Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, who have now worked together for over 50 years, originally met in Milford TB Sanatorium in 1948 and begun writing scripts together during their long stay, their production for the hospital radio was a four part series called 'Have You Ever Wondered'. Their first work for the BBC was for comedians Derek Roy and Frankie Howerd, and they were responsible for the scripts which contributed to the tremendous success of the Tony Hancock show, Hancock's Half Hour. The Hancock series, later on BBC television as well as the radio, made the two writers famous.

After Hancock's decision to move into a film career he suggested that Galton & Simpson write for TV again while he was debating his next step, the BBC asked them to put together a series of ten half hour comedy shows under the title of Comedy Playhouse. They were eager to do this, as it meant working with different people for every show, instead of writing for one person for such a long time. The most popular and successful of these programmes was "The Offer" - featuring two down and out Rag and Bone men. This half hour production was eventually turned into the succesful TV series 'Steptoe and Son'.

In addition to their TV and Radio scripts, Ray and Alan have also written numerous screenplays for the films - The Rebel; The Bargee; The Wrong Arm of the Law; The Spy with a Cold Nose; Up the Chastity Belt; and they have adapted Joe Orton's play Loot for the big screen, as well as two Steptoe films. They have also written for the stage.

In 1999 they were given an award for comedy writing at the prestigious Comic Heritage annual Comedy Awards, and both writers were awarded OBE's in the Queen's 2000 New Year's Honours List.