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I was distracted* yesterday evening, and didn't register that the TV writer Roger Marshall has died. He's not particularly famous, but he made a huge contribution to why TV was prized so highly in the UK throughout the 60s, 70 and 80s. *drunk
If you were brought up in the 70s and 80s like me, you were probably plonked in front of series like Public Eye, The Professionals, The Gentle Touch or The Sweeney. All passable, some good, and some great.
But you'll probably remember that every now and again, there would be a brilliant episode that blew you away and elevated your whole opinion of the series in question. Later you'd think "That was much better than it strictly needed to be."
Well, more often than not that episode was written by Roger Marshall. He was the king of pushing a series well beyond where it necessarily had to go. It's hard to underestimate how much that kind of contribution adds to popular culture. RIP Roger.
One more thing. He also wrote the screenplay for the unbelievably bleak "What Became of Jack and Jill?" It's the most un-Amicus Amicus film, and well worth checking out if you can get hold of it. It's an adaptation of Laurence Moody's novel "The Ruthless Ones" - also v good.
