Carla Lane

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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