Forum for former BBC staff

Forum for former BBC staff
http://www.ex-bbc.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl >> Notices, obituaries and tributes >> Ray Butt http://www.ex-bbc.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1374014454 Message started by Administrator on Jul 16^th, 2013, 10:41pm

Title: Ray Butt
Post by Administrator on Jul 16^th, 2013, 10:41pm

Ray Butt, the original producer of one of the country's favourite sit-coms "Only Fools And Horses" has died aged 78.

"The Daily Telegraph" has an obituary here.

"He went on to direct many other BBC shows including Are You Being Served? (1972); Last Of The Summer Wine (1973); It Ain’t Half Hot Mum (1974); Citizen Smith (1977); and Hilary (1984)."

Steve Clark has a tribute here.

Susan Blebin says -
"Ray's funeral will take place on Monday the 29th. July at 1p.m. in The Church, Ashbocking, Suffolk.
Ray passed away on Friday the 12th. July"

(Thanks to the Tech-ops forum for the information.)

Title: Re: Ray Butt
Post by Administrator on Jul 17^th, 2013, 3:31pm

BBC News "Entertainment" has a tribute here.

"John Challis who played Boycie in Only Fools and Horses has paid tribute to Butt, calling him the man who put him "on the ladder".

Butt was "a chippy little diamond geezer" who got on with everyone and had a "dogged determination to time the laughs exactly right!," he added.

Challis recalled one of Butt's most memorable lines to him was during the early days of filming when he told him: "You may not be the best actor we've got, but you're certainly the cheapest!""

"Only Fools And Horses" one of Britain's favourite TV sit-coms, one episode was watched by over a third of the UK population, 24 million viewers..

Title: Re: Ray Butt
Post by Administrator on Jul 19^th, 2013, 10:52pm

"The Independent" has a tribute by Simon Farquhar here.

" A smart and meticulous comedy maker with a common touch, Ray Butt was absolutely the right man to orchestrate Only Fools and Horses, voted Britain's Best Sitcom in a nationwide poll in 2004.

He graduated from repairing cameras to operating them, working on shows such as Till Death Us Do Part and Dixon of Dock Green, and was a production assistant on Porridge before Sydney Lotterby offered him his first directing job, on a Spike Milligan Christmas offering, The Last Turkey in the Shop Show (1974)."

Title: Re: Ray Butt
Post by HMG on Jul 20^th, 2013, 7:47am

My biggest memory of Ray, other than his work, was back in the 70's when shooting The Liver Birds in Liverpool. We had finished shooting at 4 pm and we had Sunday off
I jumped into a car and was is my local at Chalfont St Giles at 8pm and the landlord says here's a pint from the guy over there. I looked up and there was Ray. He came across and said "Why didn't you tell me you were doing a "FLYER" and we could have shared the petrol"