Richard Carpenter

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)_ (qv) as well as being regularly featured in _Knight Errant Limited (1959)_ (qv) and _The Citadel (1960)_ (qv). 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)_ (qv). 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)_ (qv) (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)_ (qv), _Dick Turpin (1979)_ (qv) and _Robin Hood (1984)_ (qv). '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)_ (qv)) with period adventure (_The Baker Street Boys (1983)_ (qv), based on premises set forth in 'Arthur Conan Doyle' (qv)'s Sherlock Holmes and _The Scarlet Pimpernel (1999)_ (qv)). Carpenter won Writer's Guild of Great Britain 'Awards' (qv) for both 'Catweazle' and 'Out of Sight'. His published works include novelisations of many of his most popular shows.::I.S.Mowis