Brian Cooke
Brian Cooke (born 1937, in Liverpool, Lancashire - now Merseyside) is a British comedy writer who, along with co-writer Johnnie Mortimer, wrote scripts for and devised many of the top television sitcoms during the 1970s, including "Man About the House", "George and Mildred", and "Robin's Nest". Cooke also wrote and created the 1980s TV sitcom "Keep It in the Family", starring Robert Gillespie and the late-1960s/early-1970s sitcom "Father, Dear Father" starring Patrick Cargill. "Man About the House", "George and Mildred", "Robin's Nest", and "Keep It in the Family" were remade for American television as "Three 's Company", "The Ropers", "Three's a Crowd" and "Too Close for Comfort". Early career. Starting off as a cartoonist during his term of national service, he soon began to sell strips to magazines and newspapers. He met Johnnie Mortimer at a cartoonists convention. They also wrote the screenplays for the film version of the play "No Sex Please, We're British", and the movie versions of their series "Man About the House" and "Father Dear Father". Scriptwriter. Earlier in his career Cooke was a writer for the last series of the 1960s radio series "Round the Horne" and its  short-lived successor "Stop Messing About". He had much success in 2003-5 when he revived the format for a theatre tribute show, "Round the Horne ... Revisited", which ran in the West End for 15 months and spawned three national tours. In 2004 it was made into a television film, with the original London cast, by BBC Four. "Stop Messing About" was also turned into a stage play in 2009.