British comedy writer Alan Simpson dies at 87

LONDON — Screenwriter Alan Simpson, who co-wrote the landmark British comedy series Hancock’s Half Hour and Steptoe and Son, has died at age 87.

Simpson’s agent, Tessa Le Bars, said Wednesday that he died “after a brave battle with lung disease.”

The London-born Simpson was diagnosed with life-threatening tuberculosis as a teenager. In a sanatorium, he met another sick teen, Ray Galton, who went on to become his long-term writing partner.

Galton and Simpson wrote Hancock’s Half Hour for popular post-war comedian Tony Hancock. The show started out as a radio program before moving to BBC television in 1956.

Their biggest hit was Steptoe and Son, a sitcom about father-and-son junk dealers, which debuted in 1962 and ran until 1974. Producer Norman Lear adapted it into the U.S. sitcom Sanford and Son, which ran for six seasons on NBC.