Carpenter began as an actor, having trained at the Old Vic Theatre School.
Following repertory work he was first seen on screen playing character
roles in television shows like
Dixon of Dock Green (1955)
as well as being regularly featured in
Knight Errant Limited (1959)
and The Citadel (1960). However,
he became eventually dissatisfied with his acting career. By the end of
the decade, he fulfilled a long-standing ambition and turned to writing
adventure serials for imaginative young audiences. In addition, he made
significant contributions to established series, such as
Black Beauty (1972).
At the centre of much of his own work are mysticism and English
folklore.
Among his prolific output for ITV and BBC, he is perhaps best
known for Catweazle (1970) (the
story of an 11th Century wizard transported in time to the 20th
Century where he is aided by a small boy),
The Ghosts of Motley Hall (1976),
Die Abenteuer des Dick Turpin (1979) and
Robin Hood (1984).
'Robin' was one of the most popular programs on British television,
capturing a nationwide audience of 12-13 million viewers per episode. It
still has a huge fan base to this day. From the mid 1980s, Carpenter
alternated writing scripts for comedy
(Unsichtbar (1996)) with
period adventure
(Auf den Spuren von Sherlock Holmes (1983), based on premises set forth in
Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and
The Scarlet Pimpernel (1999)).
Carpenter won Writer's Guild of Great Britain Awards for both
'Catweazle' and 'Out of Sight'. His published works include
novelisations of many of his most popular shows.
