Alan Plater

Alan Frederick Plater , CBE , FRSL (born April 15, 1935 in Jarrow , South Tyneside , Tyne and Wear , † June 25, 2010 in London ) was an English playwright , writer and screenwriter .

Life

After finishing school, he first studied architecture , but began writing at an early age and published his first articles in the satirical magazine Punch in 1958 . From 1960 he worked exclusively as an author and is characterized by an extensive body of works, which reflects his origins from the working class , his political views and his interest in jazz .

From 1963 to 1965 he was a regular scriptwriter of the BBC - television series Z Cars and writer of television dramas like Ted's Cathedral (1964), Close the Coalhouse Door (1968) and The Land of Green Ginger (1974). He also was a screenwriter of television versions of The Good Companions (1980), a novel by John Boynton Priestley , Fortunes of War (1987), based on the novels of Olivia Manning , as well as A Very British Coup (1988), with Ray McAnally by the novel by Labor Party politician Chris Mullin . For the 27th episode of Midsomer Murders entitled A Tale of Two Hamlets he wrote (The house of Satan) in 2003 the script.

Plater has contributed to The Guardian newspaper and has scripted films such as The Virgin and the Gypsy (1969), 18 Hours to Eternity (1974), and Priest of Love (1980), a biopic about the writer DH Lawrence . He also wrote the novels The Beiderbecke Affair (1985) and Misterioso (1987).

For his literary services he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1985 and the Royal Society of Arts in 1991. In 1989 he received the BAFTA TV Award for Best Screenplay. In 2004 he was appointed Commander of the British Empire .

swell

• Alan Plater in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Biography on Screenonline
• THE INDEPENDENT: "Alan Plater: 'I used to be cool ...'" (September 5, 2004)
• Obituary (BBC )
• Chambers Biographical Dictionary . Edinburgh 2002, ISBN 0-550-10051-2 , p. 1211.