Malcolm Craddock obituary

Malcolm Craddock, who has died aged 77, was a co-founder of Picture Palace, the television production company behind the swashbuckling adventure series Sharpe (1993-2008) and the Bafta-nominated documentary A Life for a Life (1998), about the miscarriage of justice that saw Stefan Kiszko jailed for 16 years for a crime that he did not commit.

Malcolm’s first venture into mainstream television came after producing TV commercials for 14 years. When an offer came from the celebrated director Jon Amiel to produce Tandoori Nights (1985-87) for Channel 4, Malcolm leapt at the chance. Written initially by Farrukh Dhondy and later by Meera Syal, the comedy about the rivalry between two Indian restaurateurs went on for two series over two years and spawned achain of curry houses of the same name.