Tribute to scriptwriter Barham

Radio 4 is to pay tribute to comedy scriptwriter Debbie Barham, who died earlier this year aged 26

Those she wrote for - including Roy Hudd, Rory Bremner, Clive Anderson, Graham Norton, Simon Hoggart and Ned Sherrin - will share their memories in Cheers Deb, to be aired next week.

Debbie - also known as DA - started selling jokes to the BBC a decade ago, while still a teenager and the show's title comes from how she invariably signed emails, her preferred form of communication.

Her death in April, from heart failure related to her anorexia, shocked those who knew her.

A Radio 4 spokesman said: " She worked in an unsung profession, which has always been dominated by men. As a young woman she was exceptional and so was her talent.

"This programme is not intended as an obituary, much less as an analysis of the condition which brought about her premature death, but as a tribute to,and celebration of, her work."

The tribute promises excerpts from her radio and television work, along with extracts from some of her journalism and her e-mails, all of which were intended to amuse the recipient.

Cheers Deb will be broadcast at 11.30am on Tuesday July 15.

Published: 9 Jul 2003