Veteran Media Executive And Producer Beryl Vertue , Dies Aged 90
TV producer Beryl Vertue, whose company created the series Men Behaving Badly and Sherlock, has died aged 90.
The media executive, who rose to the top of the industry after starting as a secretary, “passed away peacefully” on Saturday, her family said.
Industry colleagues called her one of the most influential women in British TV.
Daughters Sue and Debbie, producers at the company their mother founded, said: “She meant so much to so many.”
Vertue’s career began when she was asked by the writers of Steptoe and Son, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, to type up their scripts.
In the mid-1950s, she began representing figures such as sitcom scriptwriter Johnny Speight and comedian Frankie Howerd, in effect becoming a talent agent.
She also had success selling shows such as Till Death Us Do Part and Steptoe and Son to the US market.
In 1979, she founded Hartswood films, producing a series of shows including the 1990s sitcom Men Behaving Badly, which starred Martin Clunes, Neil Morrissey, Leslie Ash and Caroline Quentin.
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Her company was also behind the critically acclaimed drama Sherlock starring Benedict Cumberbatch, produced by Vertue and her daughter Sue, who is married to the series co-creator Steven Moffat.
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Sue and Debbie said in a statement that their mother had remained sharp until the end of her life, continuing to grill her daughters about work in her final days.
Source: BBC News