The Cornish Eyebrow

BY PETER SIMPKIN, PHOTOGRAPHER, WRITER
I first met Tony when he was running the Capital Radio Drama Department. As a fairly successful BBC Radio playwright, I remember the joy of my first Capital play we did, the fun and inventive way Tony worked, As apposed to the fairly rigid correct way the Beeb worked. Tony always went for the best actors, unlike the BBC directors who would wince at a name you thought was right for your play, cant afford her, old boy the director would say. Tony adored actors, I always had the feeling that to Tony, Writers and the technical crew were necessary intrusions, who got in the way of the perfect play. We were somebody he could vent his waspish put downs on. But it was actors that really counted.

Tony could flatten Grown Men and women, with a simple eyebrow raise, followed by a Yesssss. Several of his regular writers were asked to write Nicola Johnson, a daily series of 10 minute episodes, there was a running joke between the writers when we changed over, we would leave the following writer a cliff hanger which they had to get the heroine out of tricky situation. I left the heroine with a mad bomber and a ticking clock, the mistake I made was to leave a message for the next writer at the end of the script. "GET OUT OF THIS ONE." Tony called me into his office and told me that he was changing the format, and he was giving me another 2 weeks of script to write, I expected "YOU, GET OF OF THIS ONE" He simply raised the eyebrow, smiled and said yesssss? Whenever I think of Tony, I just smile.