John Kane

John Kane is an accomplished British actor and writer. An associate actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Kane played Puck in Peter Brook's acclaimed production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, alongside Ben Kingsley, Alan Howard and Frances de la Tour, before turning to comedy script writing. He began writing for Terry Scott's sketch show Scott On, before taking over the reins on a project for Terry Scott and comic actress June Whitfield, which began as Happy Ever After and later turned into the longer-running series Terry and June, for which he wrote the entire first series and much of the subsequent run. His TV acting credits include Tommy in the 1974 Doctor Who serial Planet of the Spiders.

Kane also created sitcoms Me and My Girl (1984–88) with Richard O'Sullivan and Tim Brooke-Taylor, All in Good Faith (1985–88) with Richard Briers and Aztec drama The Feathered Serpent (1976–78). He also wrote for, among others, Never the Twain, Smuggler, and Rings on Their Fingers, and he wrote the "Six Napoleons" episode of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, with Jeremy Brett in the title role.

Turning to the stage, Kane wrote the RSC's adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, the West End Cole Porter tribute A Swell Party and the words and music in 2005 for The Canterville Ghost at the Southwark Playhouse. He also wrote the television film The Vamp starring Shelley Winters, children's cartoon Britt Allcroft's Magic Adventures of Mumfie, and won a CableACE Award for his screenplay Daisies in December, starring Joss Ackland. He collaborated with composer David Bass on a children's opera Kids Court, which was premiered in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2007 by the North Cambridge Family Opera Company. He continues to write and act on both stage and screen.