Clive Coleman

Clive Coleman

Clive was called to the Bar in 1986. His practice has covered both criminal (defence and CPS) and civil law (medical negligence, property and insolvency). His career started in spectacular fashion, when he managed to get his first client off with a mere six month prison sentence. That was for a parking offence…though, to be fair, he had just parked on top of his social worker!

Clive started to develop his writing career and in 1992, he won the prestigious BBC Radio Light Entertainment Contract Writers Award (previous winners include Angus Deayton and Rory McGrath). Clive regularly contributed to ‘Weekending’, ‘The News Huddlines’ and wrote the sit-com ‘Hair In The Gate’, starring Allistair McGowan.

Clive’s television comedy work includes: ‘Spitting Image’, ‘Smith and Jones’, and ‘Clive Anderson Talks Back’, though he is perhaps best known for ’Chambers’ his hit Radio 4 and then BBC1 sit-com about barristers, starring John Bird, James Fleet and Sarah Lancashire.

Clive won the BBC’s inaugural ‘Frank Muir Award’, for outstanding comedy writing.

Clive’s television drama work includes: ‘The Bill’ (for whom he has also acted as legal consultant on court based storylines), ‘Heartbeat’ and ‘Crossroads’.

In between writing for television and radio, Clive has also written an occasional column for ‘The Independent’ in the guise of John Fuller-Carp, the character played by John Bird in ‘Chambers’.

Clive has performed character-based sketches for Channel 5’s ‘Exclusive’ show. For the past ten years, he has regularly performed on radio with credits including co-writing and performing in Radio 4’s ‘Control Group 6’ (nominated for the 1996 Writer’s Guild Award for Best Radio Comedy), Radio Five Live’s ‘The Game’s Up’, with Allistair McGowan; and ‘You Cannot Be Serious’, with Kevin Day. Other regular guest appearances include Radio 4’s ’The Motion Show’ and ‘Loose Ends’.