Kurt at 18:45, 21 January 2023

2023-01-21T18:45:16Z

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	{{Infobox comedian		{{Infobox comedian
	\| name = Esmonde and Larbey		\| name = Esmonde and Larbey
	\| image =		\| image = Esmonde and Larbey.jpg
	\| caption =		\| caption =
	\| birth_date = '''John Gilbert Esmonde'''<br>{{Birth date\|1937\|3\|21\|df=y}}<ref>[http://web.researcha.com/iccquery/detail/?did=9111473&c=uk Researcha]{{dead link\|date=November 2017 \|bot=InternetArchiveBot \|fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><br>[[Battersea]], London, England<br>'''Robert Edward Larbey'''<br>{{Birth date\|1934\|6\|24\|df=y}}<ref>[http://web.researcha.com/iccquery/detail/?did=9141724&c=uk Researcha]{{dead link\|date=November 2017 \|bot=InternetArchiveBot \|fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><br>[[Clapham]], London, England		\| birth_date = '''John Gilbert Esmonde'''<br>{{Birth date\|1937\|03\|21\|df=y}}<ref>[http://web.researcha.com/iccquery/detail/?did=9111473&c=uk Researcha]{{dead link\|date=November 2017 \|bot=InternetArchiveBot \|fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><br>[[Battersea]], London, England<br>'''Robert Edward Larbey'''<br>{{Birth date\|1934\|06\|24\|df=y}}<ref>[http://web.researcha.com/iccquery/detail/?did=9141724&c=uk Researcha]{{dead link\|date=November 2017 \|bot=InternetArchiveBot \|fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><br>[[Clapham]], London, England
	\| death_date = '''John Gilbert Esmonde'''<br>{{Death date and age\|2008\|8\|10\|1937\|3\|21\|df=y}}<br>[[Spain]]<br>'''Robert Edward Larbey'''<br>{{Death date and age\|2014\|3\|31\|1934\|6\|29\|df=y}}<br>London, England		\| death_date = '''John Gilbert Esmonde'''<br>{{Death date and age\|2008\|8\|10\|1937\|3\|21\|df=y}}<br>[[Spain]]<br>'''Robert Edward Larbey'''<br>{{Death date and age\|2014\|3\|31\|1934\|6\|29\|df=y}}<br>London, England
	\| medium = [[Screenwriter]]		\| medium = [[Screenwriter]]

Kurt at 21:16, 16 January 2023

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	{{Infobox comedian		{{Infobox comedian
	\| name = Esmonde and Larbey		\| name = Esmonde and Larbey

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	{{DEFAULTSORT:Esmonde and Larbey}}		{{DEFAULTSORT:Esmonde and Larbey}}

Kurt: 1 revision imported

2022-08-13T03:35:24Z

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{{Short description|British television comedy scriptwriting duo}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2012}}
{{Infobox comedian
| name = Esmonde and Larbey
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = '''John Gilbert Esmonde''' {{Birth date|1937|3|21|df=y}}<ref>[http://web.researcha.com/iccquery/detail/?did=9111473&c=uk Researcha]{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> [[Battersea]], London, England '''Robert Edward Larbey''' {{Birth date|1934|6|24|df=y}}<ref>[http://web.researcha.com/iccquery/detail/?did=9141724&c=uk Researcha]{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> [[Clapham]], London, England
| death_date = '''John Gilbert Esmonde''' {{Death date and age|2008|8|10|1937|3|21|df=y}} [[Spain]] '''Robert Edward Larbey''' {{Death date and age|2014|3|31|1934|6|29|df=y}} London, England
| medium = [[Screenwriter]]
| genre = [[Television]]
| active = 1965–2005 (as collaboration)
| notable_work = ''[[Please Sir!]]'' ''[[The Good Life (1975 TV series)|The Good Life]]'' ''[[Get Some In!]]'' ''[[Ever Decreasing Circles]]'' ''[[Brush Strokes]]''
}}

'''Esmonde and Larby''', was a British television screenwriting duo, consisting of '''John Gilbert Esmonde''' (21 March 1937 – 10 August 2008) and '''Robert Edward Larbey''' (24 June 1934 – 31 March 2014), who created popular sitcoms starting from the mid-1960s until the mid-1990s such as ''[[Please Sir!]]'', ''[[The Good Life (1975 TV series)|The Good Life]]'', ''[[Get Some In!]]'', ''[[Ever Decreasing Circles]]'', and ''[[Brush Strokes]]''.

==Biographies==
Robert Edward Larbey made his writing debut for [[BBC]] radio, before contributing a film adaptation, ''Mrs Silly'', starring [[Maggie Smith]]. Larbey met his future writing partner when they were pupils at Henry Thornton School, South Side, Clapham Common. He was born in [[Clapham]], South London and died in London aged 79 in March 2014.<ref name="Telegraph">[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10745110/Bob-Larbey-obituary.html Obituary: Bob Larbey], ''The Daily Telegraph'', 4 April 2014</ref>

John Gilbert Esmonde served a couple of years in the [[Royal Air Force]] in Air Ambulance before realising that his budding writing partnership with Larbey might prove more fruitful. Three years of after-hours writing yielded a BBC joint fee of two guineas for the pair in 1965,<ref name="Guardian">[https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/apr/06/bob-larbey.html Obituary: Bob Larbey], ''The Guardian'', 6 April 2014</ref> as they began to have sketches accepted on shows such as ''[[I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again]]'' and ''The [[Dick Emery]] Show''. Born in [[Battersea]], [[South West (London sub region)|South West London]], Esmonde was married to Georgina Barton from 1960 until his death in Spain in August 2008, aged 71.

==Collaboration==
Esmonde and Larbey's first sitcom as a writing team came in 1966 with ''[[Room at the Bottom (1967 TV series)|Room at the Bottom]]'' for the [[BBC]]. This followed the exploits of a group of maintenance men working for Saracens Manufacturing Company. Starting out as a pilot in the BBC's ''Comedy Playhouse'' programme, it lasted for one series the next year, starring [[Kenneth Connor]], [[Deryck Guyler]] and [[Francis Matthews (actor)|Francis Matthews]].

The BBC radio comedy ''You're Only Old Once'', also starring Deryck Guyler who appeared alongside [[Clive Dunn]] and [[Joan Sanderson]], was broadcast between February 1968 and July 1969.<ref name="Radio Times Issue 2311">{{cite news | author=  |title= Listings| url= http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/radio2/1968-02-25#at-21.30| date= 25 February 1968|work= [[Radio Times]] |location=London| issue= 2311| page= 16| access-date=16 September 2016 }}</ref><ref name="Radio Times Issue 2383">{{cite news | author=  |title= Listings| url= http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/radio2/1969-07-13#at-14.31| date= 10 July 1969|work= [[Radio Times]] |location=London| issue= 2383| page= 14| access-date=16 September 2016 }}</ref>

Also in 1968, Esmonde and Larbey created ''[[Please Sir!]]'', a situation comedy which starred [[John Alderton]] as a naive teacher thrown in at the deep end in a tough south London school. Rejected by the BBC, the series was accepted by [[London Weekend Television]], whose head of comedy was then [[Frank Muir]].<ref name="Telegraph"/>

The antics of Form 5C in ''Please Sir!'' led to Esmonde and Larbey being commissioned to write a sequel – ''[[The Fenn Street Gang]]'' – which followed the former school pupils as they tried to make their way in the harsh world outside. This starred [[David Barry (actor)|David Barry]], [[Peter Cleall]] and [[Carol Hawkins]]. Making his debut in series 1, [[George Baker (British actor)|George Baker]] made such an impression as a wide-boy villain that the prequel ''Bowler'' was launched in 1973. This lasted for one series and co-starred Fred Beauman, [[Renny Lister]] and [[Gretchen Franklin]].

In the early to mid-1970s, Esmonde and Larbey produced several lesser-known comedies, sometimes lasting no longer than a pilot. These include ITV's ''Cosmo And Thingy'', set in prehistoric times featuring a cast of cavemen and cavewomen (based on a series of sketches they wrote for ''I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again''), and ''Football Crazy'' (also for ITV) which was a children's sitcom about the football team Wormwood Rovers.

In 1975, Esmonde and Larbey created their best-known situation comedy: ''[[The Good Life (1975 TV series)|The Good Life]]'', starring [[Richard Briers]], [[Felicity Kendal]], [[Paul Eddington]] and [[Penelope Keith]]. Set in [[Surbiton]], [[London]], it concerns itself with the attempts of Tom and Barbara Good (Briers and Kendal) to be self-sufficient after they decide to leave the [[rat race]]. It ran on the [[BBC]] until 1978, although it is still regularly repeated. At its peak, the show was attracting some 15 million viewers per week<ref name="Telegraph"/> – nearly a quarter of the population at the time. The writers had "just picked it [Surbiton] at random", Larbey once admitted. "To be honest, we were just looking for something that sounded like suburbia in big capital letters."<ref name="Telegraph"/> The show poked fun at the ideologies of both lead couples – the aggressively socially climbing Leadbetters and the self-sufficient (and self-satisfied) Goods. Larbey later said that while he was too impractical to embrace self-sufficiency, its general philosophy appealed to him.<ref name="Telegraph"/>

Also beginning in 1975 was ''[[Get Some In!]]'' for ITV, a [[national service]] comedy set in 1955. It starred [[Tony Selby]], [[Robert Lindsay (actor)|Robert Lindsay]], [[David Janson]] and Gerard Ryder.

Esmonde and Larbey teamed up with [[Michael Gambon]] and Briers again for another BBC Comedy Series called ''The Other One'' (1977–79), a sitcom about a man who is a liar who attempts to hide his insecurities through charade; it was successful enough for a second series to be broadcast. They returned to football with ITV's ''Feet First'' (1979) starring Jonathan Barlow as Terry Prince, a local footballer given the chance to hit the big time. Also less successful than ''The Good Life'' was their sitcom for ITV ''Just Liz'' (1980) starring [[Sandra Payne]]. This was followed by ''Don't Rock The Boat'' (1982–83) which starred [[Nigel Davenport]].

After the short-lived ''Now And Then'' (ITV 1983) they returned to form with ''[[Ever Decreasing Circles]]'', which reunited the writers with Briers. Briers starred as Martin Bryce, an insecure and obsessive character whose need to be the leading light of local activities is undermined by the arrival of a talented and charming neighbour, Paul Ryman. The series also featured [[Penelope Wilton]] as Martin's long suffering wife Anne, and [[Peter Egan]] as Ryman.

Another hit for Esmonde and Larbey was ''[[Brush Strokes]]'' (1986–91), featuring [[Karl Howman]] and [[Gary Waldhorn]] as a house decorator and his boss. The BBC sitcom ''[[Double First]]'' (1988) only lasted one series, but marked a different approach. It starred [[Michael Williams (actor)|Michael Williams]].

The duo wrote ''Hope It Rains'' (1991–92) for ITV. It starred [[Tom Bell (actor)|Tom Bell]] as the dour owner of a run-down seaside waxworks museum. [[Holly Aird]] and [[Eamon Boland]] also featured. There were 13 episodes transmitted.

Their last significant sitcom as a team was ''[[Mulberry (TV series)|Mulberry]]'' (1992–93), again starring [[Karl Howman]], here as an apprentice [[Grim Reaper]] who has to guide an elderly spinster ([[Geraldine McEwan]]) to the next world as easily as possible.

===Larbey's solo work===
By this time Larbey was also solo-writing the long-running BBC series ''[[As Time Goes By (TV series)|As Time Goes By]]'' (1992–2005), starring [[Judi Dench]] and [[Geoffrey Palmer (actor)|Geoffrey Palmer]]. While continuing his partnership with Esmonde, Larbey had been writing several sitcoms on his own throughout the 1980s and 1990s, most notably ''[[A Fine Romance (1981 TV series)|A Fine Romance]]'' starring Dench and her husband [[Michael Williams (actor)|Michael Williams]], which ran from 1981 to 1984. Along with the later ''As Time Goes By'', these two series were credited with "catapulting Dench into the nation's affections"<ref name="Guardian"/> as they gave prime-time recognition to an actress who, until then, had largely confined herself to stage work and one-off TV dramas.

==TV credits==

===Collaborations===
* ''[[The Dick Emery Show]]'' (1963)
* ''Spare a Copper'' (1965)
* ''[[Room at the Bottom (1967 TV series)|Room at the Bottom]]'' (1966)
* ''[[Please Sir!]]'' (1968–1972)
* ''[[The Fenn Street Gang]]'' (1971–1973)
* ''Cosmo And Thingy'' (1972)
* ''[[Bowler (TV series)|Bowler]]'' (1973)
* ''Football Crazy'' (1974)
* ''[[Get Some In!]]'' (1975–1978)
* ''[[The Good Life (1975 TV series)|The Good Life]]'' (1975–1978)
* ''The Other One'' (1977–1979)
* ''Three Piece Suite'' (1977)
* ''Feet First'' (1979)
* ''Just Liz'' (1980)
* ''Don't Rock The Boat'' (1982)
* ''Now And Then'' (1983)
* ''[[Ever Decreasing Circles]]'' (1984–1989)
* ''[[Brush Strokes]]'' (1986–1991)
* ''Double First'' (1988)
* ''Hope It Rains'' (1991)
* ''[[Mulberry (TV series)|Mulberry]]'' (1992–1993)
* ''Down To Earth'' (1995)

===Larbey without Esmonde===
* ''[[A Fine Romance (1981 TV series)|A Fine Romance]]'' (1981–1984)
* ''The Curious Case of Santa Claus'' (1982)
* ''Age-Old Friends'' (1989), based on Larbey's play ''A Month of Sundays'', first presented at The Nuffield Theatre in 1985 and winner of the London [[Evening Standard Award]] for Best Comedy of 1986<ref>{{cite web|title='A Month of Sundays' by Bob Larbey|url=http://www.regisplayers.com/productions/AMOS07.htm|publisher=The Regis Players Productions|access-date=10 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407093348/http://www.regisplayers.com/productions/AMOS07.htm|archive-date=7 April 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* ''[[On the Up]]'' (1990–1992)
* ''[[As Time Goes By (TV series)|As Time Goes By]]'' (1992–2005)
* ''My Good Friend'' (1995)

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Obituaries of Bob Larbey===
*[https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/apr/06/bob-larbey ''The Guardian'']
*[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10745110/Bob-Larbey-obituary.html ''The Daily Telegraph'']

===Obituaries of John Esmonde===
*[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article4516038.ece ''The Times'']
*[https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2008/aug/22/television.television1 ''The Guardian'']

==External links==
*{{IMDb name|id=0260731|name=John Esmonde}}
*{{IMDb name|id=0488013|name=Bob Larbey}}
*{{Screenonline name|id=1058058|name=Bob Larbey and John Esmonde}}
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A513578 BBC Guide to Comedy — Esmonde and Larbey]
* {{LCAuth|n80082955|Bob Larbey |6|ue}} 
* {{worldcat id|lccn-n80-082955|Bob Larbey}} (joint work perhaps exclusively)


{{EsmondeLarbey}}


{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Esmonde and Larbey}}
[[Category:British comedy duos]]
[[Category:English television writers]]
[[Category:Writers from London]]
[[Category:Screenwriting duos]]

Esmonde and Larbey - Revision history

Kurt at 18:45, 21 January 2023

Kurt at 21:16, 16 January 2023

Kurt: clean up

Kurt: 1 revision imported

en>Helper201: MOS:OVERLINK.