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Ian La Frenais | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1937-01-07)7 January 1937 (age 89) |
| Occupation | Screenwriter |
| Education | Dame Allan's Boys School,Newcastle upon Tyne |
| Period | 1964–present |
| Genre | Television |
| Spouse | |
| Relatives | Gladys and Cyril La Frenais (parents)[1] |
Ian La Frenais (born 7 January 1937) is an English writer best known for his creative partnership withDick Clement. They are most famous for television series includingThe Likely Lads,Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?,Porridge and its sequelGoing Straight,Lovejoy andAuf Wiedersehen, Pet.
La Frenais was born inMonkseaton,Northumberland; his father was an accountant. As a child at Park Primary School inWhitley Bay, La Frenais enjoyed art and writing. He then attendedDame Allan's Boys School inNewcastle upon Tyne, and completed hisNational Service in theBritish Army.[2] After working as a salesman for a tobacco company, he began composing songs for a weeklysatirical programme onTyne Tees Television and then moved to London where he worked for amarket research company.[3]
Ian La Frenais andDick Clement have enjoyed a long and successful career embracing films, television and theatre. Their partnership began in the mid-1960s with the hit television showThe Likely Lads,[4] and by the end of the decade they had also written three feature films:The Jokers,[5]Otley (directed by Clement) andHannibal Brooks.
In the early 1970s, they worked on two other features:Villain,[5] starringRichard Burton, andCatch Me a Spy (again directed by Clement), starringKirk Douglas. In this same period, they created their award-winning TV seriesWhatever Happened to the Likely Lads?; this was followed byPorridge,[6]Thick as Thieves andGoing Straight. There were big-screen versions of bothThe Likely Lads andPorridge,[6] and a 'rockumentary',To Russia With Elton, in 1979.
Earlier that decade they had adaptedKeith Waterhouse'sBilly Liar into the stage musicalBilly, starringMichael Crawford, which ran at London'sDrury Lane Theatre for two-and-a-half years.
By the late 1970s, they were living inCalifornia, where they wroteOn the Rocks, an American version ofPorridge,[7] andThe Prisoner of Zenda, a feature film starringPeter Sellers.
In the 1980s, their work included most of the TV seriesAuf Wiedersehen, Pet, which was votedITV's Favourite TV Programme of all Time in aRadio Times readers' poll to celebrate the network's 60th anniversary, and uncredited writing work on theJames Bond filmNever Say Never Again. La Frenais produced the filmsBullshot (1983) andWater (1985), both directed by Clement;[5] they also substantially wrote the latter. In 1987, they wrote and producedVice Versa.
In the US, he and Clement were writers and supervising producers onHBO'sEmmy-winning showTracey Takes On... for four years in the 1990s. Their films around this time includeThe Commitments, which won both theEvening Standard'sPeter Sellers Award for Comedy and aBAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay,Excess Baggage andStill Crazy. In addition, they did uncredited rewrites onThe Rock (starringSean Connery) forJerry Bruckheimer and directorMichael Bay.
More recent television includesArchangel (starringDaniel Craig) andThe Rotters' Club,[5] which they adapted from best-sellers byRobert Harris andJonathan Coe respectively. Their most recent film credits includeGoal! The Dream Begins, the animated filmFlushed Away,[5]Across the Universe[8] andThe Bank Job.[5]
Two new television series written by them were broadcast in 2017: an updated version ofPorridge, starringKevin Bishop, for theBBC,[9] and the Rose D'Or award-winningHenry IX forUKTV Gold, starringCharles Edwards.[citation needed] They have written the books for two stage musicals in development,Juke Box Hero andVictoria's Secret.
They have also featured in documentaries -Porridge: Inside Out on Gold TV in 2014 &Comedy Classics: Porridge on Channel 5 in 2022
In 2019 he and Clement published their autobiography:More Than Likely: A Memoir (published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson) and La Frenais is currently writing a novel.
In addition to his long-running collaborations with Clement, La Frenais has created, co-created, written and/or contributed to many other TV series, includingThe Two Ronnies, several episodes of the BBC'sComedy Playhouse,The Other 'Arf (1980–81), the long-running seriesLovejoy and the hit 1990s BBC detective seriesSpender (co-written with actor and singerJimmy Nail).
Like Clement, La Frenais was made anOBE in theQueen's 2007 Birthday Honours list.
Since 1984, Ian La Frenais has been married to artist Doris Vartan, the mother of actorMichael Vartan.
La Frenais supports the football clubNewcastle United.[10][11] He is a patron of the Whitley Bay Film Festival.[12]
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