Andrew Nickolds, the co-creator of the sublime Ed Reardon, has sadly died. Valerie Grove salutes his great comic creation
In Upstairs Room at the Inn, in the most recent series of Ed Reardon's Week, Ed was all bonhomie: he’s had ‘a good pandemic’. A writing job came his way when the author of a four-part series ‘How to slow down in lockdown’ had a heart attack after delivering part three.
Briefly homeless, Ed scored a hotel-room ‘from Rishi, everyone’s new best friend’. Getting a drink from the bar was not so simple. ‘Just buzz me an email with your order when you’ve downloaded the menu from the website,’ breezed the landlord, ‘and give yourself a password.’ ‘A tad labyrinthine?’ said Ed. ‘Yeah, that’ll do.’
After a half-hour wait for his pint, a text arrived: ‘Incorrect password.’
As the scriptwriting team of Andrew Nickolds and Christopher Douglas know, there are copious good jokes in ‘the feast/famine of the freelance writer’s life’.
