REMINDER

Producing Popular Television Drama, 1960-82

A one-day symposium organised under the auspices of the Centre for
Television Drama Studies, University of Reading, Saturday 16th October 2004

‘Producing Popular Television Drama, 1960-82’ is the third in a series
of symposia on the subject of television history to be held at the
University of Reading in 2003-2004, and is one of the outcomes of the
AHRB-funded research project, ‘Cultures of British Television Drama,
1960-82’. Past events in this series include ‘Reconsidering the Canon:
Popular British Television Drama in the Sixties and Seventies’ (September
2003), and ‘Breaking Boundaries in Television Historiography: Historical
Research and the Television Archive’ (January 2004). You can find out
more
about these events and the project as a whole at the following website:
http://www.rdg.ac.uk/FD/Research/cbtd.htm.

‘Producing Popular Television Drama, 1960-82’ will offer a series of
‘in conversation’ panels/interviews with key producers, writers, and
directors of popular television drama who were working in the industry
during the period our research project is concerned with (1960-82).
Confirmed speakers so far include Anna Home, Troy Kennedy Martin, Verity
Lambert, Phillip Saville, Irene Shubik and Leonard White, who will all
speak
about their work in the field of television drama during this period and
after (brief professional biographies of these speakers can be found at the
end of this message). As a formative era in the history  of British
television drama, we are particularly interested in talking to the creators
of popular drama about the issues of creativity and experimentation in
television drama production during the sixties and seventies. It is also
hoped that this event will go some way towards establishing how
distinctions
between the forms of popular British television drama and flagship
‘serious’ drama, were dependent on institutional forces and conflicts
within and between television institutions, including the regional
organisation of TV production, changes in policy and regulation, and the
everyday detail of production practices. The organisers of the symposium
also hope that the day will provide an important opportunity for scholars
of
television history and significant programme makers to talk, both formally
and informally, about the past, present and future of television drama in
Britain.

Registration fee, including buffet lunch: £10 (£5 students/unwaged).
Please let us know as soon as possible if you wish to attend. A booking
form
is attached to this message

For more information contact Dr. Helen Wheatley, Department of Film,
Theatre
& Television, University of Reading, Bulmershe Court, Reading, RG6 1HY –
email. [log in to unmask]

Booking forms can also be found on this website:
http://www.rdg.ac.uk/FD/Research/TVsymposium.htm.

___________________________________________

Biographies

Anna Home is one of the UK’s foremost producers of children’s
television
drama, who began work in television in 1964, just as Children's and Women's
Programmes merged to form Family Programmes. One of the initial
producer’s
on the storytelling programme, ‘Jackanory’, Home went on from this to
direct and produce home grown drama for BBC Children's television, and
became executive producer of all of the department's drama output by 1975,
during which time she oversaw the development of ‘Grange Hill’ and the
teen drama ‘Maggie’. On leaving the BBC in 1981 she became Controller
of
Programmes South-East at TVS, and headed up drama serials such as ‘The
Haunting of Cassie Palmer’, ‘Knights of God’, and the inter-regional
play anthology ‘Dramarama’. On her return to the BBC in 1986, Home was
made overall Head of Children's Programmes, reviving Sunday teatime
'classic' dramas, including the ‘Chronicles of Narnia’. One of her
final
credits at the BBC was as Executive Producer on an expensive remake of
‘Children of the New Forest’. A recipient of a BAFTA lifetime
achievement award and, in 1993, an OBE, Home has written about children's
television history and her own career memoir ‘Into the Box of Delights’
in 1993. She is currently chief executive for the Children's Film and
Television Foundation, helping to develop outside scripts for children's
films and television. Anna Home will be interviewed by Professor Máire
Messenger Davies (University of Ulster, Coleraine).
Troy Kennedy Martin's first television play was transmitted in 1958 and
with
an adaptation of Gillian Slovo's novel ‘Red Dust’ recently filmed his
screenwriting career now spans six decades. Best known for creating ‘Z
Cars’ in the early 1960s and for the seminal 1980s nuclear thriller
‘Edge of Darkness’, he has also written episodes for series such as
‘Redcap’, ‘Colditz’ and ‘The Sweeney’, been responsible for
major serials such as ‘The Old Men at the Zoo’ and ‘Reilly - Ace of
Spies’, and for TV movies such as ‘Hostile Waters’. His eclectic
career has embraced experimental drama with ‘Diary of a Young Man’,
Hollywood movies – ‘The Italian Job’ and ‘Kelly's Heroes’ - and
even a sitcom, while his influential 1964 polemic against naturalism in
television drama, 'Nats Go Home', has become a key text for television
drama
studies. Troy Kennedy Martin will be interviewed by Lez Cooke (Manchester
Metropolitan University).

Verity Lambert's long and varied career began in 1956 as a secretary and
later PA to Ted Kotcheff at ABC working on ‘Armchair Theatre’. After a
brief spell in the USA, she accepted an approach from Sidney Newman in 1963
to produce ‘Dr Who’, becoming the youngest producer at the BBC and the
Drama Department's only woman producer. This was the beginning of a career
in series drama at the BBC that lasted until 1971. After leaving the BBC,
she went to London Weekend Television, where she produced, amongst other
series drama, ‘Budgie’ (1971-72) before becoming Head of Drama at
Thames
in 1974. During her time at Thames, Lambert produced highly acclaimed
popular drama series and single plays, including ‘Rock Follies’ (1976),
‘Rumpole of the Bailey’ (1978-92) and ‘The Naked Civil Servant’
(1975). In 1976, she ran Euston Films for Thames, later becoming Chief
Executive (1979). During this period she was executive producer for series
such as ‘Out’ (1978), ‘Minder’ (1979-94) and ‘Widows’ (1983).
After a spell as Director of Production at Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment,
Lambert set up her own independent company in 1985, Cinema Verity, which
she
continues to run. Cinema Verity has been responsible for both mainstream
films (‘Cry in the Dark’, 1988) and some of the most highly-regarded
and
popular drama series on commercial television, including Alan Bleasedale's
‘GBH’ (1991) for C4 and two series of Lynda La Plante's follow up to
‘Widows’, and the 2nd series of ‘Jonathan Creek’ for the BBC.
Verity
Lambert will be interviewed by Dr. Stephen Lacey (Manchester Metropolitan
University).

Philip Saville's long career in film and television spans seven decades.
Starting as an actor in the 1940s he turned to directing in the 1950s,
working mainly at ABC Television where he directed more than forty
‘Armchair Theatre’ plays from 1956-64, including Harold Pinter's ‘A
Night Out’ and Robert Muller's ‘Afternoon of a Nymph’. Although he
has
directed seven feature films the vast majority of Saville's work has been
for television (over 90 dramas in 49 years) and he developed a reputation
for innovation in television drama that made him one of the leading
television directors for nearly thirty years. His extensive oeuvre includes
‘Hamlet at Elsinore’, ‘Gangsters’, ‘Count Dracula’, ‘Boys
from
the Blackstuff’, ‘The Journal of Bridget Hitler’, ‘The Life and
Loves of a She Devil’, ‘Fellow Traveller’ and ‘The Buccaneers’.
Philip Saville will be interviewed by Lez Cooke (Manchester Metropolitan
University).

Irene Shubik has a distinguished career in British television and played a
key part in the production of many significant and memorable programmes.
She
worked with Sydney Newman and Leonard White on ABC's ground-breaking drama
anthology series ‘Armchair Theatre’, produced the science fiction
anthology series ‘Out Of This World’ and ‘Out Of The Unknown’, and
also worked in the 1960s and 1970s on BBC's ‘Wednesday Play’ and
‘Play
For Today’ series. She then produced ‘Rumpole Of The Bailey’ (1978)
for Thames Television, produced ‘Staying On’ (1980) for Granada and
devised ‘The Jewel In The Crown’ (1984).  She is the author of ‘Play
for Today: The Evolution of Television Drama’ (Manchester University
Press
1975, revised 2000) which offers a fascinating insight into the processes
of
drama production, and she contributed to the volume ‘British Television
Drama: Past Present & Future’ (2000). Irene Shubik will be interviewed by
Dr. Jonathan Bignell (University of Reading)

Leonard White has had a long and varied career as in television drama,
producing over 350 teleplays (single and series drama) for British
television. He produced 165 single plays – mostly commissioned new
writing
– for ABC’s ‘Armchair Theatre’ alone. Following an early career as
an actor (in film, theatre, and television) and a director in the theatre,
White trained in television directing and producing at the CBC in Toronto
in
1957. From there he moved back to television drama production in Britain,
working for TWW-TV, Tyne Tees, Southern Television, HTV, Scottish
Television, and the BBC, as well as a ten year stint as executive producer
at ABC Television’s Teddington Studios. Among his many other credits,
White was the producer of ‘Armchair Mystery Theatre’ and ‘Armchair
Theatre’, ‘Inside Story’, ‘Police Surgeon’, ‘The Avengers’,
‘Out of This World’, ‘Playhouse’, ‘Premiere’, ‘The
Pretenders’, ‘King of the Castle’, and ‘Shadow of the Stone’.
Leonard White will be interviewed by Dr. Helen Wheatley (University of
Reading).