View source for Mike Walling

{{Short description|English comic actor and screenwriter (1950–2020)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{More citations needed|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = Mike Walling
| image       = 
| caption     = 
| birth_name  =
| birth_date  = {{Birth date|df=yes|1950|07|08}}
| birth_place = [[County Borough of Salford|Salford]], [[Lancashire]], England
| death_date  = {{death date and age|df=yes|2020|7|2|1950|7|8}}
| occupation  = [[Actor]], [[screenwriter]], [[comedian]]. 
}}
'''Mike Walling''' (8 July 1950 – 2 July 2020) was an English comic [[actor]] and [[screenwriter]].

==Career==
Walling began his career as an English teacher at [[Holland Park School]] in [[London]]. In the mid-1970s, while still a teacher, he won a British TV talent contest, [[New Faces]], with a comedy double act called "Mr Carline & Mr Walling." He immediately left teaching and embarked on launching his new career in comedy. When the comedy duo ended their partnership, Walling moved into [[situation comedy]], appearing in several series—"Just Liz", "Bootle Saddles" and then the highly successful "[[Brush Strokes]]". He began starting to get more work as a screenwriter when he teamed up with Tony Millan. The two of them wrote [[screenplay]]s for a number of different shows, as well as their own series.

In the early 1980s Walling teamed up with session bass player [[Mo Foster]] for various comedy music projects, with Walling writing the lyrics and Foster writing the music and producing the resulting songs. {{Citation needed|date=August 2009}}

One of their songs, "The Papadum Song", a novelty song revolving around two men visiting an Indian restaurant (one of them for the first time) was repeatedly played on [[BBC Radio 1]] and featured them live on several TV shows (including the BBC's ''[[Blue Peter]]'') and was very popular at the time, but fate and industrial action decreed that it would not sell. A three-week strike at the distributors ([[Phonogram Records]]) meant that the records never actually got to the shops. The song was eventually re-released in 2006<ref>[http://www.angelair.co.uk/sjpcd149.htm Make Tea, Not War, Angel Air]</ref>  as part of a collection of comedy/parody songs called ''Make Tea, Not War'' by the imaginary, but ill-fated and tragic, R.J. Wagsmith Band. Another song from the same album, "Chalk Dust", which was written for [[Roger Kitter]] who released it under the pseudonym "The Brat", did hit the top ten all over [[Europe]]. Walling has appeared in shows such as "[[The Smoking Room]]", "[[Coronation Street]]" and ''[[My Family]]''.

Walling died on 2 July 2020, the cause of death was not released.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/news/5824/mike-walling-rip/|title=Actor & writer Mike Walling dies at 69|publisher=British Comedy Guide|date=4 July 2020|accessdate=4 July 2020}}</ref>

==Filmography==
Mike Walling appeared in the following TV shows and films:

* ''Just Liz'', TV (1980)
* ''The Disappearance of Harry'', TV (1982)
* ''Badger by Owl-Light'', TV (1982)
* ''The Pirates of Penzance'', TV (1983)
* ''Bootle Saddles'', TV (1983)
* ''Scandalous'', film (1984)
* ''[[Brush Strokes]]'', TV (1986)
* ''[[Alfonso Bonzo]]'', TV (1990)
* ''[[Billy Webb's Amazing Stories]]'', TV (1991)
* ''[[Harry's Mad]]'', TV (1993)
* ''[[Last of the Summer Wine]]'', TV (2001)
:* Ep. – The Missing Bus of Mrs Avery
* ''Chaos and Cadavers'', film (2003)
* ''[[The Smoking Room]]'', TV (2004)
:* Ep. – "Last Night a Graphic Designer Saved My Life"
:* Ep. – "Quitters"
:* Ep. – "1987"
:* Ep. – "Happy Birthday"
:* Ep. – "Feeding Time"
* ''[[Coronation Street]]'', TV (2006)
* ''[[My Family]]'', TV (2007)
:* Ep. – "Abi Ever After"
:* Ep. – "Once More with Feeling"
:* Ep. – "Four Affairs and a Funeral"
:* Ep. – "The Heart of Christmas"
* ''Made in Romania'', film (2008)
* ''[[Not Going Out]], TV (2013)
:* Ep. - "Rabbit"
* ''[[Citizen Khan]]'', TV (2014)
:* Ep. - "Farmer Khan<ref>https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4205188/</ref>

==Scriptwriter==
He wrote or co-wrote scripts for the following comedy shows:

* ''[[Me and My Girl (TV series)|Me and My Girl]]'', TV, 1984
* ''Relative Strangers'', TV, 1985
* ''[[A Small Problem]]'', TV, 1987
* ''[[ChuckleVision]]'', 1987
:* Ep. - "Breakfast Telly"
* ''Valentine Park'', TV, 1987
* ''[[Birds of a Feather (TV series)|Birds of a Feather]]'', TV, 1989
:* Ep. – "In at the Deep End"
:* Ep. – "First-Time Caller"
:* Ep. – "Suspicious Minds"
* ''[[Not with a Bang]]'', TV, 1990
:* Ep. – No.1.3
:* Ep. – No.1.4
:* Ep. – No.1.5
:* Ep. – No.1.6
:* Ep. – No.1.7
* ''[[The Brittas Empire]]'', TV, 1991
:* Ep. – "The Disappearing Act"
:* Ep. – "Reviewing the Situation"
:* Ep. – "Surviving Christmas"
:* Ep. – "A Walk on the Wildside"
:* Ep. – "Body Language"
* ''Trouble in Mind'', TV, 1991
* ''[[A Prince Among Men]]'', TV, 1997

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|0909225}}
* [http://www.angelair.force9.co.uk/sjpcd149a.htm RJ Wagsmith Band]
* [https://www.myspace.com/rjwagsmithband RJ Wagsmith Band @ MySpace]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Walling, Mike}}
[[Category:1950 births]]
[[Category:2020 deaths]]
[[Category:English male television actors]]
[[Category:English male voice actors]]
[[Category:English television writers]]
[[Category:English male film actors]]
[[Category:English male television writers]]
[[Category:20th-century English male actors]]
[[Category:21st-century English male actors]]
[[Category:Male actors from Salford]]
[[Category:English male comedians]]