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Johnny Goodman

Producer
15 December 1927 to 30 January 2015

Chairman of BAFTA from 1987 to1989 

A diligent production executive with Lew Grade’s production company ITC Entertainment, Goodman worked on many of British television’s iconic programmes of  the 1960s and 70s. 

These include The Baron (1966-67) which starred Steve Forrest as an undercover agent posing as an antiques dealer in swinging London;  The Saint (1962-66) featuring Roger Moore as Simon Templar; and The Champions (1968-69) about three espionage agents granted special powers after crash landing in Tibet.

When The Saint’s run ended, Goodman was integral – with colleague Bob Baker – in setting up another UK based series for its star Roger Moore. The Persuaders! (1971-72) featured many of the glamorous elements of the previous hit, but benefited from the odd couple pairing between Moore’s urbane Lord Brett Sinclair with Tony Curtis as his partner-in-solving-crime Danny Wilde.

Following his years with ITC Goodman entered another fruitful phase of his career with Thames Television’s Euston Films, serving as executive in charge of production on a succession of primetime hits.  These include the crime drama Out (1978), wartime bomb disposal series Danger UXB (1979), Quatermass (1979), ratings favourite Minder (1979-84), Fox (1980) and  Lynda La Plante’s Widows (1983).

There was a more epic scale to The Flame Trees of Thika (1981) and Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983)  both of which were recognised with multiple BAFTA nominations.  Soon after, from 1987, Goodman served for two years as chairman of the Academy but remained actively involved in production with credits for John Mortimer’s Paradise Postponed (1986), Monsignor Quixote (1987) and the Channel 4 series Lost Belongings (1987).

Having begun his pre-ITC television career on quality productions like No Hiding Place (1959), Goodman grew more involved in feature films towards its end, executive producing such diverse titles as The Tamarind Seed (1974), A Month In The Country (1987) and Bellman and True (1987).