Donald McWhinnie (16 October 1920 – 8 October 1987) was a BBC executive and later a radio, television, and stage director. Educated at

Rotherham Grammar School (Lest We Should Seem Ungrateful) , established = , closed = , type = Grammar school, becoming County school , religious_affiliation = , president = , head_label = Headmaste ...

, McWhinnie worked for the BBC in administrative roles in the 1940s and 1950s and was drama Script Editor from 1951 to 1953. In the later 1950s, he became a radio director, and from the 1960s to the 1980s he was a director of television drama.Jerry Roberts, ''Encyclopedia of Television Film Directors'', p. 382 McWhinnie,

Frederick Bradnum Frederick Bradnum (8 May 1920 – 25 December 2001), was a British radio dramatist, producer, and director who penned over 70 plays and 140 dramatisations of novels for the BBC. Along with the likes of Tom Mallin, Jennifer Phillips, Peter Tegel ...

, and

Desmond Briscoe Harry Desmond Briscoe (21 June 1925 – 7 December 2006) was an English composer, sound engineer and studio manager. He was the co-founder and original manager of the pioneering BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Born in Birkenhead, and a drama studio ...

together established the

BBC Radiophonic Workshop The BBC Radiophonic Workshop was one of the sound effects units of the BBC, created in 1958 to produce incidental sounds and new music for radio and, later, television. The unit is known for its experimental and pioneering work in electroni ...

. In 1959, McWhinnie directed a production of '' Embers'', a radio play by

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and Tragicomedy, tr ...

. First broadcast on the

BBC Third Programme The BBC Third Programme was a national radio station produced and broadcast from 1946 until 1967, when it was replaced by Radio 3. It first went on the air on 29 September 1946 and quickly became one of the leading cultural and intellectual f ...

on 24 June 1959, the play won the

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

prize at the

Prix Italia The Prix Italia is an international Television, Radio-broadcasting and Web award. It was established in 1948 by RAI – Radiotelevisione Italiana (in 1948, RAI had the denomination RAI – Radio Audizioni Italiane) in Capri and is honoured with the ...

awards later that year. McWhinnie wrote about his approach to radio drama in ''The art of radio''. In 1962, McWhinnie was nominated for a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

for his screen version of

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that span ...

's ''

The Caretaker ''The Caretaker'' is a play in three acts by Harold Pinter. Although it was the sixth of his major works for stage and television, this psychological study of the confluence of power, allegiance, innocence, and corruption among two brothers a ...

''. In 1965, he directed the first

Broadway theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''T ...

production of the

Bill Naughton William John Francis Naughton (12 June 1910 – 9 January 1992) was an Irish-born British playwright and author, best known for his play '' Alfie''. Early life Born into relative poverty in Ballyhaunis, County Mayo, Ireland, he moved to Bo ...

comedy '' All in Good Time'', which opened at the

Royale Theatre The Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre (formerly the Royale Theatre and the John Golden Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 242 West 45th Street ( George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1927, the thea ...

, New York, on 18 February 1965 and closed on 27 March 1965. It starred

Donald Wolfit Sir Donald Wolfit, KBE (born Donald Woolfitt; Harwood, Ronald"Wolfit, Sir Donald (1902–1968)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edn, January 2008; accessed 14 July 2009 20 April 1902 ...

, Marjorie Rhodes, and

Richard Dysart Richard Allen Dysart (March 30, 1929 – April 5, 2015) was an American actor. He is best known for his role as Leland McKenzie in the television series '' L.A. Law'' (1986–1994), for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award from four consecutive no ...

. The inaugural episode of the

BBC Television Shakespeare The ''BBC Television Shakespeare'' is a series of British television adaptations of the plays of William Shakespeare, created by Cedric Messina and broadcast by BBC Television. Transmitted in the UK from 3 December 1978 to 27 April 1985, it ...

in December 1978 was announced to be ''

Much Ado About Nothing ''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' ( W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. 1387 The play ...

'', directed by McWhinnie and starring

Penelope Keith Dame Penelope Anne Constance Keith, (née Hatfield; born 2 April 1940) is an English actress and presenter, active in film, radio, stage and television and primarily known for her roles in the British sitcoms '' The Good Life'' and '' To the M ...

and

Michael York Michael York OBE (born Michael Hugh Johnson; 27 March 1942) is an English film, television and stage actor. After performing on-stage with the Royal National Theatre, he had a breakthrough in films by playing Tybalt in Franco Zeffirelli's ''Ro ...

. The episode was shot at a cost of £250,000, edited, and announced as the first of the series, but then was suddenly pulled from the schedule and replaced with ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with ''Ham ...

''. No reasons were given by the BBC, although newspaper reports suggested the episode had been postponed for re-shoots, due to worries that an actor's "very heavy accent" would be a problem for US audiences. However, there were no reshoots, the episode was abandoned and was later replaced by a new adaptation. It appears that the BBC management regarded the production as a failure.Mark Lawson
''The Hollow Crown'': as good as TV Shakespeare can get?
in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' dated 29 June 2012
archived
11 September 2014 In 1981, McWhinnie was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director for ''

Translations Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

''.

Selected credits as director

BBC television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

adaptation of

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires '' Decl ...

's ''

Sword of Honour The ''Sword of Honour'' is a trilogy of novels by Evelyn Waugh which loosely parallel Waugh's experiences during the Second World War. Published by Chapman & Hall from 1952 to 1961, the novels are: ''Men at Arms'' (1952); ''Officers and Gent ...

'' (1967) * ''

Moll Flanders ''Moll Flanders'' is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published in 1722. It purports to be the true account of the life of the eponymous Moll, detailing her exploits from birth until old age. By 1721, Defoe had become a recognised novelist, wi ...

'' (ITV TV series, 1975) *''

Wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expre ...

'' (BBC TV series, 1978) *'' Tales of the Unexpected'', episode " William and Mary" (1979) *''

Love in a Cold Climate ''Love in a Cold Climate'' is a novel by Nancy Mitford, first published in 1949. The title is a phrase from George Orwell's novel '' Keep the Aspidistra Flying'' (1936). ''Love in a Cold Climate'' is a companion volume to '' The Pursuit of L ...

'' (Thames Television serial, 1980)
Mapp and Lucia
(Original and best TV series 1985-1986)

Radio Plays

* 18.06.56 Giles Cooper -Mathry Beacon * 13.01.57 Samuel Beckett - All That Fall * 15.08.57 Giles Cooper - The Disagreeable Oyster * 14.12.57 Samuel Beckett - From an Adandoned Work * 13.01.58 Giles Cooper - Without the Grail * 03.08.58 Giles Cooper - Under the Loofah Tree * 23.11.58 Giles Cooper - Unman, Wittering and Zigo * 09.02.59 James Hanley, Leo McKern, Jack MacGowran - The Ocean * 24.06.59 Samuel Beckett - Embers * ??.07.59 Harold Pinter - A Slight Ache * 06.10.59 James Hanley - Gobbet * 25.02.60 Harold Pinter - A Night Out * 1960s Robert Bolt - The Drunken Sailor * 06.10.64 Samuel Beckett - Cascando * 1973 McWhinnie/Hilda Lawrence - The Hands

Stage

* 196
The Duchess of Malfi (RSC)
* 1961 The Caretaker (Samuel Beckett) - Broadway * 1962 A Passage to India - Broadway * 1963 Rattle of a Simple Man - Broadway * 1965 All in Good Time - Broadway * 1967 The Astrakhan Coat (Pauline Macaulay) - Broadway * 1983 Lovers Dancing, Starring Paul Eddington, Colin Blakely, Georgina Hale, Jane Carr - The Albery Theatre

Notes

External links

* https://www.rsc.org.uk/the-duchess-of-malfi/1960-2000-productions * http://www.suttonelms.org.uk/donald-mcwhinnie.html * http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/12th-november-1983/34/theatre * {{DEFAULTSORT:McWhinnie, Donald 1920 births 1987 deaths BBC executives BBC Radio drama directors British television directors People educated at Rotherham Grammar School 20th-century British businesspeople