Carla Lane,
OBE (born
Romana Barrack, 5 August 1937) is an English television
writer responsible for many successful
sitcoms, including
The Liver Birds (1969–78),
Butterflies (1978–82), and
Bread (1986–91).
Lane is also known for her
animal rights activism, and runs an animal sanctuary, Animaline, in Horsted Keynes, West Sussex. Animal rights is a theme that has appeared in her writing; for example, the character Darwin in
Luv is a member of an animal rights group. Lane was awarded an OBE in 1989, but returned it in protest at the
CBE awarded to the managing director of
Huntingdon Life Sciences, a contract
animal testing laboratory.
Background
In the 1960s she wrote
short stories and
radio script. Her first successes came in collaboration with
Myra Taylor, whom she had met at a writers' workshop in Liverpool, before she embarked on a solo career. Carla and Myra would often meet at the Adelphi hotel in Liverpool to write.
OBE protest
Lane returned her
OBE in 2002 in protest at the award of a
CBE to
Brian Cass, managing director of
Huntingdon Life Sciences. HLS has been at the centre of numerous animal rights protests for its use of animals in the development and testing of drugs. Upon returning her award, she received a handwritten reply from
Tony Blair who said that she deserved the honour and that it would be kept in case she changed her mind and wanted it back.
In 1997, she was deceived by
Chris Morris and his satirical TV show,
Brass Eye, into taking part in a...
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