John Esmonde

Published Tuesday 16 September 2008 at 12:20 by Patrick Newley

John Esmonde, together with his writing partner Bob Larbey, wrote some of British television’s most popular comedies, including The Good Life, Please Sir!, Ever Decreasing Circles and Get Some In!. They also wrote Bowler, The Fenn Street Gang, Brush Strokes, Hope It Rains and Down to Earth.

Esmonde was born in Clapham, south London on March 21, 1937, and first met Larbey when they were pupils together at the Henry Thornton School. After leaving school, they took a variety of jobs, but began writing comedy scripts in the evenings. In 1965, they had their first success with a radio series, Spare a Copper, with Kenneth Connor and Deryck Guyler.

They wrote several other radio sitcoms, including You’re Only Old Once, which starred Clive Dunn and Joan Sanderson, and Just Perfick, which they adapted from the novels of HE Bates.

They broke into television in the late sixties and wrote material for many coemdians, but their first big hit came with Please Sir!, the LWT sitcom which starred John Alderton as a hesitant, naive teacher in a rough, inner-city school. Please Sir!, which ran from 1968-72, was inspired by the 1967 film To Sir With Love. Esmonde and Larbey wrote a feature film spin-off of the series in 1971 and The Fenn Street Gang followed on TV.

The duo’s greatest success was BBC’s The Good Life (1975-8), which starred Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal as a young couple who go self-sufficient in Surbiton. The series also made stars of the then relatively unknown Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington. The series was sold worldwide and, in 2004, when BBC viewers were asked to vote for their favourite sitcom, The Good Life made it into the top ten.

Ever Decreasing Circles (BBC, 1984-9) was another ratings hit and starred Briers as a pedantic neighbourhood do-gooder who is upstaged by the smoothie next door - a role played by Peter Egan.

Esmonde and Larbey also scripted Mulberry (1992), with Karl Howman cast as the Grim Reaper, and their final show was Back to Earth (1995), which again starred Briers.

Esmonde moved to Spain in recent years and wrote a number of novels. He married Gina Barton in 1960.

He died on August 10, aged 71.