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Vale Ted Roberts

It is with great sadness the AWG reports that Ted Roberts, the highly respected television writer and producer, died of cancer on Monday February 23.  He was 83. 

In a career spanning more than 40 years he wrote more than 500 hours of television drama: Skippy, Homicide, Elephant Boy, Boney, Lindsay’s Boy, Rush, Patrol Boat, A Country Practice, Willing and Able, G.P., Mission: Impossible, Water Rats, and Blue Heelers. In addition, he was supervising producer on Water Rats.

He is survived by three children, five grandchildren, and the publisher Pat Woolley, who loved him for 16 years.

Close friends, industry colleagues and family are invited to the wake to mourn and praise him, on Saturday at 2pm in Ultimo, Sydney. Email your interest to books@fastbooks.com.au before Friday 6pm for further details.

Grateful thanks to everyone at Wolper Jewish Hospital, Woollahra, who cared for him so tenderly the last 6 weeks of his life, and to the medical and radiation oncology teams at Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, Camperdown, who did their best to prolong his grand life.

Tony Morphett (AWG life member) shares these memories of his friend and colleague of over 45 years:

Ted Roberts was a prince and as well as being a prince and a lovely bloke he was a fine screenwriter, one of the best of the best, and also a very good producer/show runner when he put his hand to it. His list of credits is like a potted history of Australian television drama, starting with Skippy (ever versatile he also wrote a song about Skippy) and moving through Crawford police dramas, Certain Women, Boney (1st Series), Rush, Patrol Boat, Snowy River The McGregor Saga (also produced), Blue Heelers and Water Rats (also produced).

He wrote two feature films: Bush Christmas and that gem of a movie The Settlement, both marked by the warmth and larrikin humour which were so much part of him. Awards came: four AWGIES, the Henry Lawson Festival Award and the Richard Lane Award in 2003 for his tireless service through the Australian Writers’ Guild to the cause of Australian screenwriters.

I first met Ted in the late 60s when I was just starting out and he was a few years into what would become a glittering career; over the coming years we worked together on a number of series and he was a dream to work with. In many ways he was an archetypal Irish-Australian, liked a beer, sailed in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, and had a huge repertoire of Irish and Australian folk songs.

He and his first wife Beth were witnesses at Inga’s and my wedding, and stood as godparents to our daughter Sarah. After Beth tragically died of cancer, fate threw him together with the distinguished independent publisher Pat Woolley and Pat and he stayed partners to the end. I’ll miss his warmth, his laughter and his total professionalism

Goodbye old friend.