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TV producer and comedy writer Bill Dare has died after an accident abroad, his agent said in a statement.
Dare was responsible for eight seasons of the satirical puppet show Spitting Image and created Dead Ringers, a comedy impressions show first broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
Spitting Image, which ran on ITV from 1984 to 1996, featured puppet caricatures of celebrities and politicians, including Margaret Thatcher, John Major and the British royal family. It became one of the most watched TV shows of the Eighties, and won a BAFTA award in 1990.
Dare also produced The Now Show, a satirical current affairs programme on Radio 4 from 1998 to 2024.
His agent announced that he died at the weekend. No further details have been given about the accident.
JFL Agency said: “We are shocked and greatly saddened to have to announce the death of our brilliant client Bill Dare, who died at the weekend following an accident overseas.
“Our thoughts are with his wife Lucy, daughter Rebecca, and with all of Bill’s family and friends who will be devastated by his loss. Bill was a truly legendary producer and writer, and his comedy instincts were second to none.”
Colleagues from across the TV and radio industries have been paying tribute to Dare.
Comedian and impressionist Jon Culshaw, who starred in Dead Ringers, remembered Dare as the “the wisest comedy alchemist and the dearest, dearest friend”.
“It’s impossible to express the unreal sense of loss at the passing of the incredible Bill Dare,” he said. “Much love to Lucy and all Bill’s family and friends. We shall all miss him more than we can say.”
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Julia McKenzie, comedy commissioner for Radio 4, said: “Bill has been a huge part of Radio 4 comedy for decades, as a writer and producer, and listeners will have heard his legendary name at the end of many of their favourite shows.”
McKenzie said Dare was a comedy obsessive, and “very instinctive about making the funniest choices when it came to writing, directing and editing”.
“He was funny and very dry in person, amusingly cynical when he needed to be and always pushed to keep the comedy he made, and particularly satire, spiky.”
Comedian David Baddiel added: “Just heard that the original producer of The Mary Whitehouse Experience on radio, Bill Dare, has died. Bill was an amazing creative force. I owe him much. RIP.”
Richard Morris, creative director of comedy and entertainment at BBC Studios Audio, said: “Bill was a legendary figure in the comedy world and we, his friends and colleagues in radio will miss him hugely.”
Have I Got News for You writer Pete Sinclair said he was “utterly devastated” by the news of Dare’s death, remembering him as a “comedy genius” and “hugely talented writer as well as a brilliant producer”.
“I cannot begin to say how much I’ll miss him,” Sinclair added.
