[1] Ptaszynski was born in Ipswich to Władysław Ptaszyński, a Polish officer who was released from a prisoner of war camp in the Soviet Union, and Joan Holmes, his father's English teacher.
[3] He also promoted many comedians including Rowan Atkinson, Dave Allen, Rik Mayall, Victoria Wood, Eddie Izzard, The League of Gentlemen and Armstrong and Miller.
Moffat pitched an idea about a sitcom set in a school, but as the writer was talking passionately about his divorce, Ptaszynski convinced him to write about that instead.
[5][6] The show became Joking Apart won the Bronze Rose at the Montreux Television Festival in 1995.
[6] Moffat’s proposal of a school sitcom was resurrected for Ptaszynski’s next television project after the second series of Joking Apart was broadcast.