behp0289-john-elliot-cv
John Elliot – cv and redacted follow-up letter.
1947-49. Documentary film directory (Greenpark Productions – work includes Village in the Wheatfield for Central Office of Information. Edinburgh Film Festival selection 1948).
1949-53 In charge of documentary and sequence Film Production, BBC TV. Films produced include Henry Moore (with John Reed and Alan Lawson): Venice Festival Award 1951.
1954-55 Wrote and produced War in the Air (First BBC TV Film series)
1955-56 Film and Television Officer, United Nations, New York. (Films produced include Golden Gate).
1956-60 Writer-Producer, BBC Drama Dept. Work includes: A Man from the Sun (1956); The Bloodless Arena (1957); The Golden Egg (1958); Christmas at Home (1958); Roundabout (1959); High Fidelity (1959); Death in Mind (Dramatised for BBC TV’s Maigret series. 1960?) (Guild of TV Producers and Directors Award 1959); A World of Butterflies (Unperformed stage play, 1960?); Never Die (1960, with Geoffrey Bush); Who pays the Piper? (1960);
1961-62 Assistant Head of Script Dept., BBC TV. Writing includes: Ladies from a Spa (1961); Off Centre; The Man Who Carries a Torch (both 1961); A for Andromeda (serial, with Fred Hoyle, 1961); Andromeda Breakthrough (serial with Fred Hoyle, 1962).
1962-63; Co-author of novels based on the Andromeda series, A for Andromeda (pubd 1962), Andromeda Breakthrough (pubd 1964).
1963-64 Producer of First Night BBC TV Drama series. Wrote The Youngest Profession (BBC TV Play, 1963); Space (a revue, with Elizabeth Holford, 1964?)
1964-67 Free-lance writer. Work includes: Hunt the Man (BBC TV play, 1964); The Truth Game (Love Story, ATV, 1964); Mogul (Format and episodes for BBC TV series 1965); Eugenie Grandat (Dramatisation with Elizabeth Holford, 1965/6); The Troubleshooters (format and episodes for BBC TV series, 1966); Corridors of Power (dramatization for BBC TV, 1966).
1965: A Morning’s Sport (BBC TV Z-Cars series)
1966: The Troubleshooters wins TV Producers Guild award; The Troubleshooters (format and episodes for 1967 & 68 series); Rainbow City (created series format, wrote four episodes and produced and directed series of 5 plays for BBC TV, 1967).
Novel: Long River published 1967.
1967-70 Head of Programmes, BBC South & West Region (Bristol). Work included: Mogul-the Making of a Myth published 1970. The Troubleshooters (Formats & Episodes for 1969, 70, 71 series).
Platonov (adaptation for BBC TV – Rex Harrison production) 1971.; The Saxby Route (episode for BBC TV Brett series, 1971). Corridors of Power (Dramatised for BBC TV, 1969?).
1970 Controller, BBC South & West.
1970-1987 Freelance writer and director. Work done: Shelley (BBC TV Omnibus 1972); Better than the Movies (BBC TV Play, 1972); Flamenco Triangle (BBC TV World About Us 1972-3); The White Hart (BBC TV play series episode 1971); Company Business (BBC TV Softly, Softly series, 1971); Double Dealers BBC Radio & TV drama series: format and episodes, 1972-4); Fall of Eagles (BBC TV drama series: format and episodes – with Elizabeth Holford – 1972-4); The Fox (BBC TV Narrative drama, 1973).
1974: Fall of Eagles book published
Sally Beauchamp (BBC TV Leap in the Dark series, 1975); The Team (ATV drama, 1973); Some of My Best Friends are Vultures (BBC TV Natural History documentary, 1975?); Sisters (BBC TV drama 1975); The Madness (BBC TV drama, 1976?); According to Hoyle (BBC TV feature 1976); Country of the Blind (BBC TV Natural History Doc., 1977).
1977: Novel, Blood Upon the Snow published.
Loved I not Hannah More? (BBC TV narrative drama, 1978); BBC Dramas as follows: So, Who’s sick? 1977; Frontiers of War 1977/78; The Murder Machine, 1978; Hijack to Mogadishu 1979; Dear Harriet (BBC TV narrative drama, 1979); The Fly and the Eagle (BBC Narrative drama, 1980?); The Brack Report (episodes of Thames TV drama series, 1980/81).
1982-1992: The Hofstede (unpublished novel).
Do You think you can Manage? (Video Arts Training Film, 1982); Soon comes Night (BBC TV narrative drama, 1983); Jet Trail (3 BBC TV documentary films 1984/5); Maneaters of Kumaon BBCTV Natural History drama-doc with Martin Booth, 1985-6); Flying for Fun BBC TV narrative drama, 1987-8); Time to Dance (HTV drama, with Julia Elliot, recorded 1988); A Man from the Sun (1956) repeated on BBC 2 as part of archival series mounted by the BFI, tied in with publication of Black and White in Colour book by Stephen Bourne (1992).
Partially redacted text of letter from John Elliot to Alan Lawson, 1st August 1993:
Dear Alan
… I must confess to being pretty appalled by the quality of my voice – entirely my fault, I hadn’t realised how bad my speech has got. Also I made three mistakes of fact: I was Assistant Head – not Head – of TV Script Dept., in 1961/2; Ian Atkins did not die, but retired (he died later); and Regional ‘Narrative Drama’ from Bristol was not launched by The Fox but by a series of half-hour films called Country Tales to which I contributed The Postmistress in or around 1971 or 72. And David Porter was Head of Script at Birmingham not Bristol.
… One thing I am tempted to mention, though I deliberately withheld it the other day, has to do with the Fall of Eagles series, which was little noticed in this country, but was an export success, heading the BBC’s overseas drama list for a long time. Briefly it ran to 13 episodes (produced by Stuart Burge) and ended with the first days of the Russian Revolution, i.e. Lenin’s return to St Petersburg in a sealed train. That episode was splendidly scripted by Trevor Griffith as I mentioned, and I wrote a further episode, about the days of the Kerensky government to follow that and launch a further series. My script was liked and bought, but the new series was never made. It was to be a dramatized history of the Comintern, called The Defence of Democracy and was an account of the death of liberal democracy in Europe between 1917 and 1939. It covered The General Strike, Bela Kun’s attacks in Hungary, the Fascist-Communist struggles in Germany and Italy and so on. I am convinced it was suppressed in a deliberate act of political censorship, but of course I can’t prove it.
…I’m afraid I don’t recall details of the Electroni-Cam at Riverside [BBC Riverside studios]. I remember mounting a week-long series of off-air crew practices at Riverside…but I couldn’t say what equipment we were working on. If Peter Graham-Scott was involved, he is more likely to remember…
…what I could and probably should have done is say more about regional broadcasting. Although I left the staff at Bristol in 1970 I went on working there as a free-lance for another 18 years and I still keep in tough with some of my ex-Bristol colleagues. Perhaps the best of them would be Jimmy Dewar who didn’t retire until 1988…
