Iain Pattinson, scriptwriter on I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue, ‘the antidote to panel games’ – obituary
A purveyor of what Humphrey Lyttelton called ‘blue-chip filth’, he left a high-flying career behind to join the anarchic radio show
Iain Pattinson
Credit: PA
Iain Pattinson, who has died from leukaemia aged 68, was the scriptwriter behind I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, the anarchic “antidote to panel games” on Radio 4, famous for its smutty jokes that have made it cult listening for nearly half a century.
Hired in 1993 by a new producer, Jon Naismith, Pattinson furnished the show’s chairman with a weekly script bookended by a discursive introductory monologue and an ornate final farewell, interlaced with the show’s regular features like One Song to the Tune of Another and the impenetrable round known as Mornington Crescent.
What TV shows has Chris Eubank been on? Big Brother and more
theargus.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theargus.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Iain Pattinson obituary Simon O Hagan © Provided by The Guardian Photograph: PA
In 2020 Radio Times magazine conducted a poll to find the greatest radio comedy show of all time. The No 1 spot that went to I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue, Radio 4’s long-running “antidote to panel games”, was as much a tribute to the show’s main scriptwriter, Iain Pattinson, as it was to any of its cherished voices.
Pattinson, who has died aged 68 from leukaemia, was described by Clue’s longtime producer Jon Naismith as “the best radio comedy scriptwriter of his generation”. His career on the show spanned the last 16 years of Humphrey Lyttelton’s chairmanship of it, and the first 11 of Jack Dee’s.
Tributes from across the world of comedy
Tributes have been paid to Iain Pattinson, the writer of I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, who died at the weekend at the age of 68 after a short illness.
His agent, Kate Haldane at PBJ Management, said: ‘It is with heart-break and sadness that we announce the death of our client and friend, Iain Pattinson. We are enormously proud of him and his extraordinary and often undersung career, most notably as the writer of I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue.
The show’s host, Jack Dee, added: ‘Iain’s unique brilliance was his ability to combine the absurd with the plausible. His sense of silliness was without limits and I treasure the memory of having worked with such a comedy legend.
Tributes paid to comedy writer Iain Pattinson following his death aged 68
Keiran Southern, PA
15 February 2021, 8:45 pm
Tributes have been paid to comedy writer Iain Pattinson following his death at the age of 68.
Pattinson, known for his work on Radio 4 panel game I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, died at the weekend after a short illness, his management said.
His other credits included TV gameshow Would I Lie to You?
Jack Dee has paid tribute to comedy writer Iain Pattinson (PA)
After news of Pattinson’s death was announced, major figures from the comedy world paid tribute.
Jack Dee, host of I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, described him as a “comedy legend”.
vimarsana © 2020. All Rights Reserved.