The day Steve met Ronnie (From Gazette Series)

The day Steve met Ronnie

COMEDY fans were mourning this week with the news that Ronnie Barker had died, age 76.

He was one of the most-loved and respected comedy performers of his generation, best known as one half of double act the Two Ronnies, with Ronnie Corbett, and as Fletch in the prison comedy, Porridge.

As tributes for the actor poured in after his death on Tuesday, Gazette photographer Steve Richards, 47, recalled the time the Two Ronnies visited the district in 1980 to film an episode of their running sketch, The Worm Turned, for their series.

He said: "They were filming in Dursley, Berkeley and Thornbury. The story was that women had taken over the world and they were two men on the run dressed as two women.

"There was an army of PVC-clad women marching up and down Parsonage Street, which I am sure a lot of people will remember.

"They were filming at Berkeley Castle and I was sent down to do a picture of them while they were there. They were filming by the stream close to the kennels. I was on one side and they were on the other.

"The two of them were heckling me as I was taking the picture.

"They were telling me how to take the picture and where I should stand - it was all very jovial. They were very pleasant and having a joke.

"They were really helpful because they were in the middle of filming. I was quite young then and it was during my first year as a photographer.

"What they were filming was used through their Two Ronnies series - every week they would show a new part of the play."