Гарри Томпсон: Жазушы, юморист және телеөндіруші өмірі мен шығармашылығы

English novelist and biographer

Harry William Thompson (6 February 1960 – 7 November 2005) was an English radio and television producer, comedy writer, novelist and biographer. He was the creator of the dark humour television series Monkey Dust, screened between 2003 and 2005. Born in London, Thompson was educated at Highgate School and Brasenose College, Oxford, then joined the BBC as a trainee in 1981. He soon focused his attention on comedy, working as a researcher for Not the Nine O'Clock News and BBC Radio's The Mary Whitehouse Experience. Rising to the level of producer, he produced the BBC radio shows The News Quiz and Lenin of the Rovers. Hat Trick Productions subsequently employed Thompson to produce a television adaptation of The News Quiz, entitled Have I Got News for You, a critical and commercial success which Thompson produced for five years before moving onto other projects. A biographer and novelist, Thompson wrote six books: an investigation into the story of The Man in the Iron Mask; a biography of Hergé with a commentary on his Adventures of Tintin series; biographies of Peter Cook and Richard Ingrams; a novel, This Thing of Darkness; and the semi autobiographical Penguins Stopped Play.

Harry William Thompson was born on 6 February 1960 in London. His father was a marketing manager who worked for The Guardian, while his mother was a teacher who campaigned for higher standards in education. He later remarked that when the show first began, he was extremely confident, considering it to be "the best comedy show on TV. It never occurred to me that anything else could be better I know it sounds arrogant".

In 1998 Thompson produced and co wrote the first series of Channel 4's The 11 O'Clock Show, where he was instrumental in the creation of the comic character Ali G, played by Sacha Baron Cohen. Thompson later wrote for spin off Da Ali G Show. The programme was known for its dark humour and handling of taboo topics such as bestiality, murder, suicide and paedophilia. There were three series broadcast on BBC Three between 2003 and 2005; no further series were made following Thompson's death from lung cancer. In 2003 The Observer listed him as one of the 50 funniest or most influential people in British comedy, citing Monkey Dust as evidence: "the most subversive show on television. The topical animated series is dark and unafraid to tackle taboo subjects such as paedophilia, taking us to Cruel Britannia, a creepy place where the public are hoodwinked by arrogant politicians and celebrities. This edgy show doesn't always work, but when it does there is nothing quite like it". More recently a Guardian critic called it "a wonderful programme perhaps the best thing in Thompson's formidable CV". Co written with Shaun Pye, the programme was set in a suburban brothel and aired in 2006. The Guardian criticised the programme's "woefully old fashioned, juvenile outlook" and called it "drearily unsophisticated". The programme was also criticised in some quarters on the grounds that it made light of prostitution.

Harry Thompson also produced non comedy documentaries for BBC Radio. He made several programmes with writer/presenter Terence Pettigrew, starting with anniversary tributes to Hollywood icons James Dean (You're Tearing Me Apart) and Montgomery Clift (I Had The Misery Thursday). Pettigrew and Thompson subsequently worked together on a second series of documentaries, including on national service (Caught in the Draft), and also about the evacuation of children from major British cities during the Second World War (Nobody Cried When The Trains Pulled Out). Both programmes were presented by Michael Aspel. As well as writing for television, Thompson wrote biographies of Hergé (1991), Private Eye editor Richard Ingrams (1994) (of which The Independent said, "The problem is that Thompson simply worships Ingrams, and his biography melts steadily into hagiography [an] overlong panegyric") and Peter Cook (1997). His novel This Thing of Darkness, a historical fiction about Charles Darwin and Robert FitzRoy, the captain of the Beagle, was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2005. Thompson described Fitzroy, rather than Darwin, as the book's hero:
At its heart, it is the true story of someone who epitomised a certain sort of person that this country produced in the 19th century. There was a fantasy of chivalric empire, run by Britons who were gentlemen and played the game. Of course the reality was that our empire was no better than any other. We were busy conniving in the extermination of tribes, robbing natives of their land and we sent droves of brilliant young men, brought up with the chivalric fantasy, to enforce what was in many cases a visibly corrupt system [ ] But Fitzroy's morality was iron. He said no. And it destroyed him. His final book, the semi autobiographical Penguins Stopped Play, was finished in 2005; it dealt with his amateur cricket team, the Captain Scott XI, and was published posthumously in 2006.) in the Daily Mail. In 2003, Thompson began a relationship with Lisa Whadcock; they met after she wrote a fan letter to him about Monkey Dust. Thompson was diagnosed with lung cancer in April 2005. Treated at a London hospital, he married Whadcock on Monday 7 November 2005, before dying later that day. The British Comedy Awards had planned to present him with a Jury's Award in December, with executive producer Michael Hurll stating that "It's sad he won't be there to receive it, but the legacy of his enduringly popular series lives on". Upon learning of his death, BBC One controller Peter Fincham said Thompson was "that rarity in television – the talented, single minded, subversive maverick" and that his death would "leave a big hole in the comedy world". Fincham's comments were echoed by BBC Two controller Roly Keating, who stated that "Harry was a truly independent spirit and one of the funniest people I've ever known". His literary agent Bill Hamilton told BBC News that Thompson had been "plainly a genius". In a 2005 episode of Have I Got News For You, featuring Alexander Armstrong as host and Fi Glover and Ian McMillan as guest panellists, a message stating "In Memory of Harry Thompson, the first producer of Have I Got News For You (1960–2005)" was displayed.