Radio and TV comedy writer and producer Bill Dare has passed away following an accident while abroad.
Bill, who was 64, was the creator of BBC Radio 4’s Dead Ringers and produced The Now Show which ran on the station from 1998 to 2024. He was also a part of the radio production of The Mary Whitehouse Experience in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
In television, he was best-known for working on Spitting Image and the TV version of Dead Ringers.
Julia McKenzie, comedy commissioner for Radio 4, said: “I am so terribly sorry to hear this tragic news and my thoughts are with Bill’s wife, family and friends.
“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.
“Bill was a comedy obsessive, and very instinctive about making the funniest choices when it came to writing, directing and editing. He cared so much about his work that in the production booth during Dead Ringers, you’d see him crouched over the script, utterly focused on the show.
“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.
“I’ve known and worked with him for 18 years and like many I can’t believe he has gone, he will leave a big hole in the comedy world and in our hearts.”
It’s impossible to express the unreal sense of loss at the passing of the incredible Bill Dare. The wisest comedy alchemist and the dearest, dearest friend. Much love to Lucy and all Bill’s family and friends. We shall all miss him more than we can say Xx pic.twitter.com/d6eTdbSFkp
— Jon Culshaw (@jonculshaw) March 4, 2025
This is awful news. I have worked with Bill all my professional life. He was a colleague and friend. Thoughts to Lucy and his family. pic.twitter.com/D5mDlwcsan
— Nev Fountain. 🇺🇦 (@Nevfountain) March 3, 2025
“Bill’s talent for this was absolutely unique.”
Impressionist @jonculshaw remembers @BBCRadio4 Dead Ringers creator Bill Dare, who has died following an accident abroad.#R4Today pic.twitter.com/rrJhHgqhbW
— BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) March 4, 2025
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. pic.twitter.com/SmQh6JNEwZ
— David Baddiel (@Baddiel) March 4, 2025
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