Letter: Bernard Kops obituary

Cherry Cookson
<span>Playwright Bernard Kops outside Whitechapel public library in east London, 2005.</span><span>Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian</span>
Playwright Bernard Kops outside Whitechapel public library in east London, 2005.Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian

Bernard Kops’s radio drama output was prolific. His BBC radio commissions kept him going both financially and emotionally at a time when his theatre plays were being turned down. The 1981 play Ezra mentioned in the obituary was actually one of a series of radio/theatre projects, and the radio version I directed, broadcast on Radio 3 as part of the Radio Theatre 81 strand, starred Ian Holm.

I directed at least eight major radio plays for Radio 3 and 4 written by Bernard, starring a range of leading actors. He was a warm and hugely enthusiastic man who lived for his family and his writing, and when this dried up in the theatre, radio was a lifeline.

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