Bram van Erkel, the Dutch television director behind the children’s series Q & Q and the drama De zomer van ’45, has died at the age of 94, his family announced on October 27, 2026. He had spent his last years at the Rosa Spier Huis, a home for retired artists in Laren.
Over four decades he worked for the AVRO, KRO, NCRV and VARA, making children’s programmes, comedies and large-scale drama for Dutch public television.
Children’s television
Van Erkel was born in Rotterdam on July 24, 1932. He went to teacher training college, where the future presenter Koos Postema was a classmate, and taught briefly before moving into television in the early 1960s. For the AVRO’s youth department he directed Vrouwtje Bezemsteel (1964-1966), and at the KRO he made the musical children’s show Oebele (1968-1971).
His best-known work was Q & Q, written by Harrie Geelen and broadcast by the KRO in 1974 and 1976. The adventure series follows two teenagers, Aristides Quarles van Ispen and Wilbur Quant, who stumble on a gang of criminals. The first series drew about four million viewers a week, according to the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision. From 1970 to 1978 Van Erkel also presented Klassewerk, a quiz in which primary-school classes competed against each other.
Drama series
Moving to the NCRV, he directed Duel in de diepte (1979) with Rutger Hauer, and Het wassende water (1986), an adaptation of Herman de Man’s novel starring Thom Hoffman that drew close to seven million viewers at its peak. Later work included Het Twentsche paradijs (1988), Rust roest (1989) and the historical series In naam der Koningin (1996).
De zomer van ’45 (1991) won him the Gouden Beeld for best Dutch drama series. After 2000 he worked on the VARA comedies Ben zo terug and Bergen Binnen, and in 2003 made the children’s series Schudden tot het sneeuwt. He also acted with several theatre companies. No cause of death was given.