JACK ROSENTHALJack Rosenthal, who died on 29 May, 2004, at the age of 72, was a prolific television dramatist whose groundbreaking work behind the screen entertained millions and won him countless awards.
He penned acclaimed BBC drama Bar Mitzvah Boy and devised the popular fire-brigade saga London’s Burning. He was also a regular contributor to much-loved soap Coronation Street.
Altogether, he furnished more than 250 scripts during an illustrious career which spanned almost four decades.
Despite his relatively rapid rise to the position of one of Britain’s best-loved television writers, he never forgot his humble Jewish, working-class background and, where possible, often drew on them to lend an air of authenticity to his work.
Born on 8 September 1931, in Manchester, England, Jack Maurice Rosenthal was educated at Colne Grammar School before going on to read English literature at Sheffield University.
After National Service in the Royal Navy and a brief stint in advertising, he joined Granada Television in 1956 where, in his first job ordering toilet-roll holders, he began writing in his spare time.
He earned his first television credit with Granada Television in 1961, assigned as a writer of Episode 31 on the world’s longest-running soap opera, Coronation Street. He soon became a regular and began writing material for other shows in his spare time including the satirical hit That Was the Week That Was.He married actress Maureen Lipman in 1974, and theyhad two children Amy and Adam.
In 1975 his first full-length television play The Evacuees hit television screens. A semi-autobiographica l account of two Jewish boys evacuated from Manchester to Blackpool, based on his own war-time experiences, it met with critical acclaim and won numerous awards.
Further television hits, such as Spend Spend Spend and The Knowledge, followed during the late 1970s and early 80s.
However, Mr Rosenthal’s genius was by no means merely limited to TV and, in 1983, co-wrote probably the most famous of his eight feature films Yentl, with Barbara Streisand. The experience proved such an ordeal, he later described how smashing a molar to fragments inside his gum while eating the thigh bone of a roast duck was the least painful part of it all.
His stand-alone play about a group of firefighters entitled London’s Burning became an audience favourite during the late 1980s, although it would ultimately be turned into the type of long-running, mass-produced series which he once likened to “running on the spot” as far as the writer was concerned.
He was awarded a CBE in 1994 for services to drama, as well as un-credited work on the blockbuster smash Chicken Run and a revival of comedy drama Lucky Jim for ITV in 2003. He died on 29 May a year later at the age of 72, following a long battle with cancer.
His autobiography By Jack Rosenthal, was published posthumously.
A four-part adaptation of the book by his daughter entitled Jack Rosenthal’s Last Act was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in the summer of 2006.
The Knowledge, Mr Rosenthal’s 1979 comedy for Thames TV about London taxi drivers, has since become a classic for cabbies-in-training.
Former BBC director of drama, Alan Yentob, described the legendary dramatist as “one of the great original writers for television” whose writing “touched a chord with millions of people.”
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