Bill Bain (18 December 1929 in

Wauchope, New South Wales Wauchope () is a town in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. It is within the boundaries of the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council area. Wauchope is inland on the Hastings River and the Oxley Highway west of Port Macquar ...

, Australia – 21 February 1982 in London, England) was an Australian television and film director.

Biography

Australia

Bill Bain originally trained as a school teacher, but became a pioneer of Australian television after he joined the fledgling

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

in the 1950s. In Australia, he directed the country's first TV pantomime for Christmas in 1959. He also directed the TV plays '' Corinth House'' (1961) and ''

Funnel Web ''Funnel Web'' is a 1962 Australian TV play starring Grant Taylor and written by Phillip Grenville Mann. It screened on the ABC and was a suspense drama. Plot A Canadian woman, Nina, is searching for her husband, Max Godfrey, who deserted her ...

'' (1962).

Britain

He left Australia in 1963 for Europe and directed numerous episodes of British television series, including ''

Harpers West One ''Harpers West One'' was an ATV television drama series about a fictional department store, Harpers, in the West 1 district of London. The show was created by John Whitney and Geoffrey Bellman and ran in one-hour episodes from 1961 to 1963. I ...

'', ''

Emerald Soup ''Emerald Soup'' was a 1963 British children's science fiction television series. Consisting of seven 25-minute episodes produced by ABC Weekend TV for the ITV network, the series was aired weekly from Saturday 9 November to Saturday 21 Decem ...

'', '' The Avengers'', ''

Callan Callan is a given name and surname of Irish and Scottish origin. It can derive from Ó Cathaláin, meaning ''descendant of Cathalán''. Callan can also be an Anglicized form of the Gaelic Mac Allin or Mac Callin. Notable people with the name includ ...

'', ''

Redcap The redcap (or powrie) is a type of malevolent, murderous goblin found in Border folklore. He is said to inhabit ruined castles along the Anglo-Scottish border, especially those that were the scenes of tyranny or wicked deeds and is known for soa ...

'', '' Upstairs Downstairs'', ''

The Duchess of Duke Street ''The Duchess of Duke Street'' is a BBC television drama series set in London between the late 1800s and 1925. It was created by John Hawkesworth (producer), John Hawkesworth, previously the producer of the ITV (TV network), ITV period drama ' ...

'', '' Enemy at the Door'', ''

The Brack Report The Brack Report is a British television drama series created by Christopher Penfold for Thames Television looking at concerns about nuclear power, and exploring some alternative energy sources. It was broadcast over 10 weeks on ITV from 6 Apr ...

'', and ''

Armchair Theatre ''Armchair Theatre'' is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by ABC Weekend TV. Its successor Thames Television took over from mid-1968. The Canad ...

''. It was noteworthy that "For many, ''Upstairs, Downstairs'' and ''The Duchess of Duke Street'' typify excellence in British television drama. The leading director for both series was Bill Bain, an Australian". For Amicus he directed a feature film '' What Became of Jack and Jill?''. Bain called the film "a savage indictment of the shallow education young people get today." Another 'one off' was a TV adaptation of a Noël Coward short story called ''Pretty Polly'' in which he directed

Lynn Redgrave Lynn Rachel Redgrave (8 March 1943 – 2 May 2010) was an English actress. She won two Golden Globe Awards throughout her career. A member of the Redgrave family of actors, Lynn trained in London before making her theatrical debut in 1962. B ...

. On location in Sri Lanka, he directed an episode of the 1973 Australian-British-German series '' Elephant Boy'' based on the

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

story '' Toomai of the Elephants''. Bain returned to Australia briefly in 1973 where he lamented the quality of local television. He came back in 1975 to attempt to set up a $1 million feature about opal mining. He won an Emmy Award in 1975 for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series for his work on the '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' episode " The Sudden Storm". In 1979, he returned to Australia for three months to be a consultant at the Film and Television School. In 1968, he married the British actress Rosemary Frankau and they had two sons Matthew and

Sam Bain Sam Bain (born 3 August 1971) is a British comedy writer, best known for the Channel 4 sitcom ''Peep Show''. He attended St Paul's School in London before graduating from the University of Manchester, where he met his writing partner Jesse Armst ...

. He died in St Stephens Hospital in London aged 52. The cause of his death was melanoma.

Select filmography

*'' Corinth House'' (1961) *'' Harlequinade'' (1961) *''

The Little Woman ''The Little Woman'' is a 1961 Australian comedy TV play written by Patricia Hooker and broadcast on the ABC. It starred Sophie Stewart who had also been in the ABC's live play '' Fly by Night''. Plot In a plush suburb on Sydney's North Shore, ...

'' (1962) *'' Fly by Night'' (1962) *''

'' (1962) *''Emerald Soup'' (1963) *'' The Tilted Screen'' (1966) *''The Importance of Being Earnest'' (1968) *'' All Out for Kangaroo Valley'' (1969) *'' What Became of Jack and Jill?'' (1972) - feature

References

External links

* 1929 births 1982 deaths Australian film directors Australian television directors Primetime Emmy Award winners Australian expatriates in the United Kingdom Frankau family {{Australia-film-director-stub