{"id":11428,"date":"2022-02-22T10:00:17","date_gmt":"2022-02-22T09:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1588528"},"modified":"2022-02-22T10:25:09","modified_gmt":"2022-02-22T09:25:09","slug":"steven-moffat-pays-tribute-to-tv-legend-beryl-vertue","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/steven-moffat-pays-tribute-to-tv-legend-beryl-vertue\/","title":{"rendered":"Steven Moffat pays tribute to TV legend Beryl Vertue"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Steven Moffat\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 22 February 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

Beryl Vertue 1931\u20132022<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cDid you ever encounter sexism?\u201d I asked the woman who was to become my mother-in-law. This was a very long time ago and I was an earnest young man. \u201cNo,\u201d said Beryl Vertue. \u201cWould you like a cup of tea?\u201d<\/p>\n

Context: I\u2019d just started going out with Sue, Beryl\u2019s daughter. I was a TV scriptwriter with a slightly messy career, suddenly involved with two industry greats and trying not to feel too outclassed (26 years later, still no luck). Sue\u2019s CV was already terrifying but Beryl\u2019s kind of blew my mind. The Goons, Spike Milligan, Galton & Simpson, Tommy, Robert Stigwood, Till Death Us Do Part, Daleks, Men Behaving Badly\u2026 Where did you even start with a career like that?<\/p>\n

There isn\u2019t the space here to talk about all she did. If you\u2019re interested, and you should be, there\u2019s a wonderful article on comedy.co.uk<\/a> called Beryl Vertue: the Woman Who Changed Her World<\/a> by Graham McCann. Read it and feel your eyebrows climbing out of the top of your head.<\/p>\n

\""RT\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
In the 1960s, Beryl Vertue was the writers\u2019 agent for the creators of many classic BBC sitcoms, such as Steptoe and Son and Till Death Us Do Part<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

A couple of highlights so you get the picture. You know when they remake shows in other countries? Like The Office or any shows like that? That was Beryl\u2019s idea. No one had thought of that until, one day, sitting in her office, it occurred to her that a show like Till Death Us Do Part was too distinctively British to work anywhere else \u2013 but the scripts and the characters and the ideas could work everywhere. And so Till Death Us Do Part became the American megahit All in the Family and Steptoe and Son became Sanford and Son and Upstairs Downstairs became Beacon Hill\u2026 and the business of television changed for ever. All because of a thought Beryl had one day in her office.<\/p>\n

On another day, in her role as a writer\u2019s agent, she read some scripts by her client Terry Nation for some new, kiddie, sci-fi show being made by the BBC (I think it was called Doctor Who<\/a>) and she noticed some characters in it that she thought might become rather popular. She quickly adjusted Terry Nation\u2019s contract so he retained the rights to those characters, and the BBC readily agreed. Of course they did. I mean, who\u2019d ever even heard of the Daleks? And so Terry Nation became a rich man and the BBC learnt a lesson in commercial exploitation that led to BBC Enterprises, and then BBC Worldwide and now BBC Studios.<\/p>\n

\""Terry\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Beryl Vertue represented the writer Terry Nation (photographed for RT in 1964) and ensured he retained the rights over his creation, the Daleks<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

There\u2019s so much more I could tell you \u2013 too much, it sometimes seems, to have fitted into her 90 years \u2013 but that\u2019s not what I\u2019m here to talk about. I want to talk about my friend, my holiday companion, my drinking buddy and my mother-in-law. The woman I am going to miss so much.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019d met her, you\u2019d have liked her because absolutely everybody did. You\u2019d have thought she was funny, and kind, and terribly polite, and uncommonly interested in everything you had to say. Aside from the easy confidence and the shiny jacket, you\u2019d probably have described her as perfectly ordinary in the best sort of way. And you\u2019d have been right on all those points; she was funny, kind and very sort of normal. And when she breezed into all those meetings with the great and the good \u2013 and the terrible and the terrifying \u2013 and got them to agree to things they barely understood at the time, it was only because she had one fairly useful advantage: she was the smartest human being in every room she ever walked into.<\/p>\n

That was Beryl. You might think she was humble; actually, she just wasn\u2019t arrogant. You might mistake her for unassuming; in fact, she just failed to be insecure. You might dismiss her as naive; and then realise you\u2019d just signed away the Daleks.<\/p>\n

\""RT\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Beryl Vertue produced 1990s hit sitcom Men Behaving Badly and executive-produced the BBC\u2019s global success Sherlock<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

For all her terrifying laser focus, she could switch it all off in a moment. The second she was off duty she was as giddy and silly as anyone could be. Her daughters called her the Giggler-in-Chief and she earned that title every day. I remember once on holiday, in some beach bar somewhere, she declared her drink to be far too strong, and added some orange juice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still the same amount alcoholic,\u201d protested David, her other son-in-law. \u201cYou just put more orange juice in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI nearly understand,\u201d replied Beryl, polishing off the drink and ordering another one.<\/p>\n

\""Steven\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Steven Moffat and Beryl Vertue on a family holiday in Greece in 2007 (Photo: Steven Moffat)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Despite facing down some truly unpleasant and powerful people without a blink or a flicker in her smile, she rather hated confrontation. If you happened to make a remark she disliked or found distasteful (like a marginally critical comment about the royal family), she just drifted off into an impenetrable vagueness, smiled distractedly, and made you a cup of tea.<\/p>\n

And so it was when I asked her about the sexism she must have encountered over the years: she just dismissed the idea, and drifted quickly away from the unpleasant subject and towards the kettle. Ah, but I was young and pompous and not to be thwarted. \u201cNo, there\u2019s a lot of sexism in this industry,\u201d I mansplained to one of the industry\u2019s most experienced women. \u201cYou must have encountered it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, I suppose there was a silly man now and then,\u201d she conceded.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd how did you deal with them?\u201d I asked. At last I was going to find out about Beryl\u2019s struggle with the patriarchy.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, I don\u2019t know,\u201d she replied, handing me a cup of tea. \u201cI expect I probably fired them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\""Beryl\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Beryl Vertue enjoying a holiday in Antigua in 2009 (Photo: Steven Moffat)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

The latest issue of Radio Times is on sale now \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0to get each issue delivered to your door. For more from the biggest stars in TV, l<\/strong>isten to the\u00a0Radio Times podcast<\/a> with Jane Garvey.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n

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By Steven Moffat Published: Tuesday, 22 February 2022 at 12:00 am Beryl Vertue 1931\u20132022 \u201cDid you ever encounter sexism?\u201d I asked the woman who was to become my mother-in-law. This was a very long time ago and I was an earnest young man. \u201cNo,\u201d said Beryl Vertue. \u201cWould you like a cup of tea?\u201d Context: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":11429,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/02\/steven-moffat-pays-tribute-to-tv-legend-beryl-vertue.jpg",1353,1084,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/02\/steven-moffat-pays-tribute-to-tv-legend-beryl-vertue-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/02\/steven-moffat-pays-tribute-to-tv-legend-beryl-vertue-300x240.jpg",300,240,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/02\/steven-moffat-pays-tribute-to-tv-legend-beryl-vertue-768x615.jpg",768,615,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/02\/steven-moffat-pays-tribute-to-tv-legend-beryl-vertue-1024x820.jpg",800,641,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/02\/steven-moffat-pays-tribute-to-tv-legend-beryl-vertue.jpg",1353,1084,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/02\/steven-moffat-pays-tribute-to-tv-legend-beryl-vertue.jpg",1353,1084,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Steven Moffat Published: Tuesday, 22 February 2022 at 12:00 am Beryl Vertue 1931\u20132022 \u201cDid you ever encounter sexism?\u201d I asked the woman who was to become my mother-in-law. This was a very long time ago and I was an earnest young man. \u201cNo,\u201d said Beryl Vertue. \u201cWould you like a cup of tea?\u201d Context:…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/11428"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}