| Andrew Marshall (writer) |
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CAREER Born in Lowestoft , he passed the Eleven Plus exam somewhat early, due to being placed in a school year several years ahead of his age and attended Lowestoft Grammar School , and afterwards Borough Road College where he studied Mathematics and Psychology. Around the same time, he worked regularly on BBC Radio 4 's '' Week Ending '', together with David Renwick , Douglas Adams , Alistair Beaton , John Lloyd , Simon Brett and others. Shortly afterwards he began '' The Burkiss Way '' with David Renwick and John Mason (who later dropped out to go to acting school). Renwick and Marshall remained scriptwriting partners for many years. Brought by Humphrey Barclay to London Weekend Television , originally to repeat his "nursery slopes comedy" '' Do Not Adjust Your Set '' with '' End Of Part One '', Marshall and Renwick went on to write a series of television satires, including '' Whoops Apocalypse '', '' Hot Metal '' and '' If You See God, Tell Him '' — the latter originally for Channel 4 , but postponed for several years when the channel refused to let them direct it, and finally ending up at the BBC later. They also experimented with a type of Neo- Vaudeville style in '' The Steam Video Company '' for Thames Television , ultimately ending up at the BBC, writing, with Alexei Sayle , '' Alexei Sayle's Stuff ''. Along the way they also wrote the screenplays for a film version of '' Whoops Apocalypse '' and '' Wilt ''. After a tentative and unsuccessful try at solo writing with '' Sob Sisters '' at Central Television , Marshall found long-lasting success BBC One 's '' 2point4 Children '', adding to it '' Health & Efficiency '' and later, '' Dad ''. He also found time to adapt Alexei Sayle's short story "Lose Weight, Ask Me How" for the series '' Spinechillers '', in which Sayle also starred. Having also contributed to '' Agatha Christie's Poirot '' on ITV , he next wrote drama with the telefantasy series '' Strange '' for Saturday nights on BBC One. However, due to scheduling issues, a one-year gap between the pilot episode and the series and the BBC's decision not to repeat the pilot before the series began, the series failed to find a large audience in its Saturday night slot and was not re-commissioned for a second run. A characteristic of his writing style, perhaps consistent with his study of Mathematics and Psychology is an apparent simplicity of content, concealing, after careful examination, symbolic and/or sometimes unsettling psychological or philosophical underpinnings. Although gay, the only character he has so far created that reflects this is "Charlie" in '' Sob Sisters ''. Until recently he has always avoided publicity of any kind, explaining that "its very bad for you", and cites his major influences as "Alfred Hitchcock and Walt Disney...which explains a lot." In 2005 , he had a small cameo appearance on-screen in an episode of David Renwick's comedy-drama '' Love Soup '' on BBC One, alongside Renwick himself, as members of a Sitcom scriptwriting team. SCREENOGRAPHY With David Renwick :
With John Lloyd :
Solo:
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