NED SHERRINThe broadcaster Ned Sherrin, who died on 1 October, 2007, aged 76, was the driving force behind the pioneering satirical show That Was The Week That Was.TW3, as it was known, set the format for topical satire that is still used today with monologues, skits and songs all poking fun at the previous week’s news items, and was the springboard for a generation of comedy talent.It was presented by David Frost, featured the talents of Kenneth Cope, Roy Kinnear, Willie Rushton and Millicent Martin (among others) and boasted writers of the comic-calibre of John Cleese, Peter Cook, Eric Sykes, John Bird, Graham Chapman and even Roald Dahl.After TW3 made his name, Mr Sherrin produced numerous TV shows, films and plays, hosted radio shows, authored several books and was nominated for a Tony Award for his stage performances.Edward George Sherrin was born on 18 February, 1931, into a Somerset farming family. Very much the black sheep, Ned preferred dressing up and collecting wild flowers to manual labour and he showed an early interest in show business by manufacturing model theatres from cereal boxes.Though puzzled, his parents endeavoured to nurture his interests. His first production was a musical version of Shaw’s Pygmalion (pre-dating My Fair Lady by several years) while at Sexey's Grammar School at Bruton.After completing his national service as a Motor Transport Officer, he won a scholarship to Exeter College, Oxford, and studied law in an effort to appease his father, though he still has his sights set on entertainment and involved himself in the university’s theatrical circles.He turned down a call to the Bar in 1955 to take a job with ATV and two years later joined the BBC as director of the Tonight magazine programme.That Was The Week That Was, which first broadcast in 1962, was originally the idea of director-general Hugh Greene who wanted to "prick the pomposity of public figures" with a satirical show, but it was Mr Sherrin’s vision that made it a success.TW3 was irreverent and anarchic. It was broadcast live and would often over-run. Its lampooning of authority figures was in stark contrast to reverential tone normally taken by the media and many viewers were shocked by the programme’s content, but it received huge audiences.It only ran for two series because the BBC felt that it would be inappropriate to continue broadcasting in 1964, a general election year. Nevertheless, the mould was set for shows like The Frost Report and Mr Sherrin’s Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life, plus several international translations of TW3.Mr Sherrin was a staunch patron of the arts and a renowned socialite. A gifted polymath, he began producing musical films for the BBC in the 1960s and the gritty Up the Junction (1968) was his first cinematic production.Concentra ting more on film in the early 1970s, he produced several Frankie Howerd vehicles. He then returned to his first love, the theatre, with successful productions of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe and the musical revue Side By Side By Sondheim. He also performed in the latter and it was for this he received his Tony nomination when the show moved to Broadway.In the ’80s and ’90s he hosted the Radio 4 shows, Loose Ends, an eclectic and often chaotic mix of interviews, comedy and music, and Counterpoint, a classical music quiz. Mr Sherrin wrote two volumes of autobiography, several books of quotations and anecdotes, some fictional work and a pair of newspaper columns.He was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2006 and forced to retire from his radio presenting work. He had been awarded the CBE in 1997. He was a Royalist, in spite of his anti-establishment reputation, and healso spent time campaigning for AIDS charities.Upon his death, BBC director general Mark Thompson said: "Ned was a trailblazer who paved the way for the sophisticated modern comedy satire shows that are so much loved by audiences today. The entertainment industry owes Ned Sherrin a huge debt and he will be remembered with enormous affection and gratitude by the BBC and by countless millions of viewers and listeners."
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