Hugh Whitemore

Hugh John Whitemore (16 June 1936 – 17 July 2018) was an English playwright and screenwriter. His major stage plays included Breaking the Code, about the mathematician and codebreaker Alan Turing, Pack of Lies (1983), based on a Cold War espionage case, and Stevie (1977), a portrait of the poet Stevie Smith, and The Best of Friends (1987), about the friendship Dame Laurentia McLachlan, the Abbess of Stanbrook Abbey, shared with George Bernard Shaw and Sydney Cockerell.

For television, he wrote The Gathering Storm (2002) and Concealed Enemies (1984), and My House in Umbria (2003), an adaptation of the William Trevor novella starring Maggie Smith, the first two of which won him an Emmy Award.

Early life and education Born at Tunbridge Wells, Kent, son of Samuel George Whitemore (1907-1987), a clerk at an oil company, and Kathleen Alma, née Fletcher. Whitemore studied for the stage at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where he was taught by Peter Barkworth, then on the staff at RADA, who recognised he had the potential to make a significant contribution to the theatre, though perhaps not as an actor. He won an Emmy Award for each script. He was also nominated for his adaptation of the Carl Bernstein/Bob Woodward book about President Nixon, The Final Days starring Lane Smith as Nixon. Whitemore's last work for television was My House in Umbria (2003), an adaptation of the novella by William Trevor starring Maggie Smith. He also wrote the episode, "Horrible Conspiracies", for the BBC series Elizabeth R (1971).

Whitemore's film credits include: Man at the Top (1973), All Creatures Great and Small (1975), The Blue Bird (1976), The Return of the Soldier (1982), 84 Charing Cross Road (1987) and Utz (1992).

The plots of Whitemore's plays frequently focus on historical figures. Stevie (1977) centred on the life of English poet and novelist Stevie Smith and Pack of Lies (1983) covered events leading up to the arrest of the Krogers, two Americans spying for the Russians in London in 1961. Whitemore's best known work taking the form of a staged biography was Breaking the Code (1986) which was centered on Alan Turing, who was responsible for cracking the German Enigma code during World War II and resisted an adherence to the English code of sexual discretion with his homosexuality, for which he was charged with gross indecency. A television adaptation was broadcast in the UK in 1996. The Best of Friends (1987), about the friendship Dame Laurentia McLachlan, the Abbess of Stanbrook Abbey in Worcestershire, shared with George Bernard Shaw and Sydney Cockerell, director of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. An adaptation by Whitemore of the Luigi Pirandello play As You Desire Me was staged at London's Playhouse Theatre in 2005 with Kristin Scott Thomas in the lead.

Whitemore was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He died at the age of 82 on 17 July 2018.

Selected works Stage Year Title Notes 1977 Stevie Based on the life of poet Stevie Smith 1983 Pack of Lies Based on the Portland Spy Ring case; starred Judi Dench 1984 Sand in the Sandwiches About the poet John Betjeman 1986 Breaking the Code About mathematician Alan Turing; starred Derek Jacobi 1987 The Best of Friends About the friendship of George Bernard Shaw, Sydney Cockerell and Dame Laurentia McLachlan; starred John Gielgud 1991 It's Ralph Starred Timothy West 1997 A Letter of Resignation About Harold Macmillan; starred Edward Fox 1998 Disposing of the Body 2000 God Only Knows Starred Derek Jacobi 2005 As You Desire Me Adaptation of the Luigi Pirandello play; starred Kristin Scott Thomas 2008 The Last Cigarette Co-written with Simon Gray; based on Gray's diaries 2012 A Marvellous Year for Plums About the Suez Crisis

Television Year Title Notes 1971 Elizabeth R Episode: "Horrible Conspiracies" 1971 Cider with Rosie Adaptation of Laurie Lee's memoir; BBC 1974 David Copperfield Adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel; BBC 1975 Moll Flanders Adaptation of the Daniel Defoe novel; BBC 1983 My Cousin Rachel Adaptation of the Daphne du Maurier novel; BBC 1984 Concealed Enemies About the Alger Hiss case; won Emmy Award 1997 A Dance to the Music of Time Adaptation of the Anthony Powell novels; Channel 4 2002 The Gathering Storm About Winston and Clementine Churchill; starred Albert Finney; won Emmy Award 2003 My House in Umbria Adaptation of the William Trevor novella; starred Maggie Smith; nominated for Emmy Award 2009 Into the Storm About Winston Churchill; starred Brendan Gleeson; nominated for Emmy Award

Film Year Title Notes 1968 Decline and Fall...of a Birdwatcher Additional scenes; adaptation of Evelyn Waugh 1973 Man at the Top Adaptation of John Braine's novel 1976 The Blue Bird Adaptation of the Maurice Maeterlinck play; starred Elizabeth Taylor 1982 The Return of the Soldier Adaptation of the Rebecca West novel; starred Alan Bates and Julie Christie 1987 84 Charing Cross Road Starred Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins; won USC Scripter Award 1992 Utz Adaptation of the Bruce Chatwin novel 1996 Jane Eyre Co-written with Franco Zeffirelli; adaptation of the Charlotte Brontë novel