Claude Whatham


Claude Whatham was an English film and television director, mainly known for his work on dramas.

Early life

In 1940, Whatham, a teenage evacuee art student, had been commissioned to paint fairytale pictures by the young Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret at Windsor Castle. During the Second World War, the series of portraits by Sir Thomas Lawrence that usually line the walls of the Waterloo Chamber were removed from their frames for safe keeping and replaced by his fairytale pictures, painted on wallpapers rolls. In 2020, Whatham's works were exhibited in the Waterloo Chamber.

Career

Whatham attended Oldham Art School and was a set designer for the Oldham Repertory Company, before joining Granada Television, where he made documentaries and dramas including The Younger Generation featuring a young John Thaw, and You in Your Small Corner. He then moved to the BBC, where he worked on The Wednesday Play, Play for Today, Disraeli and the 1969 adaptation of A Voyage Round My Father. Other television directing included the adaptation of Laurie Lee's childhood/coming-of-age memoir Cider with Rosie and Jumping the Queue.

Filmography

  • Frontiers
  • All's Well That Ends Well
  • Cider with Rosie
  • That'll Be the Day
  • Swallows and Amazons
  • All Creatures Great and Small
  • The Inventing of America
  • Betzi
  • Facing the Sun
  • Sweet William
  • Hoodwink
  • Can I Help You?
  • Murder Is Easy
  • The Captain's Doll
  • Tornado
  • Murder Elite
  • Jumping the Queue
  • ''Buddy's Song''