NF Simpson

“There's somebody at the door wanting you to form a government.”

I made this documentary with Andrew McGibbon and Ian Greaves a few years ago. It’s about NF Simpson, the very funny, very surreal playwright. I love his work, which had a big effect on the comedy that came after, and I was lucky enough to meet him and spend time with him. He was known as Wally by everyone who met him, a reference to Mrs Simpson of Edward VIII fame.

The documentary also features contributions from other comic geniuses – Eric Sykes, John Mortimer, Eleanor Bron – but sadly we were on a lunch break when Harold Pinter turned up and saw Wally for the first time in a half century…

NF Simpson represents everything I love in comedy; randomness, surprise, imagination - and genius.