Actor who founded a stunt team company that provided much of the action on British television in the 1960s and 70s
Derek Ware, who has died of cancer aged 77, was an actor and stuntman and founder of the company Havoc, which was responsible for most of the action sequences that appeared on British television in the 1960s and 70s, including on Doctor Who.
Havoc was formed in 1966 after Ware reasoned that a stunt team of young performers, each of whom specialised in a particular field, would be an ideal package to offer to television companies. He assembled a skilled crew – including the high-fall expert Roy Scammell, the martial artist Alan Chuntz and the gymnast Stuart Fell– and for a time had the monopoly on stunt work at the BBC and on ITV, negotiating good fees for his crew, co-ordinating fights and taking acting roles as required.
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