Jack Rosenthal, CBE (8 September 1931 - 29 May 2004) , was an English playwright, who wrote 129 early episodes of the ITV soap opera Coronation Street and over 150 screenplays, including original TV plays, feature films, and adaptations.
He was born in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, and after studying English Literature at Sheffield University and carrying out his National Service in the Royal Navy he worked briefly in advertising before joining Granada Television and becoming a regular writer for the groundbreaking soap Coronation Street. During the 1960s, he wrote material for various television comedy shows including the satirical That Was The Week That Was. At Granada Television, he wrote a spin off series from Coronation Street for the character, Leonard Swindley, played by Arthur Lowe called Pardon the Expression and created the comedy series The Dustbinmen and The Lovers (TV series) starring Richard Beckinsale. In1976 he also wrote a TV drama for ITV, called Ready When You Are, Mr McGill, which was later remade in 2003.
Rosenthal won three BAFTA awards for Bar Mitzvah Boy (about a Jewish boy's Bar Mitzvah), The Evacuees (based in his own war-time evacuation) and Spend, Spend, Spend (about a football pools winner, Viv Nicholson). He also wrote The Knowledge, a film about London taxi-drivers which has become a classic for cabbies-in-training. He created London's Burning as a one-off drama in 1986, and this later developed into a long-running TV drama.
In 1983, Rosenthal co-wrote the film Yentl with Barbra Streisand. He also did uncredited work on the screenplay of Chicken Run.
Rosenthal also wrote the book for the musical version of Bar Mitzvah Boy, with music by Jule Styne.
He married actress Maureen Lipman in 1974, and they have two grown-up children, writers Amy and Adam Rosenthal.
Rosenthal was awarded the CBE in 1994.
He died on 29 May 2004, following a long battle against multiple myeloma, a form of cancer.
His autobiography, By Jack Rosenthal was published posthumously and a four-part adaptation by his daughter, titled Jack Rosenthal's Last Act was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2006 starring Maureen Lipman as herself and Stephen Mangan as Jack Rosenthal.