's Favourite TV Programme]] of all Time in a ''[[Radio Times]]'' readers' poll to celebrate the network's 60th anniversary, and uncredited writing work on the [[James Bond]] film ''[[Never Say Never Again]]''. La Frenais produced the films ''[[Bullshot (film)|Bullshot]]'' (1983) and ''[[Water (1985 film)|Water]]'' (1985), both directed by Clement; they also substantially wrote the latter. In 1987, they wrote and produced ''[[Vice Versa (1988 film)|Vice Versa]]''.

In the US, he and Clement were writers and supervising producers on [[HBO]]'s [[Emmy Award|Emmy]]-winning show ''[[Tracey Takes On...]]'' for four years in the 1990s. Their films around this time include ''[[The Commitments (film)|The Commitments]]'', which won both the ''[[Evening Standard]]''{{'}}s [[Evening Standard British Film Awards|Peter Sellers Award for Comedy]] and a [[BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay]], ''[[Excess Baggage (1997 film)|Excess Baggage]]'' and ''[[Still Crazy]]''. In addition, they did uncredited rewrites on ''[[The Rock (film)|The Rock]]'' (starring [[Sean Connery]]) for [[Jerry Bruckheimer]] and director [[Michael Bay]].

More recent television includes ''[[Archangel (2005 film)|Archangel]]'' (starring [[Daniel Craig]]) and ''[[The Rotters' Club (novel)#Adaptation|The Rotters' Club]]'', which they adapted from best-sellers by [[Robert Harris (novelist)|Robert Harris]] and [[Jonathan Coe]] respectively. Their most recent film credits include ''[[Goal! (film)|Goal! The Dream Begins]]'', the animated film ''[[Flushed Away]]'', ''[[Across the Universe (film)|Across the Universe]]'' and ''[[The Bank Job]]''.

Two new television series written by them were broadcast in 2017: an updated version of ''[[Porridge (2016 TV series)|Porridge]]'', starring [[Kevin Bishop]], for the [[BBC]], and ''[[Henry IX (TV series)|Henry IX]]'' for [[UKTV Gold]], starring [[Charles Edwards (English actor)|Charles Edwards]].{{citation needed|date=December 2018}} They have written the books for two stage musicals in development, ''Juke Box Hero'' and ''Victoria's Secret''.

===Other credits===
In addition to his long-running collaborations with Clement, La Frenais has created, co-created, written and/or contributed to many other TV series, including ''[[The Two Ronnies]]'', several episodes of the BBC's ''[[Comedy Playhouse]]'', ''[[The Other 'Arf]]'' (1980–81), the long-running series ''[[Lovejoy]]'' and the hit 1990s BBC detective series ''[[Spender]]'' (co-written with actor and singer [[Jimmy Nail]]).

Like Clement, La Frenais was made an [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] in the [[Elizabeth II|Queen]]'s 2007 Birthday Honours list.

==Personal life==
Since 1984, Ian La Frenais has been married to artist Doris Vartan, the mother of actor [[Michael Vartan]].

La Frenais supports the football club [[Newcastle United F.C.|Newcastle United]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/7145445.footballers-lives/|title = Footballers' lives}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/ian-frenais-newcastle-matty-longstaff-17104848|title = How Ian la Frenais was caught up in one of his own plots - thanks to Matty Longstaff|date = 19 October 2019}}</ref>

==Writing credits (with Dick Clement)==
* ''[[The Likely Lads]]'' (TV, 1964–66)
* ''[[Not Only... But Also]]'' (TV, 1965)
* ''The Further Adventures of Lucky Jim'' (TV, 1967)
* ''Mr. Aitch'' (TV, 1967)
* ''Vacant Lot'' (TV, 1967)
* ''[[Otley (film)|Otley]]'' (1968)
* ''[[Hannibal Brooks]]'' (1968)
* ''[[Villain (1971 film)|Villain]]'' (1971)
* ''[[To Catch a Spy]]'' (1972)
* ''[[The Two Ronnies]]'' (TV, 1972)
* ''[[Seven of One]]'' (TV, 1973)
* ''Ha-Tarnegol'' (1973, with [[Haim Hefer]])
* ''[[Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?]]'' (TV, 1973–74)
* ''[[Thick as Thieves (TV series)|Thick as Thieves]]'' (TV, 1974)
* ''[[Porridge (TV series)|Porridge]]'' (TV, 1974–77)
* ''[[On the Rocks (U.S. TV series)|On the Rocks]]'' (TV, 1975–76)
* ''[[Going Straight]]'' (TV, 1978)
* ''[[The Prisoner of Zenda (1979 film)|The Prisoner of Zenda]]'' (1979)
* ''[[Porridge (film)|Porridge]]'' (1979, US: ''Doing Time'')
* ''The New Adventures of Lucky Jim'' (TV, 1982)
* ''[[Never Say Never Again]]'' (1983, with [[Lorenzo Semple Jr.]], uncredited)
* ''[[Auf Wiedersehen, Pet]]'' (TV, 1983–2004)
* ''[[Sunset Limousine]]'' (TV, 1983, with Wayne Kline)
* ''[[Water (1985 film)|Water]]'' (1985, with [[Bill Persky]])
Lovejoy (TV, 1985 - 1994) Lovejoy is a British television comedy-drama mystery series, based on the novels by John Grant under the pen name Jonathan Gash. The show, which ran to 71 episodes over six series, was originally broadcast on BBC1 between 10 January 1986 and 4 December 1994, although there was a five-year gap between the first and second series. It was adapted for television by Ian La Frenais.
* ''[[Vice Versa (1988 film)|Vice Versa]]'' (1988)
* ''[[The Commitments (film)|The Commitments]]'' (1991, with [[Roddy Doyle]])
* ''[[Tracey Ullman: A Class Act]]'' (TV, 1992)
* ''[[The Old Boy Network]]'' (TV, 1992)
* ''[[Tracey Ullman Takes on New York]]'' (TV, 1993)
* ''[[Full Stretch]]'' (TV, 1993)
* ''[[Tracey Takes On...]]'' (TV, 1996–99)
* ''[[Excess Baggage (1997 film)|Excess Baggage]]'' (1997, with [[Max D. Adams]])
* ''[[Still Crazy]]'' (1998)
* ''[[Archangel (2005 film)|Archangel]]'' (TV, 2005)
* ''[[The Rotters' Club (novel)#Adaptation|The Rotters' Club]]'' (TV, 2005)
* ''[[Goal! (film)|Goal!]]'' (2005, with [[Mike Jefferies]] and [[Adrian Butchart]], US: ''Goal! The Dream Begins'')
* ''[[Flushed Away]]'' (2006, with [[Christopher Lloyd (TV producer)|Christopher Lloyd]], [[Joe Keenan (writer)|Joe Keenan]] and [[William Davies (screenwriter)|William Davies]])
* ''[[Across the Universe (film)|Across the Universe]]'' (2007)
* ''[[The Bank Job]]'' (2008)
* ''[[Killing Bono]]'' (2011, with Ben Bond)
* ''[[Spies of Warsaw (TV series)|Spies of Warsaw]]'' (TV, 2013)
* ''[[Porridge (2016 TV series)|Porridge]]'' (TV, 2016-2017)
* ''Henry IX'' (TV, 2017)
* ''My Generation'' (2017)

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Screenonline name|id=462833|name=Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais biography and credits}}
*{{IMDb name | id=0478588 | name=Ian La Frenais}}

{{Clement and La Frenais}}
{{Navboxes
| title = Awards for Ian La Frenais
| list =
{{Annie Award for Writing in a Feature Production 1996–2010}}
{{BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay 1983–1999}}
}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:La Frenais, Ian}}
[[Category:1937 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century British Army personnel]]
[[Category:Annie Award winners]]
[[Category:Best Adapted Screenplay BAFTA Award winners]]
[[Category:British male television writers]]
[[Category:English male screenwriters]]
[[Category:English television writers]]
[[Category:People educated at Dame Allan's School]]
[[Category:People from Whitley Bay]]
[[Category:Lists of television series by genre]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Writers from Newcastle upon Tyne]]

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Ian La Frenais