Derrick John Goodwin (6 July 1935 – April 2022)
Derrick Goodwin obituary
/ref> was an English theatre and television director, writer and producer.
Biography
Early life
Goodwin was born in London and educated at St Mary's School, Hendon
Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Great ...
(now St Mary's and St John's Church of England School
St Mary's and St John's CE School is a Mixed-sex education, mixed Church of England all-through school located in the Hendon area of the London Borough of Barnet, England. The school admits pupils aged 3 – 18. Known as SMSJ, it was created by t ...
) and the Royal College of Music.
Career
Goodwin began his career in stage management
Stage management is a broad field that is generally defined as the practice of organization and coordination of an event or theatrical production. Stage management may encompass a variety of activities including the overseeing of the rehearsal p ...
. He was an assistant director at the Royal Court Theatre. Goodwin founded The Living Theatre company with Ken Loach, Jill Gascoine and Brian Grellis
Brian Grellis is a British actor, from Liverpool, best known for his role in the television series ''Z-Cars'' as Det. Sgt. Bowker. He was born on the 12th of July, 1937, as Brian McGrellis, being billed as such in his first role, in the '' Edgar ...
, converting an old school in Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city l ...
into a 200-seat open stage theatre. After two years, the building was needed for a new road scheme. A new theatre was built for their use by the city council, but the company never moved into it. Goodwin directed over a hundred theatre productions including plays by 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 spanne ...
, 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 tragicomic expe ...
, John Osborne
John James Osborne (12 December 1929 – 24 December 1994) was an English playwright, screenwriter and actor, known for his prose that criticized established social and political norms. The success of his 1956 play ''Look Back in Anger'' tra ...
, Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...
and several of his own plays, including four plays for children.
Goodwin returned to the Royal Court to assist David William in the production of Luigi Pirandello's ''Naked'' and then was invited to become assistant director at the Open Air Theatre Regent's Park. He was then appointed Artistic Director of the Dundee Repertory Theatre. After two years at Dundee he was invited by David William to become his Associate Director at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, mainly being responsible for the new Close Theatre Club which was also run by the Citizens' theatre board. He was then appointed Artistic Director of the Ipswich Arts Theatre. John Neville was about to become Artistic Director of the new Nottingham Playhouse
Nottingham Playhouse is a theatre in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England. It was first established as a repertory theatre in 1948 when it operated from a former cinema in Goldsmith Street. Directors during this period included Val May and Fr ...
, he also wanted to re-open the Newcastle Playhouse and asked Goodwin to become its director. When John Neville decided to leave the Nottingham Playhouse, Goodwin also resigned and joined the BBC television drama department, where he directed episodes of '' Thirty-Minute Theatre'' and '' Z-Cars''. He then became a freelancer
''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...
and with Rodney Bewes
Rodney Bewes (27 November 1937 – 21 November 2017) was an English television actor and writer who portrayed Bob Ferris in the BBC television sitcom ''The Likely Lads'' (1964–66) and its colour sequel ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'' ...
co-wrote and directed several series of '' Dear Mother...Love Albert''. He directed the tour of '' My Fat Friend'' for Michael Codron Ltd and the tour of '' Relatively Speaking'' for the Oxford Playhouse.
In television, Goodwin was involved in producing and directing many series of both drama and situation comedy
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
. In drama, his directing credits included '' New Scotland Yard'', '' Within These Walls'' and the ''Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...
'' serial '' The Invisible Enemy''. In comedy, he co-wrote, with Sid Green, the series '' Mixed Blessings'', which he also produced and directed. He directed and produced '' Thick as Thieves'', written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, starring John Thaw and Bob Hoskins
Robert William Hoskins (26 October 1942 – 29 April 2014) was an English actor. His work included lead roles in films and television series such as '' Pennies from Heaven'' (1978), ''The Long Good Friday'' (1980), ''Mona Lisa'' (1986), ''Who ...
. He was then invited by the Canadian Broadcasting Company to set up a new drama and entertainment department in Winnipeg. Whilst in Canada, he wrote and directed two half-hour films. He returned to England and directed many productions for the BBC, London Weekend Television, Thames Television and Yorkshire Television. He was commissioned by Alan Ayckbourn
Sir Alan Ayckbourn (born 12 April 1939) is a prolific British playwright and director. He has written and produced as of 2021, more than eighty full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of ...
to write a play, ''Abiding Passions'', which was directed by Ayckbourn at the Stephen Joseph Theatre
The Stephen Joseph Theatre is a theatre in the round in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England that was founded by Stephen Joseph and was the first theatre in the round in Britain.
In 1955, Joseph established a tiny theatre in the round on the f ...
, Scarborough. It was later re-cast and directed by Goodwin at the Palace Theatre, Watford. It also had a production at the Riverside Studios, Hammersmith
Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.
...
, Goodwin's last television series was for Alamo Productions and the BBC, ''Taking the Floor''. He
later concentrated on writing for theatre and TV and also teaching theatre, television and film.
Goodwin won many awards for theatre and television productions and was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He wrote a novel, ''I Got You Babe'', which is available as a free e-book.
References
External links
Derrick Goodwin
at doollee.com, The Playwrights Database
Derrick Goodwin
at the British Film Institute Film & TV Database
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodwin, Derrick
1935 births
2022 deaths
20th-century Royal Air Force personnel
Alumni of the Royal College of Music
British television directors
British theatre directors
People from London