[eccr] Fwd: Producing Popular Television Drama, 1960-82

>'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. (h.m.wheatley /at/ reading.ac.uk).
>
>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 UKs foremost producers of childrens 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
>producers 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 ABCs 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 Televisions 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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