{"id":356857,"date":"2026-01-07T10:36:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T10:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/356857\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T10:36:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T10:36:13","slug":"acting-legend-sir-david-jason-reacts-to-roy-clarkes-knighthood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/356857\/","title":{"rendered":"Acting legend Sir David Jason reacts to Roy Clarke’s knighthood"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sitcom creator Roy Clarke was awarded a knighthood in the King\u2019s New Year Honours List 2026\"SirSir David Jason as Granville and the late Ronnie Barker as Albert Arkwright in Open All Hours(Image: BBC)<\/p>\n

One of TV\u2019s most prolific comedy script writers, who lives East Yorkshire, has been awarded a knighthood and it has gone down very well with his \u201cgood friend\u201d who portrayed one of his most well-known characters, Sir David Jason.<\/p>\n

Sir David has spoken about Roy Clarke, now also going under the title of Sir, who was made a Knights Bachelor for services to entertainment, in the King\u2019s New Year Honours List<\/a>. Sir Roy is probably best known for Last of the Summer Wine, Keeping Up Appearances<\/a> and Open All Hours.<\/p>\n

In the latter, Sir David<\/a> played Granville, long suffering errand boy to Ronnie Barker\u2019s character, miserly shopkeeper Albert Arkwright. Sir David said: \u201cI am absolutely delighted that my good friend Roy Clarke has recently been awarded a knighthood.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you consider all of the laughs he has provided the nation for so many years, it is an honour very well deserved and I feel very lucky to have enjoyed and delivered his scripts as Granville. Well done Sir Roy – Sir David Jason.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open All Hours ran for 26 episodes over four series, which aired in 1976, 1981, 1982 and 1985. Sir Roy also wrote the sequel, Still Open All Hours, featuring original cast members; it aired from 2013 to 2019.<\/p>\n

\"RoyRoy Clarke – now Sir Roy – speaking at Scunthorpe’s Plowright Theatre on the opening day of North Lincolnshire Council’s Performing Arts Week, in June 1999(Image: Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph)<\/p>\n

Gareth Edwards was executive producer of Still Open All Hours, for the BBC<\/a>. He said: \u201cRoy, or as I am delighted to now call him, Sir Roy, is by many measures the most successful comedy writer in British TV history, having written an astonishing number of episodes of some of our most beloved comedies, and having done so with professionalism, determination and kindness.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis warm and inventive humour has brought laughter to tens of millions of people over many decades. I am delighted to see him be honoured for the spreading of happiness and laughter into so many homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lord Birt, director-general of the BBC between 1992 and 2000 said: \u201cRoy gave us great joy and laughter for decades, and it is wonderful to see his extraordinary contribution recognised. Bravo!\u201d<\/p>\n

Sir Roy, who will be 96 on January 28, was born in South Yorkshire but has lived near Goole<\/a> for many years in the home he previously shared with his late wife, Enid Kitching. Before his writing career took off, Sir Roy had a variety of jobs, including teacher, policeman and taxi driver.<\/p>\n

His Last Of The Summer Wine became the world\u2019s longest running sitcom, while Keeping Up Appearances, with the lead role of Hyacinth Bucket (\u201cit\u2019s pronounced Bouquet\u201d) played inimitably by the late Dame Patricia Routledge, became BBC Worldwide\u2019s most exported television programme.<\/p>\n

In 2002, Sir Roy received an OBE for his contribution to British comedy and in 2010 was awarded the lifetime achievement award at the 2010 British Comedy Awards. His other writing credits include TV series The Misfit, starring Ronald Fraser; The Wanderer, starring Bryan Brown; the 1988 film Hawks; and the 1993 film A Foreign Field.<\/p>\n

Holmfirth and the wider Holme Valley, where Last of the Summer Wine was set, celebrated the news of Sir Roy\u2019s knighthood. Holme Valley Parish Council posted a statement of congratulations to Sir Roy Clarke on his \u201crichly deserved honour\u201d.<\/p>\n

It said: \u201cWith Last of the Summer Wine, Sir Roy helped bring international attention to Holmfirth and the wider Holme Valley for nearly four decades, creating a cultural legacy that continues to shape the town\u2019s identity and visitor appeal.\u201d In an interview for britishclassiccomedy.co.uk in 2014, Sir Roy cited fellow comedy writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson as his \u201cidols\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said if there were a comedy he wished he had written himself, it would have been Dad\u2019s Army. Of his own works, he did not have a personal favourite \u201cbut enjoys watching the repeats\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sitcom creator Roy Clarke was awarded a knighthood in the King\u2019s New Year Honours List 2026Sir David Jason…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356858,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[243,6491,96,57224,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-356857","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-bbc","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-goole","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}