Biography
Betty Willingale was a British television producer and script editor. She joined the BBC in the 1940s, working initially in the script library before becoming a script editor on numerous drama serials from the 1960s onwards.
At the BBC she worked on adaptations including I, Claudius (1976) and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979) as script editor, and produced serials such as Mansfield Park (1983) and Fortunes of War (1987). She received BAFTA nominations for the latter two. After leaving the BBC she freelanced, contributing to Poirot and Jeeves and Wooster.
Willingale optioned the Caroline Graham novels that became Midsomer Murders (1997) and produced the pilot and early series; she remained involved as consultant producer until 2019. In 2009 she received a BAFTA special award for her contribution to television. She died in 2021.
