Richard Carpenter(1929-2012)

Carpenter began as an actor, having trained at the Old Vic Theatre School. Following repertory work he was first seen on screen playing character roles in television shows like Dixon of Dock Green (1955) as well as being regularly featured in Knight Errant Limited (1959) and The Citadel (1960). However, he became eventually dissatisfied with his acting career. By the end of the decade, he fulfilled a long-standing ambition and turned to writing adventure serials for imaginative young audiences. In addition, he made significant contributions to established series, such as The Adventures of Black Beauty (1972). At the centre of much of his own work are mysticism and English folklore.

Among his prolific output for ITV and BBC, he is perhaps best known for Catweazle (1970) (the story of an 11th Century wizard transported in time to the 20th Century where he is aided by a small boy), The Ghosts of Motley Hall (1976), Dick Turpin (1979) and Robin Hood (1984). 'Robin' was one of the most popular programs on British television, capturing a nationwide audience of 12-13 million viewers per episode. It still has a huge fan base to this day. From the mid 1980s, Carpenter alternated writing scripts for comedy (Out of Sight (1996)) with period adventure (The Baker Street Boys (1983), based on premises set forth in Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and The Scarlet Pimpernel (1999)). Carpenter won Writer's Guild of Great Britain Awards for both 'Catweazle' and 'Out of Sight'. His published works include novelisations of many of his most popular shows.