Rodney Bennett

For the broadcaster and writer, see Rodney M. Bennett. For the composer, see Richard Rodney Bennett. For the university administrator, see Rodney D. Bennett. For the playwright and children's author, see Royden Barrie.

Rodney Bennett (24 March 1935 – 3 January 2017) was a British television director. He worked for BBC Radio and directed television programmes for the BBC and ITV.

Rodney Bennett
Born	(1935-03-24)24 March 1935 Chagford, Devon, England
Died	3 January 2017(2017-01-03) (aged 81)
Alma mater	St John's College, Cambridge University College London
Occupation	Television director
Employer(s)	BBC and ITV
Known for	Z-Cars Doctor Who Anything More Would Be Greedy The Darling Buds of May

Early life and education

Bennett was born in Chagford, Devon, and raised in Totnes. He studied psychology at St John's College, Cambridge, and also received a master's degree from University College London.^[1]

Career

He began working for the BBC in radio and moved into television with the launch of BBC2. His subsequent work included directing episodes of Z-Cars^[1] and three Doctor Who stories, The Ark in Space,^[2][3] The Sontaran Experiment,^[2][4] (both 1975) and The Masque of Mandragora (1976).^[2][5] He also directed Derek Jacobi and Patrick Stewart in the BBC Shakespeare production of Hamlet in 1980. For ITV he directed the comedy-drama series Anything More Would Be Greedy in 1989 and episodes of The Darling Buds of May.^[1]