Michael John Bakewell (7 June 1931 – 11 July 2023) was a British radio and television producer.

Early life and career

Michael John Bakewell was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, on 7 June 1931. His childhood was spent in

Sutton Coldfield Sutton Coldfield or the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield ( ), is a town and civil parish in the city of Birmingham, West Midlands County, West Midlands, England. The town lies around 8 miles northeast of Birmingham city centre, 9 miles south of L ...

, where he attended

Bishop Vesey's Grammar School Bishop Vesey's Grammar School (BVGS) is a selective state grammar school with academy status in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, England. Founded in 1527, it is one of the oldest schools in Britain, the oldest state school in the West Midlan ...

. After completing his

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

, he studied English literature at

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

. After graduating from Cambridge in 1954, he was recruited by the BBC's Third Programme. Bakewell was best known for his work during the 1960s, when he was the first Head of Plays at the BBC, after

Sydney Newman Sydney Cecil Newman (; April 1, 1917 – October 30, 1997) was a Canadian producer and screenwriter who played a pioneering role in British television drama from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. After his return to Canada in 1970, he was app ...

divided the drama department into separate series, serials and plays divisions in 1963. Later, Bakewell produced plays for

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

's ''

Theatre 625 ''Theatre 625'' is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title referred to its production an ...

'' anthology strand, including John Hopkins' highly regarded '' Talking to a Stranger'' quartet of linked plays. Bakewell also worked in radio drama for the BBC. He adapted (with Brian Sibley) ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually d ...

'' into a 1981 radio series, and he adapted 27 of

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...

's Poirot novels for broadcast between 1985 and 2007 – the major omission being '' Curtain: Poirot's Last Case'', the rights to which proved unobtainable – and all 12 ''Miss Marple'' novels, broadcast between 1993 and 2001. He was also the dubbing director for the English versions of the Japanese television series '' The Water Margin'' and ''

Monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...

'', which were screened by the BBC, among many of Manga Video UK's dubs (and many dubs for both

Central Park Media Central Park Media Corporation, often abbreviated as CPM, was an American multimedia entertainment company based in New York City, New York and was headquartered in the 250 West 57th Street building in Midtown Manhattan (on the corner of Centra ...

and Manga Video UK), e.g., '' Cyber City Oedo'', ''

Devilman is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Go Nagai. The manga focuses on a high school student named Akira Fudo who absorbs the powers of the demon called "Amon" with help of his friend Ryo Asuka in order to batt ...

'', '' Dominion Tank Police'', ''

Patlabor , also known as ''Patlabor'' (a portmanteau of "patrol" and "labor"), is a Japanese science fiction media franchise created by Headgear, a group consisting of manga artist Masami Yūki, director Mamoru Oshii, screenwriter Kazunori ...

'' (Manga PAL version - movies 1 and 2), ''

Tokyo Babylon , also known as ''Tokyo Babylon: A Save Tokyo City Story'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Clamp (manga artists), Clamp. It follows Subaru Sumeragi, the head of the Sumeragi clan, and his sister Hokuto, as they work t ...

'', ''

Genocyber is a 1992 Japanese manga series by Tony Takezaki. One volume of the manga has been published, but the multi-volume story arc remains unfinished. The published book was adapted by Koichi Ohata into a five-part original video animation (OVA) ...

'', ''

Roujin Z is a 1991 Japanese anime science fiction action thriller film directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo and written by Katsuhiro Otomo. The animation for ''Roujin Z'' was produced by A.P.P.P. in association with other companies including Movic, Sony Mu ...

'', '' Angel Cop'', '' Violence Jack'' and many others.

Personal life and death

From 1955 until 1972, Michael Bakewell was the first husband of Joan Bakewell; the couple had two children, Matthew and Harriet. In the 1960s, Joan had an eight-year affair with the playwright

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A List of Nobel laureates in Literature, Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramat ...

. Following their divorce, Michael remarried to Melissa Dundas in 1975. He lived with Melissa in East Sussex until his death on 11 July 2023, at the age of 92. He had

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

and

macular degeneration Macular degeneration, also known as age-related macular degeneration (AMD or ARMD), is a medical condition which may result in blurred vision, blurred or vision loss, no vision in the center of the visual field. Early on there are often no sym ...

in his later years.

References

External links

*
Michael Bakewell's radio plays
1931 births 2023 deaths BBC radio producers BBC television producers British radio writers British television producers British voice directors Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in England Deaths from dementia in England People from Sutton Coldfield Spouses of life peers {{UK-tv-bio-stub