Spitting Image star Bill Dare dies after accident abroad
Some of his former colleagues have already paid tribute.
Spitting Image star Bill Dare has died after being involved in an accident abroad.
The producer and comedy writer was best known for working on eight seasons of the satirical puppet show, which was first broadcast in 1984.
Dare also wrote and produced other television and radio programmes including Dead Ringers, which was a TV comedy impressions show that was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4, as well as The Mary Whitehouse Experience, The Now Show, The Late Edition, I’ve Never Seen Star Wars and The Secret World, and Brian Gulliver’s Travels.
Other projects included Mr Charity, Twisted Tales, You’re Breaking Up, while ha also wrote two plays performed at the Edinburgh Festival.
Although no further details of his death have been revealed, his agent confirmed he died at the weekend.
‘We are shocked and greatly saddened to have to announce the death of our brilliant client Bill Dare, who died at the weekend following an accident overseas,’ JFL Agency shared.
He is best known for working on the satirical puppet show for eight seasons (Picture: BritishComedyGuide/ YouTube)‘Our thoughts are with his wife Lucy, daughter Rebecca, and with all of Bill’s family and friends who will be devastated by his loss.
‘Bill was a truly legendary producer and writer, and his comedy instincts were second to none.’
Some of Dare’s colleagues at the BBC also paid tribute to him following the news.
‘Bill was a legendary figure in the comedy world and we, his friends and colleagues in radio will miss him hugely,’ BBC Studios Audio’s creative director of comedy and entertainment Richard Morris said.
‘We’ll miss the sharp wit and wisdom he brought to every production he worked on.’
Meanwhile Julia McKenzie, comedy commissioner for Radio 4, said she was ‘so terribly sorry to hear this tragic news and my thoughts are with Bill’s wife, family and friends’.
‘Bill has been a huge part of Radio 4 comedy for decades, as a writer and producer, and listeners will have heard his legendary name at the end of many of their favourite shows,’ she continued.
The series has been running since 1984 (Picture: BBC)‘Bill was a comedy obsessive, and very instinctive about making the funniest choices when it came to writing, directing and editing.
‘He cared so much about his work that in the production booth during Dead Ringers you’d see him crouched over the script, utterly focused on the show. He was funny and very dry in person, amusingly cynical when he needed to be and always pushed to keep the comedy he made, and particularly satire, spiky.’
She added: ‘I’ve known and worked with him for 18 years and like many I can’t believe he has gone, he will leave a big hole in the comedy world and in our hearts.’
Dare also published three novels – Natural Selection, Brian Gulliver’s Travels, and The Billion Pound Lie, which was published last year.
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