Robin Chapman obit

Author Robin Chapman Has Died 

He was not on the list.

Chapman was born in Croydon, Surrey. He was educated at Selhurst Grammar School (later Selhurst High School) and Christ's College, Cambridge, where he read English. He began his career as an actor at Cambridge, playing Hamlet in the ADC's centenary production and assuming the presidency of the Marlowe Society, before acting at Stratford-upon-Avon and working in repertory. He then joined Joan Littlewood's revolutionary Theatre Workshop, where he turned to writing.

Among Chapman's stage plays are High Street China, Guests and One of Us.

He enjoyed a long career in television, favoured by Granada TV during its early days. His best-known work includes Spindoe (1968), the controversial Big Breadwinner Hog (1969), and many adaptations, including M. R. James' Lost Hearts, Jane Eyre, Eyeless in Gaza, and a considerable number of screenplays based on Roald Dahl's short stories for Tales of the Unexpected. In 1973 he scripted the six-episode BBC television drama series A Picture of Katherine Mansfield, and in 1976 he adapted two Graham Greene short stories, "Dream of a Strange Land" and "Under the Garden", for episodes of Shades of Greene presented by Thames Television. Chapman's single plays for television include Blunt: The Fourth Man (1987) and two editions of Play for Today, all three presented by BBC TV.

His television plays have won awards from the Mystery Writers of America and the Writers Guild, as well as a BAFTA nomination.

Chapman edited, with an introduction, The City and the Court, a collection of five Jacobean-era comedies.

 

His film screenplays include:

 

Keep the Aspidistra Flying (TV movie, 1965)

The Triple Echo (1972) [3]

Lost Hearts (TV movie, 1973)

Haunted: Poor Girl (TV movie, 1974)

Bellamira (TV movie, 1974)

The Way of the World (TV movie, 1975)

Force 10 from Navarone (1978)

The Aerodrome (TV movie, 1983)

Killer Contract (TV movie, 1984)

 

Novels

Chapman's published novels are:

 

A Waste of Public Money (1962)

My Vision's Enemy (1968)

Big Breadwinner Hog (1970)

Christoferus (1994)

Wartimes (two novellas in one volume) (1995)

The Secret of the World (1997)

The Spanish Trilogy (2005)

The Duchess's Diary (1980)

Sancho's Golden Age (2004)

Pasamonte's Life (2005)

Abundance (2009)

Shakespeare's Don Quixote (2011)

Throwing Pigeons out of Aeroplanes (2016)

The Spanish Trilogy extends the lives and experiences of characters found in Miguel de Cervantes' early 17th-century novel Don Quixote. The first book of the trilogy, The Duchess’s Diary, was positively reviewed. Noted Cervantes scholar E. C. Riley, writing a 1980 review in The Times Literary Supplement, called it "a truer understanding of Cervantes than twenty books of criticism".

 

Shakespeare's Don Quixote is a narrative dialogue featuring Shakespeare, John Fletcher and Cervantes, as they talk amongst themselves while watching "actors" Don Quixote and Sancho Panza performing a present-day fringe theatre production of the Shakespeare-Fletcher lost play The History of Cardenio, about Cervantes' teenaged character in Don Quixote.

 

Writer

Dalziel and Pascoe (1996)

Dalziel and Pascoe

7.4

TV Series

Writer

1996

 

A Pinch of Snuff (1994)

A Pinch of Snuff

4.4

TV Mini Series

dramatised by

1994

3 episodes

 

Maigret (1992)

Maigret

7.7

TV Series

screenplay

1992

1 episode

 

Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke in The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1991)

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes

8.7

TV Series

dramatised by

1991

2 episodes

 

Le roi de Patagonie (1990)

Le roi de Patagonie

4.8

TV Mini Series

Writer

1990

4 episodes

 

Tales of the Unexpected (1979)

Tales of the Unexpected

7.6

TV Series

dramatisation

1979–1988

30 episodes

 

Screen Two (1985)

Screen Two

6.3

TV Series

writer

1987

1 episode

 

Cover Her Face (1985)

Cover Her Face

7.5

TV Mini Series

dramatisation

1985

6 episodes

 

Shroud for a Nightingale (1984)

Shroud for a Nightingale

7.5

TV Mini Series

dramatisation

1984

5 episodes

 

Killer Contract (1984)

Killer Contract

5.5

TV Movie

Writer

1984

 

The Aerodrome (1983)

The Aerodrome

6.7

TV Movie

screenplay

1983

 

Death of an Expert Witness (1983)

Death of an Expert Witness

7.4

TV Mini Series

dramatisation

1983

7 episodes

 

Wilfred and Eileen

8.7

TV Series

dramatised by

1981

4 episodes

 

Mick Ford and Günther Maria Halmer in Caleb Williams (1980)

Caleb Williams

6.9

TV Mini Series

writer

1980

4 episodes

 

Alison Elliott in A Moment in Time (1979)

A Moment in Time

7.0

TV Series

adaptation

1979

4 episodes

 

Force 10 from Navarone (1978)

Force 10 from Navarone

6.4

screenplay

1978

 

Play for Today (1970)

Play for Today

7.8

TV Series

writer

1976–1977

2 episodes

 

Nouvelles d'Henry James (1974)

Nouvelles d'Henry James

6.9

TV Series

adaptation

1976

1 episode

 

Shades of Greene (1975)

Shades of Greene

8.3

TV Series

adaptation

1976

2 episodes

 

Centre Play (1973)

Centre Play

7.5

TV Series

writer

1976

1 episode

 

The Way of the World

TV Movie

adaptation

1975

 

Ben Kingsley, Kenneth Colley, and Peter Egan in The Love School (1975)

The Love School

7.2

TV Series

by

1975

2 episodes

 

Bellamira (1974)

Bellamira

5.3

TV Movie

adaptation

1974

 

Haunted: Poor Girl

6.0

TV Movie

adaptation

1974

 

Christopher Davis and Michelle Foster in Lost Hearts (1973)

Lost Hearts

6.9

TV Movie

dramatisation

1973

 

Sorcha Cusack and Michael Jayston in Jane Eyre (1973)

Jane Eyre

7.5

TV Mini Series

writer

1973

5 episodes

 

Vanessa Redgrave, Jeremy Brett, and Annette Crosbie in A Picture of Katherine Mansfield (1973)

A Picture of Katherine Mansfield

8.8

TV Series

writer

script

1973

6 episodes

 

The Triple Echo (1972)

The Triple Echo

6.4

screenplay

1972

 

Holly

TV Series

writer

1972

6 episodes

 

Bob Hoskins and Martin Shaw in Villains (1972)

Villains

8.1

TV Series

writer

1972

2 episodes

 

The Regiment

8.0

TV Series

writer

1972

1 episode

 

Eyeless in Gaza

7.6

TV Series

adaptation

1971

5 episodes

 

Doomwatch (1970)

Doomwatch

7.3

TV Series

writer

1971

1 episode

 

Alan Dobie in Diamond Crack Diamond (1970)

Diamond Crack Diamond

TV Series

writer

1970

3 episodes

 

W. Somerset Maugham (1969)

W. Somerset Maugham

7.6

TV Series

dramatisation

1970

1 episode

 

Peter Egan and Ray McAnally in Spindoe (1968)

Big Breadwinner Hog

7.6

TV Series

writer

1969

8 episodes

 

Peter Egan and Ray McAnally in Spindoe (1968)

Spindoe

7.5

TV Series

writer

1968

6 episodes

 

The Fellows (1967)

The Fellows

6.4

TV Series

creator

created and written by

1967

13 episodes

 

Johnna Lillebjerg and Mogens Pedersen in Den store stilhed (1966)

Den store stilhed

TV Movie

play

1966

 

The Man in Room 17 (1965)

The Man in Room 17

7.4

TV Series

writer

1965–1966

9 episodes

 

Theatre 625 (1964)

Theatre 625

7.4

TV Series

writer

1965

2 episodes

 

Keep the Aspidistra Flying

TV Movie

adaption

1965

 

Triangle

TV Mini Series

Writer

1964

7 episodes

 

Bob Dylan, David Warner, Ursula Howells, Reg Lye, and Maureen Pryor in The Madhouse on Castle Street (1963)

BBC Sunday-Night Play

8.7

TV Series

Writer

1963

1 episode

 

Producer

Peter Egan and Ray McAnally in Spindoe (1968)

Big Breadwinner Hog

7.6

TV Series

producer

1969

8 episodes

 

Peter Egan and Ray McAnally in Spindoe (1968)

Spindoe

7.5

TV Series

producer

1968

6 episodes

 

The Fellows (1967)

The Fellows

6.4

TV Series

producer

1967

13 episodes

 

Actor

Biohazard: The Alien Force (1994)

Biohazard: The Alien Force

3.3

Video

Newspaper Editor

1994

 

Sally Thomsett in Dead End Creek (1965)

Dead End Creek

TV Series

Nick

1965

 

Ray Barrett, Geoffrey Keen, and Philip Latham in Mogul (1965)

Mogul

7.2

TV Series

TV Interviewer

1965

1 episode

 

Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes (1965)

Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes

7.0

Postman (uncredited)

1965

 

No Hiding Place (1959)

No Hiding Place

7.6

TV Series

Leslie Peacock

1965

1 episode

 

Patrick Allen in Crane (1963)

Crane

7.9

TV Series

Sr. Maher

1964

1 episode

 

Earl Cameron, Lee Grant, and Fred Sadoff in The Respectful Prostitute (1964)

Festival

7.6

TV Series

Death

1964

1 episode

 

The Sentimental Agent (1963)

The Sentimental Agent

7.3

TV Series

Man in Trenchcoat

1963

1 episode

 

Moonstrike (1963)

Moonstrike

8.7

TV Series

Philippe

1963

1 episode

 

Hancock (1963)

Hancock

7.4

TV Series

Detective Constable Bane

1963

1 episode

 

Rupert Davies in Maigret (1959)

Maigret

7.9

TV Series

Grevet

1962

1 episode

 

Jayne Mansfield in Playgirl After Dark (1960)

Playgirl After Dark

5.8

Priest

1960

 

The Freedom of the Prisoner

TV Movie

Soldier

1958

 

Yvette

TV Movie

Frequenter of the Moulin Rouge

1958