{{Short description|British screenwriter (1943–2008)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2014}} {{Use British English|date=June 2014}} {{Infobox person | name = Christopher Wicking | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_date = 1943 | birth_place = London, England<br>United Kingdom | death_date = 2008 | death_place = Toulouse, France | education = | occupation = Film and television screenwriter | spouse = the stage director Lily Susan Todd | parents = | children = }} [[File:Christopher Wicking grave stone - City of London Cemetery, Newham, London England.jpg|thumb|Christopher Wicking grave stone in the City of London Cemetery, Newham]] '''Christopher Wicking''' (10 January 1943 – 13 October 2008), also known as '''Chris Wicking''', was a British screenwriter, often in the horror and fantasy genres, notably for the British arm of American International Pictures and with Hammer Film Productions,<ref name="Independent obituary">{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/christopher-wicking-screenwriter-and-critic-who-wrote-for-hammer-and-worked-on-the-adaptation-of-972804.html|title=Christopher Wicking: Screenwriter and critic who wrote for Hammer and worked on the adaptation of 'Absolute Beginners' | newspaper=The Independent | location=London | first=John | last=Jeremy | date=25 October 2008 | accessdate=15 February 2020}}</ref> for whom he was the last 'resident script editor'.<ref name="Guardian obituary"/><ref name="chris">All's Well That Ends: an interview with Chris Wicking Monthly Film Bulletin; London Vol. 55, Iss. 658, (1 November 1988): 322.</ref>
==Early life== Wicking was born in London and educated at Coopers' Company's School.<ref name="Independent obituary"/> While studying at St Martin's School of Art, London, he determined to break into the film industry.<ref name="Guardian obituary"/>
==Movies== He began as a film booking clerk for Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors and, while working as an assistant film editor on documentaries<ref name="Times obituary"/> in London, he began writing profiles of directors for the influential French movie magazine ''Cahiers du cinéma''.<ref name="Guardian obituary"/> He was a lifelong fan of westerns and wrote movie feature articles and interviews about the genre for various British magazines including the ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' and ''Time Out''.<ref name="Times obituary">{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article5057715.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100523122203/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article5057715.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 May 2010|title= The Times, 1st November, 2008 | location=London | date=1 November 2008 | accessdate=30 April 2010}}</ref> He also continued to write for French magazines including ''Cahiers du cinéma'', ''Positif''<ref name="Times obituary"/> and ''Midi Minuit Fantastique''.<ref name="Wicking's website">{{cite web|url=http://www.christopherwicking.com/|title=Wicking's incomplete official website, written by Wicking himself, shortly before his death|accessdate=7 February 2009}}{{Dead link|date=July 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
His first credit as a screenwriter<ref name="Independent obituary"/> was on the 1969 movie ''The Oblong Box'', initially with Michael Reeves and, after Reeves' death, for director Gordon Hessler.<ref name="Guardian obituary"/> Although Wicking was only credited for "additional dialogue", Hessler later verbally credited him as writing the entire filmed script.<ref name="Times obituary"/> Wicking worked on the troubled ''Blood from the Mummy's Tomb''.<ref name="film">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/the-curse-of-blood-from-the-mummys-tomb/|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|magazine=Filmink|date=26 December 2024|access-date=26 December 2024|title=The Curse of Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb}}</ref>
==Television== Wicking also wrote episodes<ref name="Guardian obituary"/> for British TV series ''The Professionals (1979–1982),<ref name="Times obituary"/> Jemima Shore Investigates'' and the TV dramas ''The Way to Dusty Death'' (1995),<ref name="Times obituary"/> ''On Dangerous Ground'' (1996).<ref name="Times obituary"/> and ''Powers'' (2004).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.startrader.co.uk/Action%20TV/guide2000/powers.htm|title=Action TV Online - Powers episode guide}}</ref>
==Later years== He taught screenwriting at various UK institutions including the Royal College of Art, the Arvon Foundation,<ref name="Guardian obituary"/> the National Film and Television School, Leeds Metropolitan University and King Alfred's College, Winchester; and, in Ireland, at University College Dublin,<ref name="Guardian obituary"/> the Dublin Institute of Technology and the Irish Film Institute's Education Department.<ref name="Wicking's website"/> It was said that he had a fondness for "termite art" - less "precious" work that valued personal vision and idiosyncrasy.<ref name="Guardian obituary"/>
Wicking died of a heart attack<ref name="Guardian obituary">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/feb/06/obituary-christopher-wicking|title= Guardian, 6th February, 2009 | work=The Guardian | location=London | date=6 February 2009 | accessdate=30 April 2010 | first=Gavin | last=Gaughan}}</ref> in Toulouse, France, on 13 October 2008.
He is buried at the City of London Cemetery and Crematorium.
==Works== ===Feature films=== *''The Oblong Box'' (1969) (additional dialogue)<ref name="Independent obituary"/><ref name="Times obituary"/> *''Scream and Scream Again'' (1970) *''Cry of the Banshee'' (1970) *''Venom'' (1971) *''Murders in the Rue Morgue'' (1971) (co-writer)<ref name="Independent obituary"/> *''Blood from the Mummy's Tomb'' (1971) *''Demons of the Mind'' (1972) *''Medusa'' (1973) *''To the Devil a Daughter'' (1976) (co-writer)<ref name="Independent obituary"/><ref name="Times obituary"/> *''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' (co-writer) (1981)<ref name="Times obituary"/> *''Absolute Beginners'' (1986) (co-writer)<ref name="Independent obituary"/><ref name="Times obituary"/> *''Dream Demon'' (1988)
===Television Episodes=== *'''The Professionals''' ''The Madness of Mickey Hamilton'' (1979);<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7b1c40ea|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190815142614/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7b1c40ea|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 August 2019|title=The Madness of Mickey Hamilton (1979)|website=BFI}}</ref> ''The Gun'' (1980);<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b75c90768|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210727111848/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b75c90768|url-status=dead|archive-date=27 July 2021|title=The Gun (1980)|website=BFI}}</ref> ''Discovered in a Graveyard'' (1982)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b75c921dd|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190815142145/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b75c921dd|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 August 2019|title=Discovered in a Graveyard (1982)|website=BFI}}</ref>
===Book=== *Vahimagi, Tise + Wicking, Christopher (1979). ''The American Vein: Directors and Directions in Television''. Talisman Books {{ISBN|0-905983-16-5}} / {{ISBN|978-0-905983-16-5}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|id=0926924|name=Christopher Wicking}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wicking, Christopher}} Category:1943 births Category:English male screenwriters Category:2008 deaths Category:Writers from London Category:20th-century English screenwriters Category:20th-century English male writers Category:Burials at the City of London Cemetery and Crematorium