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'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 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.
For more information and a booking form 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 (from 7th July 2004).
_____________________________________________________________________
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).
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).
Dr Helen Wheatley
Centre for Television Drama Studies
Department of Film, Theatre and Television
University of Reading
Bulmershe Court
Woodlands Avenue
Reading RG6 1HY
0118 378 5894
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