My brother-in-law Derrick Goodwin, who has died aged 86, was a theatre and television director and a writer.
He was born in London, to a Swedish mother and a British father who divorced when he was a baby. Custody was given to his father and Derrick was brought up in London by three aunts, and educated at St Mary’s school, Hendon, before taking a BA in music at the Royal College of Music. As a young man he undertook national service in the Royal Air Force in what was then Malaya as a dog handler, extending his service by five years.
Derrick started out in stage management at the Royal Court Theatre and then went to Leicester, where in 1960 he converted an old school and started the Living Theatre Company with Ken Loach, Jill Gascoine and Brian Grellis. He returned to the Royal Court to produce a Pirandello play, and then became the assistant director at the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park in the early 1960s.
His next role was as artistic director of the Dundee Repertory Company, where he met the actor Nell Curran; they married in 1980. He also worked at the Citizens theatre, Glasgow as the associate director, and at Ipswich Arts theatre and the Nottingham Playhouse.
Derrick began a career in BBC television directing episodes in such series as Thirty Minute Theatre (1969). He decided to become freelance to co-write and direct series including Dear Mother … Love Albert, which he wrote and produced with Rodney Bewes, and directed the first three series (1969-71). He produced and directed drama and comedy series, including New Scotland Yard (1974), Thick as Thieves (1974), Within These Walls (1975), Z Cars (1976-77), Doctor Who (1977), Mixed Blessings (1978-80, for which he also wrote), and many others.
He spent a period in Canada, setting up a new drama and entertainment department for the Canadian Broadcasting Company, and on returning to the UK worked for the BBC and London Weekend Television, Thames TV and Yorkshire TV.
He was commissioned by Alan Ayckbourn to write a play, Abiding Passions, an adaptation of Emile Zola’s Thérèse Raquin, for the Stephen Joseph theatre, Scarborough, in 1990, which was then produced at the Palace theatre, Watford, and the Riverside Studios, Hammersmith.
Derrick won many awards for his theatre and television productions, and was a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
He is survived by Nell.
