Laurence Marks is a British sitcom writer and one half of writing duo Marks & Gran, his collaborator being Maurice Gran

Maurice Gran

Maurice Bernard Gran is one half of writing duo Marks & Gran. He co-wrote popular sitcoms The New Statesman, Birds of a Feather and Goodnight Sweetheart with Laurence Marks. He is also the co-author of Prudence at Number 10, a fictional diary supposedly written by Gordon Brown's P.A.-External links:...

.

Prior to becoming a sitcom writer he was a reporter for a local weekly paper, the Tottenham Weekly Herald and, according to information he provided to Who's Who, he was also briefly a freelance writer for The Sunday Times

The Sunday Times

The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...

 in the late 1970s. Following a chance encounter with comedy writer Barry Took

Barry Took

Barry Took was an English comedian, writer and television presenter. He is best remembered in the UK for his weekly role as presenter of Points of View, a BBC TV programme in which viewers' letters criticising or praising the BBC were broadcast...

, he and childhood friend Maurice Gran

Maurice Gran

Maurice Bernard Gran is one half of writing duo Marks & Gran. He co-wrote popular sitcoms The New Statesman, Birds of a Feather and Goodnight Sweetheart with Laurence Marks. He is also the co-author of Prudence at Number 10, a fictional diary supposedly written by Gordon Brown's P.A.-External links:...

 got an opportunity to write a radio show for comedian Frankie Howerd

Frankie Howerd

Francis Alick "Frankie" Howerd OBE was an English comedian and comic actor whose career, described by fellow comedian Barry Cryer as "a series of comebacks", spanned six decades.-Early career:...

, which led to their becoming full time comedy writers.

Marks subsequently wrote with Gran the TV comedy-drama Shine on Harvey Moon

Shine on Harvey Moon

Shine on Harvey Moon is a British television series made by Central Television for ITV from 8 January 1982 to 23 August 1985 and briefly revived in 1995 by Meridian....

(1982–85, 1995) and the popular sitcoms

British sitcom

A British sitcom tends, as it does in most other countries, to be based on a family, workplace or other institution, where the same group of contrasting characters is brought together in each episode. Unlike American sitcoms, where twenty or more episodes in a season is the norm, British sitcoms...

, The New Statesman

The New Statesman

The New Statesman is an award-winning British sitcom of the late 1980s and early 1990s satirising the Conservative government of the time...

(1987–92), Birds of a Feather

Birds of a Feather

Birds of a Feather was a British sitcom that was broadcast on BBC1 from 1989 until 1998. Starring Pauline Quirke, Linda Robson and Lesley Joseph, it was created by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, who also wrote some of the episodes along with many other writers.The first episode sees sisters...

(1989–98) and Goodnight Sweetheart

Goodnight Sweetheart

Goodnight Sweetheart is a sitcom that ran for six series on BBC1 from 1993 to 1999. It stars Nicholas Lyndhurst as Gary Sparrow, an accidental time traveller who leads a double life after discovering a time portal allowing him to travel between the London of the 1990s and the same area during the...

(1993–99).