MICHAEL WEARING

 

 

I saw that Michael Wearing had passed away a week or so ago. Who he? He was a BBC television producer.

In one lifetime he produced: Boys from the Blackstuff and Edge of Darkness. The committees, the negotiations, the self-belief, the heartbreak of having to deal with the BBC in those days. It’s heroic and almost unique, almost on a par with: ‘we began the film without a script, without a cast and without a shark’.

I don’t want this blog to turn into a record of recent obituaries but a lot of notable people have died lately. He has left behind the following memorable line which still glitters in the minds of anyone who endured Thatcher: [Julie Walters speaking] ’It’s not funny, it is not friggin’ funny. I’ve had enough of that, ‘If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry.’ I’ve heard it for years. This stupid, soddin’ city’s full of it. Why don’t you cry? Why don’t you scream? Why don’t you fight back, you bastards? Fight back’.

If that doesn't bring immortality, nothing will.