I had a very productive time in the noughties working on documentaries docu/dramas and dramas working closely with Richard Curson Smith, Chris Durlacher and Mark Lewis.
I even got to shoot a cowboy movie
Home 2003 - BBC Home is a paranoid, darkly comic, hour-long television film made by the BBC and directed by Richard Curson Smith. He adapted it from a short story by J. G. Ballard in 2003. The plot follows a middle class man who chooses to abandon the outside world and restrict himself to not leaving his house, becoming a hermit. He soon starts to destroy his furniture to rid his life of clutter. The viewer follows his plight through both his video diary (in which he addresses the viewer) and through traditional film cameras. All he has is the food in his cupboard, and once the bills run out will have no gas or electricity - his mind soon becomes fevered. As he runs out of food he begins to consume shampoo, plants from his garden, his neighbours' cats (which he catches with a home-made trap) and anything else which crosses his path. In his increasing fear of the outside world he kills a man who comes to reclaim the television who insists upon entering, but refuses to hand over a cable which connects his video camera to his television. He claims the house is revealing itself to him, beginning in the attic: a bright light appears and the room expands - this pattern continues and develops. Upon viewing his video diaries he notices the effect does not appear, and is concerned that it may be limited to his mind. The film ends with him killing a friend who breaks into his house following her concern for him - he soon puts her in his freezer and climbs in after her. Cast * Antony Sher as Gerald Ballantyne * Matilda Ziegler as Paula Goddard * Deborah Findlay as Margaret Ballantyne * Guy Henry as Martin * Keith Allen as Repo Man * Simon Nagra as Policeman
The Yellow House - BBC 2007 Directed by Chris Durlacher It is the autumn of 1888 and artist Paul Gauguin has finally agreed to come to stay in the four rooms rented by Vincent Van Gogh in his yellow house in the countryside.John Simm stars as Vincent Van Gogh in The Yellow House, a feature-length drama that tells the moving human story of the most influential and explosive housemates in art history. For just nine weeks, in late 1888, Van Gogh and Gauguin share a home, The Yellow House, in Arles, southern France.
Pinochet's Last Stand - BBC 2006 In 1998, former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet visits Britain for medical treatment. On being tipped off, Amnesty International seize the chance to bring to justice a man they insist is guilty of multiple human rights violations. The newly-elected Labour government is initially amenable, and soon Pinochet is under house arrest (albeit in a detached house in leafy suburbia) and awaiting extradition to Spain. However, Amnesty are up against the complexities of British law, the vacillations of Home Secretary Jack Straw, Pinochet's former ally Margaret Thatcher, and the Senator's own vast reserves of cunning. Director: Richard Curson Smith Stars: Derek Jacobi, Phyllida Law, Peter Capaldi
Surrealissimo: The Scandalous Success of Salvador Dali (2002) Surealisimo In 1934, Salvador Dali was put on trial by his fellow Surrealists for offences against the movement. This surreal comedy-drama examines the trial and the events that led up to it. Director: Richard Curson Smith
Gunfight at the OK Coral - The story of Wyatt Earp -filmed on a standing set near Phoenix Arizona - I never thought I would get to photograph a Cowboy film - a blast
Agatha Christie - A life in pictures BBC 2007 Drama telling the remarkable true story of Agatha Christie, the queen of crime and the best-selling novelist of the 20th century. Christie kept her life and her world a mystery but she did tell stories about herself, in her fiction and autobiographical writing. Directed and Written by Richard Curson Smith.
Soviet War Scare -1983 The Brink of Apocalypse -2007 On November 8th 1983 World War III almost began, and with it a nuclear apocalypse. This day is now acknowledged as one of most perilous on the whole of the Cold War. Director: Henry Chancellor
WIRE IN THE BLOOD: 'Falls the Shadow - 2008 Tony attends a conference of psychologists, where he is a guest speaker and where he meets an old friend Rachel White, another delegate. He has drinks with her in her room but leaves before having sex. Next morning she is found dead and he was the last person to see her alive, marking him as a suspect. Then another psychologist is also murdered whilst Alex investigates a serial killer whose targets are prostitutes. Director: Richard Curson Smith
Consenting Adults. - BBC 2007 This movie is a BBC Four television dramatisation of the events of the Wolfenden committee, whose report led to the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Britain. Set in the 1950s, this movie depicts social attitudes towards homosexuality in Britain at that time, largely focusing on the committee's chair, Jack Wolfenden (Charles Dance), and his own homosexual son Jeremy (Sean Biggerstaff).This is a film based on the life of the Wolfenden family and some characters in the city of Reading, England. Wolfenden whose son, Jeremy, professes to being Queer, is asked to chair a Home Office committee to look at the laws on Prostitution and Homosexuality. The story follows at least three story arcs. ONE: Wolfenden starting up the committee and dealing with the people who are interviewed, then coming to a decision about the laws surrounding prostitution and homosexuality. TWO: Jeremy Wolfenden's life as a young homosexual man in 1950s Britain. His arrival and success at Oxford, his stresses as a 'queer' man and the debates between him and his Father. THREE: Labourer, Charlie Bullard's relationship with '23 men' and particularly with Parker the baker with whom he becomes obsessed. Bullard is arrested and charged with 'offenses' and sees his former partners sentenced to 'an average of 3 and a half years in gaol'. The intertwining stories tell the story of the what it was like to be homosexual in 1950s England. Directed by Richard Curson Smith
Escape from Colditz - three episodes from the Channel 4 series, chronicling the extraordinary attempts of POWs to escape from WWII's most infamous prison: Colditz. The 16th century castle, perched on a cliff in a remote part of East Germany, was regarded as inescapable by the Nazis - until a series of jailbreaks proved them wrong. The episode titles are: 'The Escape Academy'; 'Best of British'; and 'Eureka!'. We filmed this reconstruction of escapes in the buildings that the prisoners were kept, taking some of the survivors back and exploring their escapades - Unification had happened a short time before and we were working deep into what was East Germany where the cuisine was somewhat challenging for vegetarians and the locals were suspicious of us decadent westerners. it was also bloody cold as we filme at the end of 1999 and again in January 2000.
D-DAY -THE ULTIMATE CONFLICT Mark Lewis Windfall/Ch 5 Winner New York Festival - Best History Documentary Nomination for a BAFTA best Documentary 2005
I worked with Andrew Chator on this historical documentary recreating scenes and using foreground material to obscure the sometimes lack of detail. For instance we tracked through a bit of garden trellis to act as a Tudor window while looking at the Tower of London
George Orwell - A Life in Pictures George Orwell: A Life in Pictures is a 2003 BBC Television docudrama telling the life story of the British author George Orwell. Chris Langham plays the part of Orwell. No surviving sound recordings or video of the real George Orwell have been found. Directed by Chris Durlacher I was nominated for a BAFTA - Photography Factual Awards: International Emmy 2004 for Best Arts Programme Grierson Award 2004 for Best Documentary on the Arts
The Haunted Airman - BBC 2006 The Haunted Airman is a psychological thriller film first aired on BBC Four on 31 October 2006. Adapted from Dennis Wheatley's 1948 novel The Haunting of Toby Jugg, it was directed by Chris Durlacher and starred Robert Pattinson in the title role, with Rachael Stirling and Julian Sands in supporting roles. Directed by Chris Durlacher Produced by Chris Durlacher Screenplay by Chris Durlacher Based on The Haunting of Toby Jugg by Dennis Wheatley Starring Robert Pattinson Rachael Stirling Julian Sands Music by Daniel Pemberton Cinematography Jeff Baynes Edited by Jake Martin Production company BBC Distributed by Entertainment One BBC Four Revolver Entertainment Release date 31 October 2006 (UK) Running time 68 minutes Country UK Language English
Low Tide - 2008 Low Tide tells the story of the last three days of a woman's life. Kathy is dying of cancer and is being nursed at home. Her husband Tom cooks and cares for her but is unable to offer her emotional support and keeps himself apart, playing his music or drinking with a recently widowed friend. Kathy forms a strong attachment to her visiting nurse, confiding in her about her past affairs, her ambiguous feelings towards Tom and her fear of death. Her closest friend comes to visit and a rift is healed. Memories haunt her and eventually, after a painful confrontation, she and Tom attempt to come to terms with her infidelities, their unhappy marriage and the loss of their only child. Director: Jon Sanders
It is the largest palace on Earth, in the heart of Beijing. To the emperors of China, this was the center of the world. However, recently translated chronicles of the Ming era tell a different story, a story of greed, treachery, and danger. How the magnificent Forbidden City came to be built is told by the main people who witnessed it. Director: Mark Lewis Writer: Mark Lewis Stars: Jacqueline Chow, Thuan Chye Kee, Tony Quek | Filmed at Hengdian studios China
Surviving Disaster - The San Francisco Earthquake - 2006 - Directed by Dan Reed. This is a program build round the personal stories of people who survived the 1989 earthquake in San Francisco where a double decker motorway collapsed. For budgetary reasons the BBC decided to recreate a section of collapse motorway in an old chicken processing factory on the outskirts of Las Vagas. We were staying near a large hospital in a very sad part of town where several people who presumably had lost their money were living out of shopping trollies. Some of our crew, hired locally were gamers and there were occasions where they were stealing tools from each other. Perhaps the unhappiest shoot I ever did, lots of hand held work with a heavy Betacam (digi)and lots of smoke on set to recreate the original disaster. I ended up with a hernia and a dislike for the underbelly of America.
By the close of the eleventh century, Jerusalem had been in Muslim hands for over four hundred years, but in 1095 Pope Urban II launched an unprecedented military campaign to seize it back – a ‘Crusade’ to purge the Holy Land of ‘the infidel’. Over sixty thousand Christian warriors would journey three thousand miles and for almost three years to reclaim the Holy City in the name of God. In a series of epic battles and bloody massacres, tens of thousands would die as the crusaders inched ever closer towards Jerusalem. This was the clash of the Crescent and the Cross. Directors: Stuart Elliott, Mark Lewis The reconstruction we did on this program was filmed in Ouarzazate Morocco where there are a lot of standing sets left over from feature films shot there. Being a desert area the sets last quite a few years and some are quite magnificent, allowing TV companies to make extravagant looking reconstructions. I was awarded an Emmy for Lighting Direction and Scenic Design!!!!
A list of work in the Noughties.
Who Framed Jesus (TV Movie documentary) 2009
Latin Music USA (TV Series) (1 episode) - The Salsa Revolution 2009
Cleopatra: Portrait of a Killer (TV Movie documentary 2008
Low Tide(Movie) (2008)
A Woman in Love and War: Vera Brittain (TV Movie) 2008
Wire in the Blood (TV Series) (2 episodes) 2008
- Falls the Shadow: Part 2(2008)
- Falls the Shadow: Part 1(2008)
Britain from Above (TV Series documentary) (1 episode) (director of photography) 2008
Secrets of the Forbidden City (TV Movie documentary) 2007
Wilfred Owen: A Remembrance Tale (TV Movie documentary) 2007
Soviet War Scare 1983 (TV Movie documentary) (director of photography) 2007
Consenting Adults (TV Movie) (director of photography) 2007
The Yellow House (TV Movie) 2007
O K Corral (TV Movie) (director of photography) 2006
The Haunted Airman (TV Movie) 2006
Suez: A Very British Crisis (TV Movie documentary) 2006
Pinochet's Last Stand (TV Movie) 2005
Crusades: Crescent & the Cross (TV Movie documentary) (director of photography)
* Won Emmy for Lighting Direction and Scenic Design 2004
Agatha Christie: A Life in Pictures (TV Movie) 2004
D-Day: The Ultimate Conflict (TV Movie documentary) (lighting cameraman) 2003
*Winner New York Festival - Best History Documentary
*Nomination for a BAFTA best Documentary 2005
George Orwell: A Life in Pictures (TV Movie documentary)
*Nominated BAFTA best cinematography 2002
Surrealissimo: The Scandalous Success of Salvador Dali (TV Movie) (director of photography) 2001
Fire, Plague, War and Treason (TV Mini-Series documentary) 2001
Secret History (TV Series documentary) (1 episode) - Wartime Crime(2001)
Secrets of the Dead(TV Series documentary) (1 episode)
- What Happened to the Hindenburg?(2001)
Thanks for the Mammaries(TV Movie documentary) 2000
I Sold My Cadillac to Diana Dors: The Edmundo Ros Story 2000