Jack Morris RosenthalCBE (8 September 1931 – 29 May 2004) was an English playwright. He wrote 129 early episodes of theITV soap operaCoronation Street and over 150 screenplays, including original television plays, feature films, and adaptations.

Jack Rosenthal CBE
Born	(1931-09-08)8 September 1931 Cheetham Hill,Manchester, England
Died	29 May 2004(2004-05-29) (aged 72) Barnet, London, England
Occupation	Screenwriter, playwright
Education	University of Sheffield
Notable awards	CBE, BAFTA
Spouse	Catherine Ward ​ ​ (m. 1964;div. 1966)​ Maureen Lipman ​ (m. 1973)​
Children	2, includingAmy

Jack Morris Rosenthal was born into a Jewish family on 8 September 1931, inCheetham,Manchester.^[1] He was the younger of two sons to father Sam, a raincoat factory worker, and mother Leah (née Miller) Rosenthal.^[1][2] His parents were married in 1927 in Manchester, and were children of Russian Jewish immigrants.^[1]

Rosenthal attended the Manchester Jews School in Derby Street, Cheetham. During theSecond World War, he was evacuated toBlackpool,Lancashire with an inhospitable family who censored his letters and confiscated his food parcels.^[3] His family subsequently moved toColne,Lancashire, and Rosenthal attended Colne Grammar School.^[1] In 1953, after studying English Literature atSheffield University, he carried out hisnational service in theRoyal Navy as a Russian translator.^[4]

Rosenthal worked briefly in advertising before joiningGranada Television in 1956.^[1][4] He earned his first television credit with Granada in 1961, assigned as a writer of episode 31 of what would become Britain's longest-running soap opera,Coronation Street. Rosenthal became a regular writer for the series and, in addition, began writing for other series.^[5] During the 1960s, he contributed material for various television comedy shows, including the satiricalThat Was The Week That Was.^[6] At Granada Television, he wrote aCoronation Street spin-off series for the characterLeonard Swindley, played byArthur Lowe, calledPardon the Expression. Rosenthal also created two comedy series,The Dustbinmen andThe Lovers, the latter starringRichard Beckinsale andPaula Wilcox. In 1976, he wrote a drama for ITV,Ready When You Are, Mr McGill, which was remade in 2003.^[7][8]

Rosenthal won threeBAFTA awards forBar Mitzvah Boy (about a Jewish boy'sbar mitzvah),The Evacuees (based on his own war-timeevacuation) andSpend, Spend, Spend (about thefootball pools winner,Viv Nicholson, directed byJohn Goldschmidt). He also wroteThe Knowledge, a film about London taxi-drivers which has become a classic for cabbies-in-training. He wrote the 1986 television filmLondon's Burning forLondon Weekend Television, which proved so successful that it was adapted intoa television series of the same name, which ran from 1988 until 2002.^[9] Rosenthal adapted the novelThe Devil's Lieutenant for director John Goldschmidt as a mini-series forChannel 4 and ZDF. He also wrote the screenplay for the 1998Captain Jack (based on a true story) for Goldschmidt as producer.^[10][11][12]

In 1983, Rosenthal co-wrote the filmYentl withBarbra Streisand.^[13] He also did uncredited work on the screenplay ofChicken Run, and wrote the book for the musical version ofBar Mitzvah Boy, with music byJule Styne.^[14]

On 23 February 1964, Rosenthal married model Catherine Ward inBlackpool,Lancashire; two years later, the marriage ended in divorce.^[1] Rosenthal met actressMaureen Lipman in 1969 in a pub in Manchester while Rosenthal was writing forCoronation Street.^[15][16] He married Lipman on 18 February 1973 inMarylebone, London;^[17] they had two children, writersAmy and Adam Rosenthal,^[15] and lived in a large house inMuswell Hill, northLondon.^[1]

Rosenthal was a lifelongManchester United fan, listing his recreations inWho's Who as "checking Manchester United's score, minute by minute, onteletext".^[3]

In 2002, Rosenthal was diagnosed withmultiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer. He died on 29 May 2004 at theNorth London Hospice inBarnet, north London, aged 72.^[15] He is buried inGolders Green Jewish Cemetery. Rosenthal's estate was valued at £1.3 million; he left a legacy to The Ravenswood Foundation,West London Synagogue,Jewish Care,Manchester Jewish Museum, Nightingale House and theNorth London Hospice.^[18]

Rosenthal was appointedCBE in 1994, for services to drama.^[19] He received four honorary degrees from northern universities including an honorary doctorate fromSheffield University in 1998 and a degree fromManchester Metropolitan University in 2002.^[1][4][20]

Rosenthal's autobiography,By Jack Rosenthal, was published posthumously, and a four-part adaptation byhis daughter, titledJack Rosenthal's Last Act was broadcast onBBC Radio 4 in July 2006, starring Maureen Lipman as herself andStephen Mangan as Rosenthal.

As part of the regeneration of theFirst Street district inManchester, a street was named after him, Jack Rosenthal Street, unveiled by his widow in May 2015, next toHOME, a centre of contemporary art, theatre and film.^[21][22]

• Jack Rosenthal atIMDb
• Jack Rosenthal at theBFI'sScreenonline