Duncan Wood

Wilfred Duncan Wood (24 March 1925 – 11 January 1997) was a British comedy producer, director and writer, who has been described as "the founding father of the British TV sitcom". His best-known achievements were to produce all of Tony Hancock's Half Hours for BBC TV during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and later, also with Hancock's former writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, the sitcom Steptoe and Son for most of its run. From 1970 to 1973, he was the BBC's Head of Comedy. He left in 1973 to become Head of Light Entertainment at Yorkshire Television and was responsible for commissioning Rising Damp.