David Croft (TV producer)

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David Croft (born David John Andrew Sharland; 7 September 1922 – 27 September 2011) was an English television writer, producer and director. He created and wrote many popular BBC sitcoms with his partners Jimmy Perry and Jeremy Lloyd, including Dad’s Army, Are You Being Served?, It Ain’t Half Hot Mum, Hi-de-Hi! and ’Allo ’Allo!

Early life
Croft came from a showbusiness family. His father was a radio actor and his mother a stage actress. He first appeared in a cinema commercial at age seven and had an uncredited film role in Goodbye, Mr Chips (1939). He grew up in Poole, Dorset, and studied at St John’s Wood and Rugby School. He joined the Royal Artillery in 1942 and served in North Africa, India and Singapore, eventually rising to the rank of Major.

Career beginnings
After World War II, Croft worked as an actor, singer and writer. He wrote pantomime scripts and children’s recordings, then moved to Tyne Tees Television in the Northeast, where he produced The One O’Clock Show and his first sitcom, Under New Management. In the mid-1960s he moved to the BBC, producing Beggar My Neighbour, A World of His Own, Further Up Pompeii! and Hugh and I.

Dad’s Army and beyond
While working on Hugh and I, Croft met Jimmy Perry. They co-wrote The Fighting Tigers, later renamed Dad’s Army, which became a long-running hit and spawned a film and stage show. Croft also began co-writing Are You Being Served? with Jeremy Lloyd. Together they created other popular series, including It Ain’t Half Hot Mum, Hi-de-Hi!, You Rang, M’Lord? and ’Allo ’Allo!. His last full series was Oh, Doctor Beeching! (1995–1997), and in 2007 he and Lloyd created Here Comes The Queen, a pilot that wasn’t continued as a series.

Personal life and death
Croft married Ann Callender in 1952; they had seven children and sixteen grandchildren. His daughter Rebecca married Croft’s Hi-de-Hi! star Simon Cadell. He was featured on This Is Your Life in 1995. He died in his sleep in Portugal in 2011 at the age of 89. His wife Ann died in 2016.

Awards
Croft was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1978 for services to television (shared with Perry). He received the BAFTA Desmond Davies Award in 1981 and the British Comedy Awards Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. He also won Writers’ Guild awards for Best Comedy Script for Dad’s Army in 1969, 1970 and 1971.