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Richard Carpenter (screenwriter)

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Richard Carpenter
Born(1929-08-14)14 August 1929
King's Lynn, Norfolk, England
Died26 February 2012(2012-02-26) (aged 82)
Hertfordshire, England
Occupation(s)Screenwriter, author, actor
Years active1957–2001
Spouse
Annabelle Lee
​
(m. 1954)​
Children2

Richard Michael "Kip" Carpenter (14 August 1929 – 26 February 2012)[1] was an English screenwriter, author and actor. He created a number of British television series, including Robin of Sherwood and Catweazle.

Early life

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Carpenter was born in King's Lynn, Norfolk, and educated at Downham Market Grammar School (now Downham Market Academy.[2] He attended the Old Vic Theatre School before starting an acting career by working in repertory theatre.

Career

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Carpenter appeared in occasional films, but was mostly active on British TV in the 1960s as a character actor, on one occasion opposite Tony Hancock in one of his last shows for the BBC, commonly known as "The Bowmans". Other TV shows in which he appeared in the 1960s included Z-Cars, Dixon of Dock Green, Gideon's Way, Sherlock Holmes and The Baron.

In 1969, Carpenter created Catweazle, the children's series about an unfortunate wizard from the 11th century who is accidentally transported to the present day. This changed the course of his career substantially. Carpenter earned international recognition and a Writers' Guild award for creating the cult children's TV series.[3]

During the 1970s, he wrote the series The Ghosts of Motley Hall (1976–1978), Dick Turpin (1979–1982), parts of the series The Famous Five and Doctor Snuggles, and 17 episodes of The Adventures of Black Beauty for ITV; and Cloud Burst, The Boy from Space and The King's Dragon as part of BBC's Look and Read (1967–2004) programme for schools, He presented all episodes of "Cloud Burst".

In the 1980s came the historical adventures Smuggler (TV series) and its later antipodean-based follow-up Adventurer (TV series) and between them, the lavish HTV production Robin of Sherwood, which ran for three series.

As Anthony Hayward wrote in this cited obituary:

Carpenter re-imagined the Robin Hood legend in Robin of Sherwood (1984–86). Mysticism was one of its distinctive ingredients, reflecting a renewed interest in paganism, as well as the concerns of the growing environmental movement and – through the idealism of the hero.

Carpenter then worked on a number of series for children and families in the 1990s (The Winjin' Pom, Stanley's Dragon and Out of Sight), some of which (The Borrowers, The Return of the Borrowers and The Scarlet Pimpernel) were based on classic novels.

Carpenter wrote novelisations of many of the early series he created: Catweazle, Cloud Burst, The Ghosts of Motley Hall, Smuggler, Robin of Sherwood (two books) and two books of Dick Turpin.

Personal life

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Carpenter married Annabelle Lee in 1954. They lived in Ayot Bury, Ayot St Peter near Welwyn in Hertfordshire, had two children and remained married until his death.

Death

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On 26 February 2012, at the age of 82, Carpenter died in Hertfordshire from a pulmonary embolism.[4][5][6]

Filmography

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References

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  1. ^ Anthony Hayward "Richard Carpenter obituary", The Guardian, 5 March 2012
  2. ^ Alistair McGown Carpenter, Richard (1929–2012), BFI screenonline page
  3. ^ Minovitz, Ethan (3 March 2012). ""Dr. Snuggles" Writer Richard Carpenter Dies at 78". Big Cartoon News. Archived from the original on 1 December 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
  4. ^ Abbie Bernstein "In Memoriam: ROBIN OF SHERWOOD creator Richard Carpenter passes at age 78", AssignmentX, 27 February 2012
  5. ^ Alex Farber "Catweazle creator Richard Carpenter dies", Broadcast, 29 February 2012
  6. ^ "Richard Carpenter, creator of Catweazle, dies aged 78". BBC News. 1 March 2012. Retrieved 2 March 2012.

Bibliography

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Works by Richard Carpenter in English

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Novelisations of Carpenter's work by other authors

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by Anthony Horowitz (Corgi Books, 1987) ISBN 0552524492

Works by Richard Carpenter in translation

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  • Catweazle, de Tovernaar van Saburac (transl. into Dutch of Catweazle), illustrated by George Adamson (Amsterdam: van Holkema & Warendorf, 1971) ISBN 9026919093
  • Catweazle, de Tekens van de Dierenriem (transl. into Dutch of Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac), illustrated by George Adamson (Amsterdam: van Holkema & Warendorf, 1971) ISBN 9026919107
  • Kaksnoukka ja Porkkana (transl. by Marikki Makkonen into Finnish of Catweazle), illustrated by George Adamson (WSOY [Werner Söderström Corporation], 1974), Nuorten toivekirjasto 215 ISBN 9510063878
  • Kaksnoukka ja Taivaan Merkit (transl. by Marikki Makkonen into Finnish of Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac), illustrated by George Adamson (WSOY), Nuorten toivekirjasto 228
  • Catweazle (transl. into German by Sybil Gräfin Schönfeldt of Catweazle), illustrated by George Adamson (Ravensburger, 1973) RTB 39262
  • Catweazle sucht die magische Zeichen (transl. into German by Sybil Gräfin Schönfeldt of Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac), illustrated by George Adamson (Ravensburger, 1974) RTB 39330 ISBN 3473393304
  • Catweazle (transl. into German by Sybil Gräfin Schönfeldt of Catweazle), illustrated by Carsten Teich (Ravensburger)
  • Catweazle sucht die magische Zeichen (transl. into German by Sybil Gräfin Schönfeldt of Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac), illustrated by Carsten Teich (Ravensburger, 2006) ISBN 347352302X
  • Den Merkelige Mannen (transl. into Norwegian Bokmål by Fredrik Chr. Brøgger of Catweazle), illustrated by George Adamson (Oslo: Cappelin, 1971)
  • Mathilde Cachebidon, super-robot (Doctor Snuggles) (transl. into French by Philippe Mikriammos) (Hachette, 1981) ISBN 201007923X
  • La Grande course en ballon (Doctor Snuggles) (transl. into French by Philippe Mikriammos) (Hachette, 1981) ISBN 2010079248
  • Les aventures de Dick le rebelle (transl. by Odile Ricklin), (Paris: G.P., 1981) ISBN 2-261-00947-X
  • Turpin et feu follet (transl. by Odile Ricklin), (Paris: G.P., 1981) ISBN 2-261-00948-8
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