Michael Mills (British producer)

Michael Mills (13 May 1919 – 7 January 1988) was an English television producer and director who was the BBC's Head of Comedy in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Early life and career

Born in Prestwich, in Lancashire, Mills joined the BBC before World War II as a sound effects operator, and served in the Free French Navy, on secondment from Royal Navy, during hostilities where he undertook revue type shows.

In 1947, he returned to the BBC, as a light entertainment producer.[1] Yvonne Littlewood, then his personal assistant, recalled one live production of the three act Vivian Ellis musical Jill Darling in February 1949 which used both studios at Alexandra Palace, the set being changed in one while the second act was being broadcast.[2]

While Head of Comedy at the BBC around 1968, it was Mills who suggested that a forthcoming series should be titled Dad's Army instead of The Fighting Tigers, according to creator Jimmy Perry, and that John Le Mesurier should play the Sergeant and Clive Dunn, Corporal Jones.[3] It was Mills who thought Frankie Howerd's role in the British stage production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum could be the basis for a series. This became Up Pompeii! (1969-70).[4]

While the first series of Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969) was still being transmitted, he wrote to John Cleese: "The shows seem to be getting better and better and this a view shared by most people who see it." Offering him a role in the second series, he had been told by Barry Took that Cleese was unsure about continuing: "I do hope you will be able to take part both as a writer and performer because the show would lose a great deal if you are not one of them."[5]

Last years

Mills was the original producer of television series Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em (1973-75), and briefly supervised Wodehouse Playhouse (1976). Mills joined Thames Television around this time, where he remained for the rest of his career. Here he was responsible for the production of such series as Get Some In! (1975-78) and Chance in a Million (1984-86).

Personal life

From 1974, Mills was married to the actress Valerie Leon. The couple had two children, one of whom is The Guardian newspaper journalist Merope Mills. Michael Mills died in Gillingham, Kent in 1988.

References

  1. ↑ Louis Barfe Turned Out Nice Again: The Story of British Light Entertainment, London: Atlantic Books, 2008, p.53
  2. ↑ Barfe, p.54
  3. ↑ Bill Pertwee Dad's Army: The Making of a Television Legend, London: Conway, 2009 [1997], p.22
  4. ↑ Nicholas J. Cull "Infamy! Infamy!" in Sandra R. Joshel (et al, eds.) Imperial Projections: Ancient Rome in Modern Popular Culture, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005 [2001], p.180-81
  5. ↑ Robert Verkaik "BBC bosses almost lost faith in 'disgusting' Monty Python", The Independent, 1 June 2009

External links