The film and television director Herbert Wise, who has died aged 90, made an impressive contribution to television drama over five decades. Most notably, he earned plaudits (and Bafta and Emmy nominations) as the director of all 13 episodes of I, Claudius (1976), the Robert Graves adaptation starring Derek Jacobi; but his credits appeared on a wide range of programmes, including Z Cars, Upstairs Downstairs, The Norman Conquests, Rumpole of the Bailey, Breaking the Code, and both The Woman in White and The Woman in Black. In 1979 he won a Bafta for his outstanding service to television.
As Herbert Weisz, he arrived in Britain in January 1939 on the Kindertransport, a 14-year-old Jewish refugee from Vienna without a word of English. He was fostered by the family of a wealthy Surrey accountant, who almost immediately inflicted Herbie’s first culture-shock with the offer of a hot drink. Herbie, dreaming of coffee or chocolate, lifted the steaming mug to his lips and cried out in dismay. It was Bovril.
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