29 February 2012
Posted in
TV
Richard Carpenter, a Life Member of the Writers' Guild who created Catweazle and Robin of Sherwood and wrote numerous other TV scripts for children and adults, died earlier this week.
Having started his professional life as an actor for stage an TV, Carpenter created Catweazle, a comedy-drama about an 11th century wizard transported to the present day. First broadcast in 1970, it ran for 26 episodes and became one of the best-loved children's shows of the decade.
Carpenter went on to write for children's drama series such as Black Beauty, The Ghosts of Motley Hall, Famous Five and Doctor Snuggles.
His best known show for adults was Robin of Sherwood, first broadcast in 1984, which ran for three series. His most recent screen credit was a TV adaptation of Philip Pullman's novel, I Was A Rat.
Carpenter, a one-time member of the Writers' Guild's Children's Committee, was a tireless campaigner for writers.
Lucy Daniel Raby writes:
Richard was an inspiring mentor for new writers in children's TV, books and film, always willing to listen and advise. His storytelling abilities were legendary and he was one of those rare writers who could produce a near perfect 1st draft! His humour was also legendary, and he kept us all entertained on the Children's Committee at the WGGB, at the same time keeping us all focussed. He was a tireless campaigner for children's TV and for writers' rights, and he never lost his enthusiasm or sense of fun. He will be sorely missed by all his fellow writers.
Comments
Kip mentored many young writers, including Anthony Horowitz, who paid tribute to him only months ago in the Guardian:
http://goo.gl/BdMSn
My sympathies to Richard's family and also thanks for all the great work he left us. You can never get enough Kip Carpenters in the world.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2011/jun/07/my-tv-hero-richard-carpenter
And this time, I spelled my own name right. But that's what second drafts are for.
RSS feed for comments to this post