Alan Simpson

Writing

Alan Simpson

Born 1929-11-27 · Brixton, London, England, UK

Alan Francis Simpson was an English scriptwriter. He was best known as part of the Galton and Simpson comedy writing partnership with Ray Galton.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

The Bargee poster
7.0

After a lock-keeper entrusts his daughter to a canal Casanova, he is shocked to learn that she is pregnant. He then refuses to open his locks - causing barges to pile up in every direction until the guilty party confesses.

The Bargee

1964

The Wrong Arm of the Law poster
6.7

The crooks in London know how it works. No one carries guns and no one resists the police. Then a new gang appears that go one better. They dress as police and steal from the crooks. This upsets the natural order of the police/criminal relationship and the police and the crooks join forces to catch the IPOs (Impersonating Police Officers), including an armoured car robbery in which the police must help the gangs to set a trap.

The Wrong Arm of the Law

1963

Det Bästa med Albert & Herbert poster
NR

Swedish version of the British SitCom Steptoe and Son: Starring: Sten-Åke Cederhök, Tomas von Brömssen

Det Bästa med Albert & Herbert

2005

Steptoe & Son Ride Again poster
6.8

Albert Steptoe and his son Harold are rag-and-bone men, complete with horse and cart to tour the neighbourhood. They also live amicably together at the junk yard. Always on the lookout for ways to improve his lot, Harold invests his father's life savings in a greyhound who is almost blind and can't see the hare. When the dog loses a race and Harold has to pay off the debt, he comes up with another bright idea. Collect his father's life insurance. To do this his father must pretend to be dead.

Steptoe & Son Ride Again

1973

Sommarkvetter poster
NR

Comedy with Sten-Åke Cederhök and Tomas von Brömssen at the Lisebergsteatern in Gothenburg, featuring scrap dealers Albert and Herbert, a waiter with rabbit teeth and a shack maid with an incomprehensible village dialect.

Sommarkvetter

1988

Up the Chastity Belt poster
4.1

A funny thing happened to Lurkalot, serf to Sir Coward de Custard, on the way to Custard Castle. Lurkalot sells lusty love potions and rusty chastity belts in the market place, but on this day Sir Graggart de Bombast arrives to sack the castle, and to get the lovely Lobelia Custard in the sack! Lurkalot must help Custard cream the knight in pining armour...

Up the Chastity Belt

1972

The Rebel poster
7.8

Anthony Hancock gives up his office job to become an abstract artist. He has a lot of enthusiasm, but little talent, and critics scorn his work. Nevertheless, he impresses an emerging very talented artist. Hancock proceeds to con the art world into thinking he is a genius.

The Rebel

1961

Steptoe & Son poster
6.3

Albert Steptoe and his son Harold are rag-and-bone men, complete with horse and cart to tour the neighbourhood. They also live together at the junk yard. Harold, who likes the bright lights in the West End of London, meets a stripper, marries her and takes her home. Albert is furious and tries every trick he knows to drive the new bride from his household.

Steptoe & Son

1972

The Spy with a Cold Nose poster
4.0

A dog with a spying device under its skin is sent to the Russian government as a present. When the Russians send the dog to a veterinary, British intelligence must get to the dog first and retrieve the spying device.

The Spy with a Cold Nose

1966

The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins poster
5.0

A septet of satirical vignettes based on the Seven Deadly Sins.

The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins

1971

Loot poster
5.7

Two bank robbers, Dennis and Hal, are on the run from the police after a successful heist. Needing somewhere to hide the loot, they turn to a funeral parlour where they stash the cash in Hal's recently-deceased mother's coffin. Taking the coffin, they turn to Hal's father and hide it in the bathroom of his hotel. Before long the hotel is host to the eccentric Inspector Truscott.

Loot

1970

Never Talk to Strangers poster
NR

Basil Puddifoot (played by Harry H. Corbett) has moved to London for work and meets Olive Bunclark (Rosemary Leach) in his boarding house. With the help of a miss-dialed telephone number they get to know each other in this sincere comedy from Galton and Simpson.

Never Talk to Strangers

1969

Mordet på Skolgatan 15 poster
NR

This 1983 folk comedy play from Lisebergsteatern in Gothenburg follows Albert and Herbert as they face eviction from their shabby Haga house when the neighborhood is slated for demolition, sparking both worry and resistance. At the same time, Albert receives mysterious threatening letters, and when two bumbling burglars suddenly appear, father and son face new trials.

Mordet på Skolgatan 15

1984

Hancock at the Royal Festival Hall poster
8.0

A one-off special performance by Tony Hancock of his stand-up comedy act (which rarely changed), at the Royal Festival Hall, London.

Hancock at the Royal Festival Hall

1966

Le Petomane poster
5.9

The incredibly true story of the legendary French entertainer Joseph Pujol, who performed impersonations with his self-described 'elastic anus' and a surfeit of wind.

Le Petomane

1979

No artwork available
NR

Alan Simpson's lyrical, visually lush film captures the Mummers of Symondsbury as they enact their traditional Christmas play outside their village inn.

Walk in St George

1952

No artwork available
NR

Short film shot at Stratford-upon-Avon and exploring the joy of folk dancing.

Wake Up and Dance

1950