Berman was born to
Jewish parents in
London's East End, and educated at
University College School. When
World War II came, Berman was allowed to continue his craft in an army film unit. There, he met and befriended
Robert S. Baker, with whom he would go on to form a lifelong business partnership. In 1948, they founded
Tempean Films, which produced more than 30
B-movies in the 1950s. In 1962, Berman and Baker obtained the television rights to
Leslie Charteris's
The Saint. Unable to sell the rights to
Associated-Rediffusion, then Britain's largest
commercial television company, Berman turned to
Lew Grade's
ITC. This allowed
The Saint to do well in both Britain and in other markets.
Work with Dennis Spooner Berman created more ITC productions, starting with
The Baron, which led to a partnership with
Dennis Spooner, one of the show's writers and Ray Austin, writer director. By 1967 they had launched a production company which created
The Champions,
Department S, its spin-off
Jason King,
Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), and
The Adventurer. A
Guardian journalist later wrote of his work, == Personal life ==