© ITV Comedy writer Gavin Petrie dies at 83
Credits include Faith In The Future and Next Of Kin
Comedy writer Gavin Petrie has died at the age of 83.
He started out as a music and entertainment journalist – becoming features editor of the TV Times – before turning to comedy writing with his wife, Jan Etherington.
Their first comedy was Second Thoughts, which was loosely based on their relationships as two middle-aged divorcees. It aired on Radio 4 from 1988 before moving to ITV, where it ran for five series from 1991. It starred James Bolam and Lynda Bellingham as Bill and Faith, and Julia Sawalha as her daughter Hannah.
Edinburgh-born Etherington and Petrie created a spin-off for Bellingham called Faith In The Future, pictured, which co-starred Drop The Dead Donkey’s Jeff Rawle as he love interest, and Simon Pegg as Hannah’s suitor from series 2.
Other credits included Next of Kin, starring Penelope Keith and William Gaunt as self-absorbed middle-class grandparents reluctantly bringing up orphaned grandchildren, and Duck Patrol, an ensemble comedy about the Thames river police, starring Richard Wilson and David Tennant, which was a rare flop for them in 1998.
Their Radio 4 series included 2001’s The Change which starred Christopher Ellison as a transvestite and Bellingham as his wife, and The Other Man, which stared starring Julian Rhind-Tutt as a man in love with a married woman.
In later life, Petrie was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and Etherington went on to write the Radio 4 series Conversations From A Long Marriage alone, which has so far run for six series from 2018 and stars Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam.
Petrie died on November 5 but his passing has only just been reported via an obituary in the Daily Telegraph today.
Published: 18 Nov 2025
