Background
Kevin Barry Laffan was born on May 24, 1922, in Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom. He was the third kid of fourteen children of a disabled Irish photographer. In his early years, his family moved to Walsall.
Kevin Laffan
playwright scriptwriter author
Kevin Barry Laffan was born on May 24, 1922, in Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom. He was the third kid of fourteen children of a disabled Irish photographer. In his early years, his family moved to Walsall.
Kevin Laffan began his career as an actor at the age of 14. He helped found the Everyman Theatre Company in Reading in 1953, becoming its artistic director, the post he held until 1958 when he left to concentrate on his writing.
He started writing stage plays under the name Kevin Barry, including Ginger Bred (1951), The Strip-Tease Murder (1955), Winner Takes All (1956), and First Innocent (1957). As he became more successful, he reverted to his real name for his playwriting and found success with his comedy It's a Two-Foot-Six-Inches-Above-the-Ground World (1970), which he adapted into a movie in 1972. By the 1960s and 1970s, he was also building a reputation for his television writing, including the programs Bud (1963), Castle Haven (1969), and Decision to Burn (1971). Asked to write a series about a farming family, Laffan created Emmerdale Farm in 1972. He wrote for the series until 1985 when he became the show's consultant. It was renamed Emmerdale in 1989 as the show gained popularity and began to shift attention away from the farm and focus on relationships among the townspeople.
Laffan's other successful series at this time was Beryl's Lot, which aired during the 1970s. He continued writing into the 1980s - including the sitcom 1980 I Thought You'd Gone - and contributed episodes to other television series into the 1990s. Laffan's first novel, Virgins Are in Short Supply, was published in 2001. He initially titled it Pendle's Disposal and was unable to find a publisher but received two offers within a week after changing the title.
Laffan's first love was the theatre and he saw himself as a playwright at heart.
Quotations: "God alone knows why I keep trying to get a play on. I must be out of my mind, for I'm even toying with the idea of a new one! I know I'll be wasting time and effort but I can't get it out of my mind."
Physical Characteristics: The cause of Laffan's death was pneumonia.
Kevin Laffan married Jeanne Thompson in 1952. The marriage produced three sons.