Vale: Philip Dalkin

Prolific screenwriter Philip Dawkin, whose vast credits include All Together Now, Col’n Carpenter, The Deep, Stingers & Sea Patrol, has died aged 67

Dalkin (pictured second from right) died last week following a short illness, surrounded by the family.

Over a four-decade career, he wrote for both film and television, across drama, comedy and kids television.

He wrote and co-created and produced All Together Now for Nine and Col’n Carpenter for 10.

He took over the script department of Stingers and reinvigorated the series, writing 27 episodes along the way. He wrote on everything from Sea Patrol, All Saints, Blue Heelers, McLeod’s Daughters, Flipper, Heartbreak High to The Bob Morrison Show, The Brokenwood Mysteries and Water Rats.

Other credits included H20: Just Add Water, The Deep, Get Ace, Wicked Science, The Elephant Princess and Scooter: Secret Agent.

He even received an unprecedented AFI Awards nomination for an episode of Dogstar in the Best Drama Script category – even though it was a kid’s animated series.

He also wrote the first two officially sanctioned China-Australia coproduction feature films – co-writing 33 Postcards and solo writing The Dragon Pearl.

Shane Brennan (NCIS) President of the Australian Writers’ Guild recalls, “I first met Philip in 1985 on a show called Special Squad. He lounged in the doorway, introduced himself and laconically said we should hire him to write an episode because he was really good.

“We did, and he did. And he was.

“But at the time, he was also working on his first feature film, Wills & Burke, and the series was cancelled before we could get him back to write more. It was the beginning of a friendship that spanned four decades.

“I loved Philip’s fierce loyalty to writers and his willingness to go head to head with often risk-averse networks and production executives to protect the words on the page.

“I loved that he was so generous with his time and his talent, mentoring new writers and encouraging the old to try something new.”