Ronald Wolfe

Ronald Wolfe, who has died in London aged 89, formed a scriptwriting partnership with Ronald Chesney (at the BBC they were known as "the other two Ronnies") that began in 1958 when they wrote for the radio comedy Educating Archie. He went on to write television sitcoms including The Rag Trade and On The Buses.

He had worked on the shop floor and maintained it was an excellent experience. "Writers who come from orthodox middle-class backgrounds," he once commented, "can't write Rag Trade-type shows. They just don't know what makes the man in the street laugh."

Harvey Ronald Wolfe-Luberoff –shortened to Wolfe and known as Ronnie – was brought up in Stoke Newington and worked as a radio engineer with Marconi in Southend. He offered scripts to the BBC in the mid-1950s which were often used by the comedienne Beryl Reid in Educating Archie. When the original writer (Eric Sykes) left the show Wolfe became head writer and the partnership with Chesney began.

Educating Archie was a hit show starring the ventriloquist Peter Brough and his puppet, the ever naughty schoolboy Archie Andrews. The programme attracted an audience of over 15 million and the cast reflected the show's acclaim: Tony Hancock was Archie's tutor and other future stars included Benny Hill, Harry Secombe, Bruce Forsyth and a very young Julie Andrews as Archie's girlfriend.

Their first television sitcom, The Rag Trade (1961-63), has found a place in sitcom history.

The show featured mostly strong female characters and introduced industrial relations as its central theme. Miriam Karlin was the chain-smoking harridan who blew her whistle and shouted, "Everybody out."

Wolfe cleverly merged the atmosphere of industrial strife with humour and the programme won large audiences. It had a stellar cast with Karlin, Peter Jones, Sheila Hancock, Barbara Windsor and Reg Varney.

Wolfe and his partner wrote prolifically throughout the decade and brought such successful shows as Meet the Wife (with Thora Hird), Take a Letter Mr Jones (with John Inman) and most famously On The Buses to the small screen.

The last took on cult status and, despite being panned by the critics, was a major hit for the ITV networks (1975-80).

The cast was led by Varney, Doris Hare and Bob Grant. Wolfe gave the show the memorable line: "I'll get you, Butler", delivered by a harassed Inspector Blakey (Stephen Lewis) and shouted at the driver (Varney).

There followed three feature length films. The first (On the Buses) was the highest-earning British film of 1971, beating Diamonds Are Forever.

In all the episodes of On The Buses he brought a down-to-earth humour that reflected the basic camaraderie of the bus depot.

There was never any bad language and the male characters may have gleefully ogled the women passengers but there was never offence and the show remained delightfully brash and brazen.

In 1977 Wolfe returned to write for a revival of The Rag Trade. The show did not have the bite and verve of old and was not revived.

The last script he wrote was for an episode of 'Allo 'Allo in 1989. In retirement he regularly lectured to media studies students.

He married Rose Krieger in 1953 and they had two daughters. He is survived by Rose and their daughters.