Harold Edward Snoad (28 August 1935 – 2 June 2024) was a British television producer, writer and director. He was best known for the television sitcom Keeping Up Appearances, starring Patricia Routledge and Clive Swift. He was also well known for having directed and produced Ever Decreasing Circles starring Richard Briers and Peter Egan, as well as Don't Wait Up starring Tony Britton and Nigel Havers.
Snoad also had a successful writing career with his writing partner Michael Knowles, writing the Dad's Army radio spinoff, It Sticks Out Half a Mile which evolved into the short-lived television series for ITV called High & Dry.
Directing and producing career
Harold Snoad joined the BBC in 1957, after having worked in the theatre and had numerous roles, including as a "call boy" for an episode of Hancock's Half Hour in 1960. Snoad soon gained promotion, becoming a producer and director in 1969. At the time, he was one of the youngest directors work in television. His first directing role came with Dad's Army starring Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier and Clive Dunn. Snoad had already served as production assistant for the first two series and was responsible for choosing the town of Thetford in Norfolk as the site for the location filming. The first episode to be directed by Snoad was The Lion Has Phones, which was first broadcast on 25 September 1969 and attracted 11.3 million viewers. In 1973, Snoad directed the sitcom Casanova '73 starring Leslie Phillips, but the series was not a success and received criticism from Mary Whitehouse. Snoad later went on to say of the series that he felt that if it had been aired five years later then it would "probably have been better received". In 1974, he went on to work on series two of Are You Being Served?. Later that year, Snoad began to work on The Dick Emery Show, the show was already in its twelfth series by then and he would continue to direct and produce the show until its end in 1981. In 1976, Snoad directed with Ray Cooney his first feature film Not Now, Comrade which starred Leslie Phillips, Windsor Davies, Don Estelle and Ian Lavender.
In the 1980s, Snoad worked on all six series of Don't Wait Up, starring Tony Britton, Nigel Havers and Dinah Sheridan, which ran from 1983 to 1990. In 2009, Snoad recalled a joke that the cast played on him while he was having dinner with Patricia Routledge, he said: "Tony Britton - who, by his own admission, did not always arrive at rehearsals dead on time - stopped and knelt down in front of me and asked whether I would be kind enough to allow him another forty-eight hours to complete the five hundred lines I had given him for being late the previous morning! Tony moved on and was replaced by Nigel Havers and Dinah Sheridan who begged forgiveness for chatting during rehearsals. Simon Williams apologised for mucking up one of his lines that morning. One by one the whole cast generally 'bowed and scraped'. As the last member moved on Patricia turned to me and said, 'They obviously adore you!'" Snoad then went on to direct and produce the final two series of Ever Decreasing Circles after the show previous director, Sydney Lotterby, was replaced due to not giving enough direction to the leading actors. The series starred Richard Briers, Penelope Wilton and Peter Egan. The series attracted 12 million views, and Snoad uses the fourth series as a case study for his 1988 book Directing Situation Comedy. While working on the show, Peter Egan observed that Snoad had a very different technique to Lotterby saying that while Lotterby was an introvert, Snoad was an extrovert. In 1988, Snoad directed and produced the television film Wife begins at 40, for this Snoad again worked with Ray Cooney, who he had worked with in Not Now, Comrade. In 1990 he began work on the series that he is perhaps best known, Keeping Up Appearances. The programme ran for five series with 44 episodes, it was ranked 12th in the 2004 poll in Britain's Best Sitcom. By February 2016, the show had been sold almost 1,000 times to overseas broadcaster making it the BBC's most exported television programme.
After 38 years of working with the BBC, Snoad returned to the theatre and in 2009 directed the stage play Say Who You Are. Later that year, he published his second book It's Bouquet - Not Bucket!, in which he tells the behind-the-scenes story of the series. In the book he states that "My intention in writing this book is ... to provide the millions of fans of Keeping Up Appearances with a 'companion' to the series". He gave a number of talks on cruise liners, mainly on the Queen Elizabeth 2, on the subject of television comedy.
Awards
Throughout his career, Snoad received a number of awards. In 1987 and 1988, he was nominated for a BAFTA for his work on Ever Decreasing Circles.
!Year
!Title
!Notes
|-
|1969–1970
|Dad's Army
|Seven episodes
|-
|1969
|Oh, Brother!
|Three episodes
|-
|1972
|Idle at Work
|One episode
|-
|1972
|His Lordship Entertains
|
|-
|1972
|Them
|Five episodes
|-
|1973
|Seven of One
|Three episodes
|-
|1973
|Elementary, My Dear Watson
|One episode
|-
|1973
|Home from Home
|One episode
|-
|1973
|Casanova '73
|
|-
|1974
|Are You Being Served?
|Five episodes
|-
|1974
|French Relish
|One episode
|-
|1974–1981
|The Dick Emery Show
|52 episodes
|-
|1975
|The Rough with the Smooth
|
|-
|1976
|Not Now, Comrade
|Film
|-
|1977
|No Appointment Necessary
|Two episodes
|-
|1978–1980
|Rings on Their Fingers
|
|-
|1981
|Partners
|Six episodes
|-
|1982
|Legacy of Murder
|
|-
|1982
|The Further Adventures of Lucky Jim
|
|-
|1983
|Tears Before Bedtime
|One episode
|-
|1983–1990
|Don't Wait Up
|
|-
|1984
|Hilary
|Six episodes
|-
|1985
|The Gender Gap
|One episode
|-
|1985
|Walking the Planks
|One episode
|-
|1985
|Barnet
|One episode
|-
|1986–1989
|Ever Decreasing Circles
|14 episodes
|-
|1987
|Divided We Stand
|
|-
|1988
|Wife Begins at 40
|
|-
|1988–1989
|Brush Strokes
|Series 3 (six episodes)
|-
|1990–1995
|Keeping Up Appearances
|
|-
|1992
|Don't Tell Father
|
|-
|1994
|All Night Long
|
|-
|2016
|Dad's Army
|Animated episode: "A Stripe for Frazer"
|-
|2023
|Dad's Army: The Animations
|Animated episode: "A Stripe for Frazer"
|}
Writing credits
Unless otherwise stated, all are co-written with Michael Knowles.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Sources:
! Year !! Title !! Notes
|-
| 1970 || "Put That Light Out!" || Series 4, Episode 7 of the television series Dad's Army. Episode was based on an idea by Harold Snoad, but written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft
|-
| 1974–1976 || Dad's Army || Radio adaptation of the TV series.
|-
| 1978 || Share and Share Alike || BBC Radio 4 sitcom.
|-
| 1983–1984 || It Sticks Out Half a Mile || Radio sequel series to Dad's Army.
|-
| 1985 || Walking the Planks || Television adaptation of It Sticks Out Half a Mile.
|-
| 1987 || High & Dry || Television adaptation of It Sticks Out Half a Mile, written under the pseudonym Alan Sherwood.
|-
| 1989 || Just His Luck || An untransmitted television pilot, co-written with Ivor Burgoyne.
|}
Guest appearances
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Sources:
Views on studio audience
Snoad was always a great supporter of the studio audience, saying that "when you watch comedy in a theatre or a cinema you are with other people and laughter is infectious. However, at home there could well just be a couple of you watching or you may even be alone and the genuine reaction of a studio audience (not a laughter track!) can really enhance the viewers' enjoyment."