John Hawkesworth

Writer

December 7, 1920 (82 years)

† September 30, 2003

Kensington, London, England, UK

Biography

John Stanley Hawkesworth (7 December 1920 – 30 September 2003) was an English television and film producer and screenwriter, best known for his work on the period drama Upstairs, Downstairs and the Granada Television adaptation of Sherlock Holmes.

Filmography

8.2

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes uses his abilities to take on cases by private clients and those that the Scotland Yard are unable to solve, along with his friend Dr. Watson.

7.8

Upstairs, Downstairs

Upstairs: the wealthy, aristocratic Bellamys. Downstairs: their loyal and lively servants. For nearly 30 years, they share a fashionable townhouse at 165 Eaton Place in London’s posh Belgravia neighborhood, surviving social change, political upheaval, scandals, and the horrors of the First World War.

7.5

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes

An anthology series produced by Thames Television, comprised of short mystery, suspense or crime adaptations featuring, as the title suggests, detectives who were literary contemporaries of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.

7.4

Upstairs Downstairs

Set in 1936, the show takes viewers, old and new, back to the lavish world of Belgravia, London. A new set of occupants reside at 165 Eaton Place and viewers see how external and internal influences of the tumultuous pre-war period shape and mould the lives of this wealthy family and their servants.‬

8.0

The Duchess of Duke Street

In Victorian London, Louisa Leyton works her way up from servant to renowned cook to proprietress of the upper-class Bentinck Hotel in Duke Street, St James's.

6.3

Campion

Campion is a television show made by the BBC, adapting the Albert Campion mystery novels written by Margery Allingham. Two series were made, in 1989 and 1990, starring Peter Davison as Campion, Brian Glover as his manservant Magersfontein Lugg and Andrew Burt as his policeman friend Stanislaus Oates. A total of eight novels were adapted, four in each series, each of which was originally broadcast as two separate hour-long episodes. Peter Davison sang the title music for the first series himself; in the second series, it was replaced with an instrumental version.

8.0

Danger UXB

Danger UXB is a 1979 British television series developed by John Hawkesworth and starring Anthony Andrews as Lieutenant Brian Ash, an officer in the Royal Engineers. The programme is titled and partly based on the memoirs of Major A. B. Hartley, M.B.E, RE, Unexploded Bomb - The Story of Bomb Disposal, with episodes written by Hawkesworth and four screenwriters. The series chronicles the exploits of the fictional 97 Tunnelling Company which, as a result of thousands of unexploded bombs in London during the Blitz, has become a bomb disposal unit. As with all his fellow officers, Ash must for the most part learn the techniques and procedures of disarming and destroying the UXBs through experience, repeatedly confronted with more cunning and deadlier technological advances in aerial bomb fusing. The storylines were primarily military, with a romantic thread between Ash and an inventor's married daughter, and other human interest vignettes.

N/A

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's non-Sherlock Holmes stories embodying the author's interest in boxing, the supernatural, and medical matters.

8.0

The Return of Sherlock Holmes

In the second series of the widely celebrated ITV detective programme, Dr John Watson finds a mystery in an empty house, while Holmes and he later solve the mysteries of an abbey grange, the Musgrave ritual, a second stain, a man with a twisted lip, the priory school, and a half-dozen plaster busts of Bonaparte.

7.5

Half Hour Story

18 short plays written especially for TV, an opportunity for up-and-coming directors such as floor manager Alan Clarke, who ended up doing 10 of the episodes. Some top ranking performers were attracted to the series.

7.0

By the Sword Divided

This classic period drama series follows the fortunes of the aristocratic Lacey family, living peacefully in Arnescote Castle until the onset of the English Civil War in 1640. Sir Martin Lacey, the head of the family, is steadfastly loyal to the King. However the family is torn apart when his eldest daughter Anne weds John Fletcher - son of a merchant family who support the forces of Cromwell.

7.2

Tiger Bay

In Tiger Bay, the docklands of Cardiff, rough-and-tumble street urchin Gillie witnesses the brutal killing of a young woman at the hands of visiting Polish sailor Korchinsky. Instead of reporting the crime to the authorities, Gillie merely pockets a prize for herself — Korchinsky's shiny black revolver — and flees the scene. When Detective Graham discovers that Gillie has the murder weapon, the fiery young girl weaves a web of lies to throw him off course.

7.7

The Flame Trees of Thika

Elspeth and her unconventional parents decide to settle down in Kenya and begin a coffee plantation. This is a time of discovery for Elspeth, as she encounters the incredible beauty and cruelty of nature, and new friendships with both Africans and British expatriates. A side plot involves the beautiful and bored British Lettice Palmer who enters into an affair with a handsome safari guide. Eventually, however, the excitement of Elspeth's life is disrupted by the onset of WW I, and the changes it brings.

7.5

The Gold Robbers

Tough cop Detective Chief Superintendent Cradock is assigned to track down and bring to justice the criminals behind the daring theft of five and half million pounds worth of gold bullion from an airfield in the South of England.

10.0

The Elusive Pimpernel

Foppish Sir Percy Blakeney, who secretly leads a double life as the daring rescuer of French aristocrats from the guillotine during the French Revolution, fights to save his brother-in-law while his wife is manipulated by the villainous Chauvelin into helping capture him, unaware of her husband's true identity.

7.3

The Hound of the Baskervilles

When a nobleman is threatened by a family curse on his newly inherited estate, detective Sherlock Holmes is hired to investigate.

7.4

The Sign of Four

Mary Morstan has received a pearl in the post every year since her father's disappearance. This leads Holmes and Watson to the truth about a secret pact between four convicts during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

4.0

Oscar

In the summer of 1891, Oscar Wilde first met Lord Alfred Douglas — an encounter that will dramatically and tragically change both of their lives.

N/A

Chelworth

A new Earl, Michael Anstey, returns to England from Hong Kong to restore his family's estate.

7.5

Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris

Ada Harris, a London charwoman in the 1950's, sees a Dior dress and decides that she's going to own one. First, she scrimps and saves her money, but when she has enough, and takes a trip to Paris, she learns that buying an original couture creation is a little harder than simply plunking down cash. Along the way to her goal, she manages to befriend a count, unite young lovers, and dodge customs.