Carla Lane
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| Carla Lane OBE | |
| Born | Romana Barrack August 5, 1937 Liverpool, Merseyside, England |
|---|---|
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Employers | BBC |
| Known for | Bread, The Liver Birds, Butterflies, Bless This House |
Carla Lane, OBE (born Romana Barrack, August 5, 1937 in Liverpool, Merseyside) is an English television writer, writing or co-writing many successful sitcoms. In the 1960s she wrote short stories and radio scripts. Her first successes came in collaboration with Myra Taylor, whom she had met at a writers' workshop in Liverpool, before she embarked on a solo career. In 1989 she was awarded an OBE.
Lane is known for her animal rights activism, a theme that has appeared in her writing; for example, the character Darwin in Luv is a member of an animal rights group.
Carla returned her OBE in 2002 in protest at the award of a CBE to Brian Cass, managing director of Huntingdon Life Sciences. HLS has been at the centre of numerous animal rights protests for its use of animals in the development and testing of drugs. Upon returning her award, she received a handwritten reply from Tony Blair who said that she deserved the honour and that it would be kept in case she changed her mind and wanted it back.
In 1997 she was famously conned by Chris Morris and his satirical TV show Brass Eye into taking part in a fake discussion where she claimed that before one of her pet guinea pigs died, it 'washed its little face'. It is unclear as to whether she actually said this or if it was the result of editing by Morris, who uses such techniques in other episodes.
[edit] Television series
- 1969-79, 96 The Liver Birds (with Myra Taylor)
- 1971-76 Bless This House (with Myra Taylor and others)
- 1974 No Strings
- 1975 Going, Going,Gone... Free?
- 1977 Three Piece Suite
- 1978-82, 2000 Butterflies
- 1981-83 The Last Song
- 1981-82 Solo
- 1984-85 Leaving
- 1985-87 The Mistress
- 1985 I Woke Up One Morning
- 1986-91 Bread
- 1993-94 Luv
- 1995 Searching
