Name Richard Spendlove | TV shows Oh, Doctor Beeching! | |
Role Television Program Creator Similar People David Croft, Jeffrey Holland, Barbara New, Su Pollard, Paul Shane | ||
Richard Spendlove MBE (born Carlton, Nottinghamshire 16 June 1939) is a British radio producer/presenter and television writer.
Life and work
Richard Spendlove worked for the former British Railways for 35 years, and in 1963 was appointed Relief Station Master at Cambridge, becoming one of the youngest men to hold such a post. He retired from the railways in 1989 at the age of 50, the earliest age at which his pension was available, He had been working for the BBC ever since. His radio show was broadcast from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturdays on a number of the BBC's regional radio stations, including Radio Norfolk, Radio Suffolk, Radio Essex, BBC Three Counties (Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire), Radio Cambridgeshire, Radio Northampton and Radio Kent. It began on 18 March 1989 and was believed to be the longest continually running phone-in show on UK radio. Spendlove was awarded the MBE "For Services to Regional and Local Radio Broadcasting" in June 2000. Richard presented his final Saturday night programme on Saturday 6 May 2017,After He was guilty of “serious failings” for using his programme to campaign on behalf of a Royal Marine convicted of murdering a Taliban fighter. He then still continued to present on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire on Thursday and Friday Afternoons with Christopher South until Friday 16 June 2017 (Richard's 78th Birthday).
In collaboration with David Croft Spendlove also created, wrote several episodes for, and acted in the BBC TV comedy series Oh, Doctor Beeching!, which ran from 1995 to 1997. He played the district inspector, Mr Orkindale.