Lord Ted Willis, the writer who created Britain's best-loved
policeman, Dixon of Dock Green, died yesterday, aged 78.
His son, John, said he collapsed from a heart attack at home in
Chislehurst, Kent, after returning from collecting his morning
newspapers.
The Guinness Book of Records lists him as the most prolific writer in
TV history, and he was working on bringing a new generation of Dixons
back to Dock Green.
Ted Willis dreamed up the character of PC George Dixon for actor Jack
Warner in the 1949 film The Blue Lamp.
The constable was shot dead by a character played by Dirk Bogarde, but
was so popular he was brought back to life for a TV series.
Dixon of Dock Green ran from 1953 to 1975, when Warner was 80 years
old.
Lord Willis, created a life peer by Harold Wilson in 1963, used the
Dixon catchphrase ''Evening All'' as the title of his autobiography last
year.
He was born in Tottenham, London, into a working class family, the
fourth of five children. He left school at 14, learning his craft during
Army service in the war.
Afterwards he began a 50-year career writing for radio, films, stage,
and TV, where he pioneered the so-called kitchen sink dramas of the 50s,
though he was never classed as an angry young man.
''I am not angry enough. I can get angry over issues, but apart from
Hitler, I don't think I've ever hated anyone in my life,'' he once said.
He created a national folk hero in Dixon, but nearly ended his career
by trying to get rid of another in the 40s.
As a scriptwriter for radio favourite Mrs Dale's Diary, he once wrote
an episode where she and her cronies died after reversing their hired
car over Beachy Head on a day trip. He was fired as a result.
He went on to write 34 stage plays, 39 feature films, including the
award-winning Woman In A Dressing Gown, and 40 TV series with a total
estimated output of 20 million words since 1942.
A lifelong socialist, he became an active member of the House of Lords
on the Labour benches.
Lord Willis was married for nearly 50 years and leaves his wife Audrey
and two children.
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