Rodney Bennett
Television director Born: March 24, 1935; Died: January 4, 2017 THE director Rodney Bennett, who has died aged 81, was responsible for many memorable hours of television, including the hugely popular The Darling Buds of May (1991) about the loveable Larkin family played by David Jason, Pam Ferris and Catherine Zeta Jones.
Having seen a number of actresses for the part of Mariette – but none quite right – Bennett spent an entire day looking through the whole of the actor’s directory Spotlight where he found Zeta Jones languishing at the very back. Very inexperienced at the time, she became a star overnight and the series itself regularly topped the ratings charts.
Bennett was born Rodney Charles Bennett in Chagford, Devon, but brought up in Totnes. He began dabbling in theatre production whilst studying psychology at St John’s College Cambridge, before completing an MA at University College London where he To place your notice in Family Announcements Monday - Friday 9.00am -5.00pm met his future wife Jill. After a brief sabbatical as a child psychologist he joined BBC radio and worked on spoken word assignments for the Third Programme and the World Service.
His television break came with the launch of BBC2 and he joined the corporation’s schools department. By chance, one day in 1969 the allocated director for popular police drama Z-Cars fell ill and Bennett happened to be on hand and was asked to fill in. He seized the opportunity, did a good job and went on to direct several more episodes, as well as occasional plays for Thirty Minute Theatre. He eventually became something of a specialist in period dramas, working on such serials as North and South (1975) (casting a young Patrick Stewart), Madame Bovary (1975), Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1978), The Legend of King Arthur (1979), Sense & Sensibility (1981), Stalky & Co (1982) and Dombey & Son (1983).
He made another sort of history by helping to usher in a golden age for Doctor Who viewers when he directed three adventures starring Tom Baker. Bennett helmed Baker’s second story, The Ark in Space (1975), a mixture of gothic horror and hard science fiction which took the show in a bold new direction.The Sontaran Experiment (1975) benefitted from Bennett’s great love of Dartmoor (which doubled for post apocalypse London). Set in Renaissance Italy The Masque of Mandragora (1976) was a sumptuous, intelligent costume drama with a fine guest cast (including a young Tim Pigott-Smith).
He was honoured to be asked to direct Hamlet (1980, starring Derek Jacobi) as part of the BBC’s ambitious staging of Shakespeare’s entire canon. The Lost Boys (1978, with Ian Holm as JM Barrie) was one his proudest achievements alongside Monsignor Quixote, a 1987 production which featured Alec Guinness in Graham Greene’s own adaptation of his novel.
He was a very gentle, kind person with good manners - traits regarded as unusual in directors now and then. He also had an infectious giggle and impeccable diction, and was able to get the very best out of his actors, who trusted him immensely.
In his latter years he experienced mobility problems but these did not dull his zeal for work. He had three books for older children – Eagle Boy, Abbots Way, and Angel Voice – published in the UK, a further two saw print in Germany and he was still writing up until his death.
He is survived by Jill, by their children Adam and Kate and four grandchildren: Ben, Hannah, Max and Aurelia.