Final Years
In 2006, Harry Enfield was told by BBC Head of Programmes Peter Fincham that he was too old to produce another comedy sketch series. Enfield approached Perkins with his ideas, which Perkins helped Enfield develop into the first series of Harry and Paul, starring Enfield and Paul Whitehouse.
Perkins died from injuries after an accident involving a lorry in Marylebone High Street, London, on 29 August 2008. A coroners' inquest in April 2009 revealed that Perkins had suffered from an undiagnosed case of channelopathies, which caused his heart to stop suddenly. The inquest ruled that Perkins had likely already died when he fell under the wheels of the lorry. The coroner recorded that he died from "natural causes".
On 5 September 2008 Perkins' last production for the BBC and Tiger Aspect - the second series of Harry and Paul - was aired. The first show was dedicated to his memory. In place of the usual closing credits, the show featured a short tribute to him and concluded with an out-take of Perkins forgetting his lines in a sketch absent from the transmitted series.
On 8 November 2008, BBC Two aired an evening of programmes in tribute to Perkins, comprising episodes of The Catherine Tate Show, Father Ted (a Channel 4 programme which the BBC was given special permission to broadcast as part of the tribute) and The Fast Show, together with a special edition of Comedy Connections about Perkins' career in comedy.
He was posthumously awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Comedy award at the British Comedy Awards on 6 December 2008.
The recipients of both the BAFTAs awarded on 27 April 2009 to Harry and Paul for Best Comedy Programme and to The IT Crowd for Best Situation Comedy dedicated their awards to Perkins.
Read more about this topic: Geoffrey Perkins
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