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conceded. “It all often depends how England are doing.
“In that remarkable game at Lords against the West Indies in 2000, the day began with the team having to score 180 to win and we got our biggest rating yet, six million, as England inched to victory losing wickets all the time. That same day only four mil- lion watched Tim Henman at Wimbledon. Yet earlier this sum- mer England had an equally amazing win against Sri Lanka which kind of happened at the last minute and so we got only two million.”
Channel Four has another three summers to run of its pres- ent contract. “Is there a danger of becoming complacent? I still have to keep pinching myself because I really do believe I have the best job in television. It’s a great contract; we come on in May and finish in September so when it comes back the next year it should be as fresh as a daisy for the viewer AND for the people working on the pro- gramme.
“In the end, it’s down to me. I oversee the whole thing and I love it now as much as I did on Day One. We’ve set the standard and alsotrytodoitwithabitofasmile as it’s not in any way life-or-death serious.”
After all, it’s only a game.
LWight fantastic
hat’s the collective noun for a gathering of cine- matographers? A framing, a process... or, how about a grip?
Here’s a remarkable sextet of Britain’s best gathered recently at Pinewood studios to celebrate the 100th birthday of Eric Cross BSC, whose 30 year career as a DP included films like Ships With
H Ha i l ...
arold Pinter, who was
deservedly created a
BAFTA Fellow in 1997, has now become a Companion Of Honour in the Golden Jubilee edition of the Queen’s recent Birthday Honours.
Though perhaps best known for his often enigmatic and some- times beligerent plays, Pinter, now a stately 71, has also been a pro- lific, respected and very success- ful screenwriter for over 40 years adapting his own work, such as The Caretaker, The Birthday Party, and Betrayal, as well as many well known novels, The Servant, The Pumpkin Eater, The Go-Between, The Last Tycoon and The French Lieutenant’s Woman.
There are knighthoods for pop supremo Mick Jagger, whose film work included acting, Ned Kelly, Performance, Freejack, and more recently producing his first fea- ture, Enigma, to some acclaim, as well as two prolific directors Jonathan Miller and Trevor Nunn.
To Carlton TV producer and diversity adviser Parminder Vir, actor David Suchet, TV journalist Peter Taylor and Skillset chief exec- utive Dinah Caine goes the OBE.
Phyllis Dalton, Oscar (Henry V, Dr Zhivago) and BAFTA (The Hireling) winning costume design- er, receives an MBE.
Wings, The Kidnappers, Tiger Bay and Private’s Progress.
There’s 522 years and untold numbers of awards represented by this line-up. Back row – left to right: Douglas Slocombe BSC, Freddie Francis BSC, Alex Thomson BSC (youngest at 73); front row – Jack Cardiff BSC, Eric Cross BSC and Ossie Morris BSC (photo: Richard Blanshard)
Rod Steiger
od Steiger, who won back- to-back BAFTA awards in 1967 and 1968 as Best Foreign Actor for The Pawnbroker and In The Heat Of The Night, has died aged 77.
As big in life as he was on the screen, Steiger was the quintessen- tial Method actor whose taxi scene in On The Waterfront with fellow Actors’ Studio alumnus Marlon Brando is now part of film lore.
Four times married, Steiger often chewed up the screen playing, variously, Napoleon, Al Capone and Mussolini as well as fictional gangsters in film noir classics like The Big Knife and The Harder They Fall.
His guilt-ridden Holocaust sur- vivor in The Pawnbroker and bigoted Deep South sheriff in In The Heat Of The Night were rightly trophy-laden but he should also be remembered for his colourful contributions to No Way To Treat A Lady, The Loved One, Dr Zhivago and even the musical Oklahoma!, as a morose, singing farmhand.
LiddyOldroyd
iddy Oldroyd, who directed all 65 episodes of the BAFTA- winning C4 comedy series, Drop The Dead Donkey, has died of cancer aged 47.
Donkey was her first sitcom and she went on to direct other shows like After Henry, Desmond’s, Spitting Image, Gimme, Gimme, Gimme and The Strangerers.
Mother of two, she also direct- ed a number of children’s dra- mas and won a British comedy award for C4’s serial Underworld.
S
An actress too – and sometime chairman of The White Elephant Club – she will however be best remembered as a major innovator and/or producer in ITV drama with series like A Man Of Our Times,
Jennie, Clayhanger, The Informer, Love Story and Bill Brand. She became a Fellow of the Royal Television Society in 1982.
Monty Berman MBE
onty Berman MBE, whose name is synonymous with the highest-standards of film and theatrical costuming, has died peacefully aged 90 at his home in Monaco with his wife, Maya, at his bedside.
Born 1912 in London’s East End to Russian immigrant parents, he eventually took over the family’s theatrical costumier business from his father Max Berman, rising to become President of Bermans & Nathans after the merger in 1972 of two great family concerns.
A Squadron Leader in the RAF during World War II and, much later, Chief Barker of the Variety Club, Berman was renowned for his charitable work as well as his- involvement in costuming more than 3000 films, shows and TV productions. Lord Puttnam is quoted as saying “Monty has always been a real professional. He belongs to that group of industry figures who care about the business and who always put craft before profit.”
obituaries
Stella Richman
tella Richman, who during her long, varied and influen- tial career in television was, variously, story editor at ATV, Rediffusion1’s head of series and programme controller of LWT
(a board member too), has
died aged 79.
Leo McKern
eo McKern who played John Mortimer’s irascible lawyer Rumpole Of The Bailey for more than 15 years on television has died aged 82.
Although the Australian-born actor became most identified with that colourful role he was a prolific performer from 1946 on both stage and screen. His many films included A Man For All Seasons, Ryan’s Daughter, The Omen and Travelling North. On TV he was in the cult series The Prisoner and Reilly: Ace Of Spies.
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