Fred Hamilton

Last updated 09 January 2020

Fred Hamilton
(this image appears for illustrative purposes only and no attempt is made to supersede any copyright attributed to it)

Fred Hamilton

Died: Saturday 28th November 2015

IMDB


After emigrating to Britain in the 1950s, Fred Hamilton joined the BBC's Film Department where he learnt the ropes and was quickly promoted to Film Cameraman. Coverage of sports events soon became his bread and butter job, followed by assignments to armed conflict areas in many parts of the world. Obtaining footage to be broadcast on Panorama and other current-affairs programmes often under perilous circumstances. He teamed up with reporter James Mossman and recordist Freddy Downton, surviving the jungles of Borneo, the battlefields of Vietnam and the Middle East.

As a member of the Film Department, he would be called to take part in various projects including iconic shows such as Doctor Who, starring Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee, as well as a numerous episodes of Z Cars, Out of the Unknown, Doomwatch, Colditz and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

With colour television still in its infancy, Fred filmed the eye-opening sequences for Paul Temple with directors Douglas Camfield and Mike Ferguson. In 1977 he was brought in by director David Wickes as establishing cameraman on the BBC's ambitious first all-film television series Target, whose production history was almost as spectacular as the on-screen events depicted. Fred became a man for action scenes before the phrase even entered the BBC vocabulary, always on the lookout for that unusual, extra dynamic shot.