24 Facts About Geoffrey Perkins

Geoffrey Howard Perkins was a British comedy producer, writer and performer.

Geoffrey Perkins took an early interest in drama in 1970, and he worked with Clive Anderson to write a charity revue called Happy Poison.

Geoffrey Perkins read English literature while at Lincoln College, Oxford and while a student directed and wrote for The Oxford Revues of 1974 and 1975.

Geoffrey Perkins did not last long in the field of commercial shipping.

In 1977 drawing upon his work for the Oxford Revue, Geoffrey Perkins joined BBC Radio's light entertainment department alongside Cambridge graduates John Lloyd and Griff Rhys Jones.

In 1986, Geoffrey Perkins married Lisa Braun, who was BBC studio manager on Hitchhiker's Guide.

Department head David Hatch assigned Geoffrey Perkins to help revitalise the comedy panel show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.

Geoffrey Perkins produced the first series of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in 1977 for BBC Radio 4, taking over from Simon Brett, the producer of the pilot.

Geoffrey Perkins assisted the notoriously slow writer in finishing the scripts, before John Lloyd was drafted in to write large sections of the later episodes.

Geoffrey Perkins drew upon the resources of the Radiophonic Workshop to help create the groundbreaking audio effects for the series.

In 1980, Geoffrey Perkins co-wrote and featured in the radio sketch show Radio Active, revised and adapted from the early Oxford Revue shows, and initially based around the comedy parody group The Hee Bee Gee Bees, consisting of Philip Pope, Angus Deayton and Michael Fenton Stevens.

Geoffrey Perkins portrayed a character called Mike Flex, a young cocky disc jockey.

In 2005 Geoffrey Perkins had cameos in the fourth radio series of Hitchhiker's, as the producer of the radio show on which Arthur Dent worked.

Geoffrey Perkins essentially played a fictional version of himself from the first series with a fictional version of writer Douglas Adams.

Geoffrey Perkins left the BBC in 1988, to become a director of Hat Trick Productions which is an independent television and radio production company.

The first main production of Geoffrey Perkins was Spitting Image where he met Ben Elton, and Harry Enfield whom he got to develop the character of Douglas Hurd by suggesting he adapt it along the lines of Frank Oz's character Fozzie Bear.

Geoffrey Perkins stayed in this role until 2001, growing increasingly dissatisfied at "official BBC snootiness about comedy".

Geoffrey Perkins felt that the changes in how the BBC was run saying,.

Geoffrey Perkins persuaded David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst to star in a new series of Only Fools and Horses, the first of which was screened at Christmas 2001.

Geoffrey Perkins hosted the panel game Don't Quote Me, made by Open Media for Channel 4 in 1990.

The jury decided that Geoffrey Perkins had probably already died when he fell under the wheels of the lorry and as such the coroner recorded that he died from "natural causes".

The first episode was dedicated to his memory and instead of the usual closing credits, featured a short tribute to him and concluded with an out-take of Geoffrey Perkins forgetting his lines in a sketch absent from the transmitted series.

On 8 November 2008, BBC Two aired an evening of programmes in tribute to Geoffrey Perkins, comprising episodes of The Catherine Tate Show, Father Ted and The Fast Show, together with a special edition of Comedy Connections looking at Geoffrey Perkins' career in comedy.

Geoffrey Perkins was posthumously awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Comedy award at the British Comedy Awards on 6 December 2008.