Hugh Whitemore
Playwright and screenwriter BORN JUNE 16, 1936 DIED JULY 19, 2018, AGED 82
HUGH Whitemore’s dreams of becoming a performer were cruelly dashed just a year into his studies at the London Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada).
His tutor, prominent TV stalwart Peter Barkworth, told him he had potential to make a major contribution to theatre, “though perhaps not as an actor”.
That sparked a five decade-long writing career which saw Whitemore find critical acclaim, devising scripts for the likes of Glenda Jackson, Derek Jacobi and Judi Dench.
Born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, Whitemore was the only child of Kathleen and Samuel.
Educated at King Edward VI School in Southampton he trained at Rada, graduating in 1957.
Trusting his mentor, Whitemore established himself as a TV playwright, working on adaptations of David Copperfield and Cider With Rosie.
In 1977 he wrote Stevie, a play about poet Stevie Smith, which ran at London’s Vaudeville Theatre. It was such a success that in 1980 it was turned into a film starring Glenda Jackson.
His next big production, a 1983 Russian spy drama Pack Of Lies, starred Judi Dench as a suburban housewife who discovers her neighbours are spies.
Four years later he adapted it for CBS and the TV movie earned three Emmy Award nominations.
He’s best known for the 1986 play Breaking The Code which centred on the British mathematician Alan Turing who helped break the German Enigma code in the Second World War. After stints in the West End and on Broadway it was adapted for TV in 1996 and nominated for two Baftas.
He worked up until his last play Sand In The Sandwiches in 2016.
Whitemore is survived by his third wife Rohan and son Tom from his second marriage.