View source for Dick Sharples

{{EngvarB|date=December 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}}

{{Infobox writer
| name         = Dick Sharples
| image        = 
| birth_name    =
| birth_date    = 7 June 1927
| birth_place   = [[Manchester]], England
| death_date    = {{death date and age|df=y|2015|10|19|1927|6|7}}
| death_place   = London England
| occupation   = Scriptwriter
| nationality  = British
| period       = 1956–2015
| genre        = Television
| notableworks = ''[[Joan and Leslie]] (1956–1958)''<br>''[[Three Live Wires]] (1961)''<br>''[[In Loving Memory (TV series)|In Loving Memory]] (1969, 1979–1986)''<br>''[[Hallelujah! (TV series)|Hallelujah!]] (1981–1984)''<br>''[[Farrington of the F.O.]] (1986–1987)''
| spouse       = 
| partner      =
}}

'''Dick Sharples''' (7 June 1927 – 19 October 2015) was a British TV scriptwriter of British [[sitcoms]]. He has also written novels, plays and drama series (for both television and radio).

==Life and career==
Dick Sharples was born in [[Manchester]].<ref>''Born in Manchester'' https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1434301192 Information taken from the cover of his book ''Getting Even'' Retrieved 5 October 2009</ref>  He began his career as a cartoonist and a writer for a Manchester Advertising Agency.<ref>''Early Career'' https://www.scribd.com/doc/5302191/Testy Interview. Retrieved 5 October 2009</ref>  One of the agency's customers was comedian [[Al Read]] who ran a meat pie company called H. Read and Son.  Sharples wrote the tagline "potatoes and meat, simply heat" for the company's fritters.

A chance meeting with a local, jobbing printer called Archie Carmichael led to Sharples writing his first novel whilst still a teenager.  ''The Man Who Rode By Night'' was a 40,000-word Western, and led to Sharples being paid 21 shillings for every thousand words. 
 
One of Sharples' first television writing credits was for the 1956 [[Associated TeleVision|ATV]] series ''Joan and Leslie'', starring [[Harry Towb]] and [[Noel Dyson]].  Other early television work included writing episodes of soap opera ''[[Compact (soap opera)|Compact]]'', drama series ''[[The Saint (TV series)|The Saint]]'', and ''[[Dixon of Dock Green]]''.  Early screenplays included collaborating with [[Gerald Kelsey]] (one of the ''Joan and Leslie'' co-writers) on the 1961 comedy film ''[[The Golden Rabbit]]'' which starred [[Willoughby Goddard]].

Up to now, Sharples had concentrated on delivering scripts for other peoples' series.  This was, however, soon to change.  In 1969 Sharples wrote a one-off comedy episode called ''[[In Loving Memory (TV series)|In Loving Memory]]''.  Broadcast on 4 November 1969, the story was based in a rural [[Yorkshire]] undertakers.  It starred [[Edward Chapman (actor)|Edward Chapman]] as Jeremiah Unsworth, and [[Marjorie Rhodes]] as his wife Ivy.  Also cast was [[Christopher Beeny]] as Ivy's slightly silly nephew.  Almost ten years later, the Unsworths returned to television in a seven part series.  Christopher Beeny returned to the role of nephew Billy, but the other roles were re-cast.  [[Thora Hird]] took on the role of Ivy, whilst [[Freddie Jones]] played Jeremiah.  The first episode of the series was broadcast on 21 May 1979 and ran for five series, the final episode being broadcast on 27 March 1986.  In the long gap between the pilot and the first series, Sharples worked on many other series, including a four-year stint as script editor on the UK version of ''[[General Hospital (UK TV series)|General Hospital]]''.

Sharples had proved himself as a writer who could carry a long-running series, so it was inevitable that further shows would follow.  In 1981, Sharples penned another Thora Hird comedy vehicle called ''[[Hallelujah! (TV series)|Hallelujah!]]''.  Running for two series, it was set in a Northern branch of the Salvation Army and co-starred [[Patsy Rowlands]].

With ''In Loving Memory'' coming to an end, Sharples turned to writing ''[[Farrington of the F.O.]]'', a sitcom starring [[Angela Thorne]] as the eponymous Farrington.  Set in a British consulate in an unidentified Latin American country, the series co-starred [[Joan Sims]] who had made several guest appearances for Sharples in ''In Loving Memory''.  For the second series, the title was modified to simply ''Farrington'', and the show came to an end after 14 episodes. On 19 October 2015, he died at the age of 88.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/deaths/195857/dick-sharples-in-loving-memory|title=Dick Sharples - In Loving Memory - Deaths Announcements - Telegraph Announcements|website=announcements.telegraph.co.uk}}</ref>

==Later career==

After writing a 1990 episode of the [[Thames Television]] series ''[[The Bill]]'', Sharples was contacted by [[Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep|Belgische Radio en Televisie]] about their proposed re-make of ''In Loving Memory''.  Renamed ''R.I.P.'', many episodes followed the original Sharples storylines, and the series ran from 1992 to 1994.

Also in 1990, Sharples published another novel ''Soap in the Afternoon: The Secret Life of Angie St. Clair, Night Nurse Extraordinary'', followed by ''Getting Even: The Biggest Heist in History'' in 2007, which is hoped to be made into a major movie. Sharples has written other novels, "Idunno Jenkins and the River of No return", and "Village in Aspic" (Both were published as ebooks in 2012), along with the autobiographical "I Found the Time" and "Situation Tragedy" (Both from 2012).  All his books are now available as ebooks on Amazon and willowebooks.

==Selected TV writing credits==
*''Joan and Leslie'' (1956)
*''All Aboard'' (1958)
*''No Hiding Place'' (1960)
*''Compact'' (1962)
*''The Saint'' (1962)
*''United!'' (1965)
*''Adam Adamant Lives!'' (1966–67)
*''Dr. Finlay's Casebook'' (1965–69)
*''Joan and Leslie'' (1969)
*''[[Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width]]'' (1971)
*''[[In Loving Memory (TV series)|In Loving Memory]]'' (1969, 1979–86)
* ''[[The Nesbitts Are Coming]]'' (1980)
*''[[Hallelujah!_(TV_series)|Hallelujah!]]'' (1983–84)
*''[[Farrington of the F.O.]]'' (1986–87)
*''The Bill'' (1990)

==Selected radio writing credit==
*''Dr Finlay's Casebook'' (1970–2)

==Selected film writing credits==
*''The Golden Rabbit'' (1961)
*''[[George and Mildred]]'' (1980)

==Unmade television script==
*''Doctor Who: The Prison in Space, aka The Amazons'' (late 1960s) NB This script was made into a non-full-cast radio drama by [[Big Finish Productions]] in 2011.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb name|0789290}}
*[https://www.scribd.com/doc/5302191/Testy Document including short interview with Sharples]
*{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027152121/http://www.geocities.com/gregorym101/finlayradio.html |date=27 October 2009 |title=List of ''Dr Finlay's Casebook'''s radio episodes }}
*[[List of unmade Doctor Who serials and films#The_Prison_in_Space|Wikipedia article on unmade ''Doctor Who'' stories]]
*[https://writersguild.org.uk/dick-sharples-1927-2015/ Obituary]

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[[Category:English television writers]]
[[Category:2015 deaths]]
[[Category:1927 births]]