Antonia Bird
Antonia Bird | |
---|---|
Born | 27 May 1951 Kensington, England |
Died | 24 October 2013 London, England, UK | (aged 62)
Occupation(s) | Theatre, television & film director & producer |
Years active | 1968–2013 |
Antonia Jane Bird, FRSA (27 May 1951 – 24 October 2013 [1][2]) was an English producer and director of television drama and feature films.[3][4][5][6][7]
Career
In 1968, at the age of 17, Bird began working in theatre as an assistant stage manager at Coventry Rep.[1] She worked her way up doing a variety of jobs, including acting, stage management, publicity, theatre administration and directing in repertory and regional theatres. She directed a season of plays at The Studio at Chester Theatre and later joined Leicester's Phoenix Theatre as a director.[8]
Bird was named resident director at the Royal Court Theatre in 1978. She was appointed artistic director of the Royal Court's Theatre Upstairs, London's leading venue for new writing. Her first television production was Submariners (1983), an adaptation of one of her Royal Court productions which she directed for the BBC.[9][10] She was recruited by the originators and founding producers of EastEnders, Julia Smith and Tony Holland, to direct the series in 1985; she directed 17 episodes,[11] including the series' first two-hander, between the characters Den Watts (Leslie Grantham) and Angie Watts (Anita Dobson).[12]
The creators of
Bird's film Care, broadcast in 2000, dealt with sexual abuse in a children's home, and won the Best Single Drama TV BAFTA. She received a BAFTA Children's Award for the 2009 BBC documentary Off By Heart, about a national poetry competition for schoolchildren.[13]
Bird developed feature films with
In 2005, she produced Faith, a 4Way Pictures/
In 2010, she and Kay Mellor realised their story about Mellor's mother in A Passionate Woman (BBC 2010), which the duo directed.[citation needed]
In 2011, Cross My Mind, Bird's next film, was set to start shooting.[16]
In 2012, Bird directed the first four episodes of the first series of Peter Moffat's BBC period drama, The Village.[11] Series 2 episode 1 finishes with the tribute 'For Antonia Bird 1951–2013'.
Affiliations
Bird was a member of the American
Death
Bird died from a rare
Filmography
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2013 | The Village | Series 1 [17] | |
2010 | A Passionate Woman | [18] | |
2009 | Off by Heart | TV documentary | |
2006 | Cracker
|
Special Episode | |
2005 | Spooks | ||
2004 | The Hamburg Cell | TV movie [19][20] | |
2003 | Rehab | TV movie [21] | |
2000 | Care | TV movie | |
1993 | Full Stretch | ||
1992 | A Masculine Ending | TV movie [22] | |
1991 | The Men's Room | [23] | |
1988 | Thin Air | [24] | |
1986 – 1987 | Casualty | ||
1985 – 1986 | EastEnders | [25][26] |
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2021 | Oi For England's Green
and Pleasant Land |
Executive Producer | |
2009 | Son of Babylon | Executive Producer | |
2005 | Faith | Producer | |
1999 | Ravenous | [27][28][29] | |
1997 | Face | [30] | |
1995 | Mad Love | [31] | |
1994 | Priest | [32][33] | |
1993 | Safe
|
[34] |
See also
References
- ^ a b c Kate Hardie "Antonia Bird obituary", The Guardian, 28 October 2013
- ^ The day she died is given as 25 October 2013 in Obituary: Antonia Bird, telegraph.co.uk, 27 October 2013; accessed 30 July 2014.
- ^ "BBC Four - From EastEnders to Hollywood: Antonia Bird". BBC. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ^ "BBC Arts - BBC Arts - Bold, brave, empowering: The films of Antonia Bird". BBC. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ^ Simon Farquhar "Obituary: Antonia Bird, Television director with a flair for gritty realism", The Independent, 30 October 2013.
- ^ Submariners, bfi.org.uk; accessed 30 July 2014.
- ^ "Play Not-Quite-For Today", TVCream.co.uk; accessed 30 July 2014.
- ^ IMDb
- ^ From EastEnders to Hollywood: Antonia Bird, BBC Four, 26 May 2016.
- ^ "Antonia Bird, film and TV director, dies". BBC. 26 October 2013. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
- ^ Maane Khatchatourian. "Antonia Bird, Director of 'Ravenous', Dead". Variety. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
- ^ Anderson, John (2 February 2010). "Son of Babylon (Review)". Variety. Retrieved 6 November 2013.
- Screen Daily. Media Business Insight. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
- ^ "BBC One - The Village, Series 1 - Maxine Peake Interview". BBC. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ^ "A Passionate Woman | Film | The Guardian". www.theguardian.com. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ^ "Hamburg Cell | Film | The Guardian". www.theguardian.com. 21 July 2008. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ^ "BBC 2 | Rehab" (PDF).
- ^ "BBC Programme Index". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 12 April 1992. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ^ "BBC Programme Index". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 25 September 1991. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ^ "BBC Programme Index". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 15 April 1988. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ^ "BBC One - EastEnders: Iconic Episodes, Den & Angie". BBC. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ^ "BBC Programme Index". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 24 February 1995. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ^ "FILM REVIEW; His Favorite Dessert? Ladyfingers, of Course! (Published 1999)". 19 March 1999. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ^ "BBC One - Ravenous". BBC. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ^ "Face | Film | The Guardian". www.theguardian.com. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ^ "FILM REVIEW; Young Romance, Volatility And the Repercussions (Published 1995)". 26 May 1995. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ^ "Priest | Film | The Guardian". www.theguardian.com. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ^ "FILM REVIEW; Gay Priest, Iconoclasm And Style (Published 1995)". 24 March 1995. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ^ "BBC Programme Index". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 13 October 1993. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
External links
- Antonia Bird at IMDb
- Antonia Bird biography and filmography at the BFI's Screenonline
Additional sources
- Ciecko, Anne T. "Sex, God, Television, Realism, and the British Women Filmmakers Beeban Kidron and Antonia Bird", Journal of Film and Video, Spring 1999, pp. 22–41
- McCabe, Bob. "East End Heat", Sight and Sound, October 1997, pp. 10–12