Dick Clement

Biography

Dick Clement (born in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, in 1937) is an English screenwriter, director and producer, best known for his long writing partnership with Ian La Frenais. Working across television, film and theatre, the pair became central figures in British comedy from the 1960s onwards.

Clement was educated at Bishop's Stortford College, spent a year on an exchange in the United States and then completed National Service in the Royal Air Force. He joined the BBC as a studio manager, writing scripts and sketches on the side. With La Frenais he created The Likely Lads in the mid-1960s, followed by Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? and Porridge. For the cinema they wrote Villain and The Commitments, among others, and Clement directed Water and the film version of Porridge. In the 1970s both moved to California, where they worked on American projects.

Their legacy lies in British situation comedy and in scripts that mix humour with social observation. Later series included Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and Lovejoy, and in 2017 they returned to the BBC with a new Porridge. Clement and La Frenais were both appointed OBE in 2007.

Key films

• The Commitments (1991), co-written with La Frenais and based on Roddy Doyle's novel, which earned a BAFTA for Best Adapted Screenplay.
• Vice Versa (1988), a body-swap comedy about a father and son, written and produced by the duo.
• Water (1985), directed by Clement, a political satire set on a Caribbean island.
• Never Say Never Again (1983), uncredited writing work on the unofficial James Bond film.
• Across the Universe (2007), co-written with Julie Taymor, a musical built around songs by The Beatles.
• The Bank Job (2008), a heist thriller starring Jason Statham and their most recent screenplay to date.