Editing Alan Bennett (section)

=== Early career ===
In August 1960, Bennett – along with [[Dudley Moore]], [[Jonathan Miller]] and [[Peter Cook]] – gained fame after an appearance at the [[Edinburgh Festival]] in the satirical revue ''[[Beyond the Fringe]]'', with the show continuing in London and New York. He also appeared in ''[[My Father Knew Lloyd George (TV programme)|My Father Knew Lloyd George]]''. His television comedy sketch series ''[[On the Margin]]'' (1966) was erased; the [[BBC]] re-used expensive videotape rather than keep it in the archives. However, in 2014 it was announced that audio copies of the entire series had been found.<ref>{{cite news |title = Alan Bennett's lost series On The Margin is recovered|date=17 March 2014 | website = [[BBC News Online]] | url = https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-26609104}}</ref>

Bennett's first stage play, ''[[Forty Years On (play)|Forty Years On]],'' directed by [[Patrick Garland]] and starring [[John Gielgud]], was produced in 1968. His second play, ''[[Getting On (play)|Getting On]]'', also directed by Garland and starring [[Kenneth More]], opened in 1971. Many television, stage and radio plays followed, with screenplays, short stories, novellas, a large body of non-fictional prose, and broadcasting and many appearances as an actor.

Despite a long history with both the [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre]] and the BBC, Bennett never writes on commission, saying "I don't work on commission, I just do it [[Spec script|on spec]]. If people don't want it then it's too bad."<ref>{{cite web  | last = Seale | first = Jack |url=https://www.radiotimes.com/news/2014-09-27/heres-one-i-wrote-earlier-alan-bennett-on-denmark-hill |title=Here's one I wrote earlier: Alan Bennett on Denmark Hill |website=[[Radio Times]] |access-date = 3 February 2020 | date = 27 September 2014}}</ref>

Bennett's many works for television include his first play for the medium, ''A Day Out'' in 1972,  ''A Little Outing'' in 1977, ''Intensive Care'' in 1982, ''An Englishman Abroad'' in 1983, and ''[[A Question of Attribution]]'' in 1991.<ref name="screenonline">{{Cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/504794/credits.html|title=Bennett, Alan (1934– ): Film and TV Credits {{!}} Screenonline|website=www.screenonline.org.uk|language=en|access-date=28 May 2023}}</ref> But perhaps his most famous screen work is the 1988 ''[[Talking Heads (British TV series)|Talking Heads]]'' series of monologues for television which were later performed at the [[Comedy Theatre]] in London in 1992. A second set of six ''Talking Heads'' followed a decade later.