Radio 4 writer Mark Tavener dies

Stephen Fry (left) and John Bird starred in Absolute Power

Mark Tavener, who wrote BBC Radio 4 satires Absolute Power and High Table, Lower Orders, has died of cancer.

Absolute Power became a BBC Two series starring Stephen Fry, and Tavener's first novel In The Red was nominated for a PG Wodehouse Prize.

Radio 4 commissioning editor Caroline Raphael said he would be "much missed".

"He had a knack of finding situations that chimed with our times and then making listeners roar with delight," she said.

"His work had everything the Radio 4 audience quite rightly demands - wit, intelligence, relevance, intriguing stories and memorable characters."

Tavener died on 18 October. Absolute Power, a satire on the public relations industry, spawned two radio series before being adapted for television.