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Piers Inigo Haggard,
OBE (born 18 March 1939), is a British theatre,
film and
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
director, although he has worked mostly in the latter.
Haggard was born in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
but grew up on a small farm in
Clackmannanshire
Clackmannanshire (; sco, Clackmannanshire; gd, Siorrachd Chlach Mhannainn) is a historic county, council area, registration county and Lieutenancy area in Scotland, bordering the council areas of Stirling, Fife, and Perth & Kinross and the ...
. He is the great-great-nephew of
Sir Henry Rider Haggard, and the son of Morna Gillespie and the actor, poet, and novelist
Stephen Haggard, who died in 1943. Haggard is married to stained glass artist Anna Sklovsky, with whom he has two children, the actress
Daisy Haggard, and William Haggard who is an architect. He has four children by his first marriage, Sarah, Claire, Rachel and Philip.
Haggard began his career as an assistant director at the Royal Court in 1960, then directed at
Dundee Rep
Dundee Repertory Theatre, better known simply as the Dundee Rep, is a theatre and arts company in the city of Dundee, Scotland. It operates as both a producing house - staging at least six of its own productions each year, and a receiving house ...
and
Glasgow Citizens before joining the first
National Theatre company in 1963 where he co-directed (
John Dexter
John Dexter (2 August 1925 – 23 March 1990) was an English theatre, opera and film director.
Theatre
Born in Derby, Derbyshire, England, Dexter left school at the age of fourteen to serve in the British Army during the Second World War. F ...
and
Bill Gaskill) and assisted
Laurence Olivier and
Franco Zeffirelli
Gian Franco Corsi Zeffirelli (12 February 1923 – 15 June 2019), was an Italian stage and film director, producer, production designer and politician. He was one of the most significant opera and theatre directors of the post-World War II era, ...
.
In 1965, he moved to BBC Television, directing plays for the anthology drama series ''
Thirty-Minute Theatre
''Thirty-Minute Theatre'' was a British anthology drama series of short plays shown on BBC Television between 1965 and 1973, which was used in part at least as a training ground for new writers, on account of its short running length, and which t ...
'' in the 1960s, later working on the more prestigious anthology shows, ''
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 ...
'' (for
ITV) and ''
Play for Today'' (for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
), as well as ''
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 ...
'' and ''
Public Eye'' for the commercial network . He directed for a variety of programmes throughout the 1970s, such as ''
The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes'', ''
The Love School
''The Love School'' (broadcast in the U.S. as ''The Brotherhood'') is a BBC television drama series originally broadcast in 1975 about the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, written by John Hale, Ray Lawler, Robin Chapman and John Prebble. It was direc ...
'', ''
Love for Lydia
''Love for Lydia'' is a semi-autobiographical novel written by British author H. E. Bates, first published in 1952.
Plot
Lydia Aspen, a seemingly shy girl from a wealthy but isolated background, is encouraged by her aunts, her new carers, to disc ...
'' and ''Play of the Month: The Chester Mystery Plays'' (1976).
Probably his best known work is
Dennis Potter
Dennis Christopher George Potter (17 May 1935 – 7 June 1994) was an English television dramatist, screenwriter and journalist. He is best known for his BBC television serials '' Pennies from Heaven'' (1978), ''The Singing Detective'' (198 ...
's BBC drama serial ''
Pennies From Heaven'' (1978) for which he received a
BAFTA Award as its director. The following year he directed the ambitious science-fiction serial ''
Quatermass'', a
Euston Films
Euston Films is a British film and television production company. It was originally a subsidiary company of Thames Television, and operated from 1971 to 1994, producing various series for Thames, which were screened nationally on the ITV network ...
production for
Thames Television
Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992.
Thames Television broa ...
, which was shown on the ITV network. Both of these productions are available on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
, and the ''Pennies From Heaven'' release includes an
audio commentary
An audio commentary is an additional audio track, usually digital, consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with a video. Commentaries can be serious or entertaining in nature, and can add informatio ...
from Haggard (also with series producer
Kenith Trodd).
His film work includes ''
Wedding Night
In many traditions and statutes of civil or religious law, the consummation of a marriage, often called simply ''consummation'', is the first (or first officially credited) act of sexual intercourse between two people, following their marriage to ...
'' (1970); the cult classic ''
The Blood on Satan's Claw'' (1970); the cinema version of ''Quatermass'' (1980)'';'' ''Summer Story'' (1988); ''
The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu'' (1980),
Peter Sellers' last film; and ''
Venom
Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a st ...
'' (1982). Haggard's audio commentary on ''Venom'' is well known for its forthrightness, and some hilarious anecdotes on the competitive antics of stars
Oliver Reed
Robert Oliver Reed (13 February 1938 – 2 May 1999) was an English actor known for his well-to-do, macho image and "hellraiser" lifestyle. After making his first significant screen appearances in Hammer Horror films in the early 1960s, his ...
and
Klaus Kinski. In 1982 he also directed ''The Ticket of Leave Man'' at the National Theatre.
Later television work included ''Mrs Reinhardt (1986)''; a number of US TV Specials with stars such as Liza Minnelli, Cheryl Ladd, and Judge Reinholdt; the
Gerry Anderson
Gerald Alexander Anderson (; 14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012) was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist. He remains famous for his futuristic television programmes, especially his 1960s produ ...
science-fiction series ''
Space Precinct
''Space Precinct'' is a British television series that was first broadcast from 1994 to 1995 on Sky One and later on BBC Two from 1995 to 1996 in the UK, and in first-run syndication in the United States. Many US stations scheduled the show in ...
'' (1994); and various one-off TV dramas such as ''
Eskimo Day'' (1996), ''Cold Enough For Snow'' (1997), and ''The Hunt'' (2001). The Canadian prairies-set ''
Conquest'' (1998) was his last feature film. He directed
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
winners
Vanessa Redgrave
Dame Vanessa Redgrave (born 30 January 1937) is an English actress and activist. Throughout her career spanning over seven decades, Redgrave has garnered numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Television Award, tw ...
and
Maximilian Schell in the 2006 mini-series ''
The Shell Seekers''.
Haggard has also had a 40-year parallel career campaigning for directors’ rights. He was president of The Association of Directors and Producers in 1976; he founded and was first chairman of the Directors Guild of Great Britain (DGGB), formed in 1982 at a meeting of over a hundred film, theatre, and television directors at
Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club
Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club is a jazz club that has operated in Soho, London, since 1959.
History
The club opened on 30 October 1959 in a basement at 39 Gerrard Street in London's Soho district. It was set up and managed by musicians Ronnie Sc ...
in London. He started the Directors’ and Producers' Rights Society (DPRS, 1987), serving on its board for 20 years, until it transmuted in 2007 into Directors UK, which he still serves as a board member. He was also vice president and chairman of FERA, the Association of European film directors, from 2010 to 2013.
Haggard was appointed
Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the
2016 New Year Honours
The New Year Honours 2016 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...
for services to film, television, and theatre.
Selected filmography
* ''
Wedding Night
In many traditions and statutes of civil or religious law, the consummation of a marriage, often called simply ''consummation'', is the first (or first officially credited) act of sexual intercourse between two people, following their marriage to ...
'' (1970)
* ''
The Blood on Satan's Claw'' (1971)
* ''
The Love School
''The Love School'' (broadcast in the U.S. as ''The Brotherhood'') is a BBC television drama series originally broadcast in 1975 about the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, written by John Hale, Ray Lawler, Robin Chapman and John Prebble. It was direc ...
(1975)
* ''
The Quatermass Conclusion
''Quatermass'' (also known as ''Quatermass IV'', or ''The Quatermass Conclusion'' for its intended international theatrical release) is a 1979 British television science fiction serial. Produced by Euston Films for Thames Television, it was bro ...
'' (1979)
* ''
The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu'' (1980)
* ''
Venom
Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a st ...
'' (1981)
* ''
A Summer Story
''A Summer Story'' is a British drama film released in 1988, directed by Piers Haggard, based on John Galsworthy’s 1916 short story "The Apple Tree", with a script by Penelope Mortimer. It stars James Wilby, Imogen Stubbs, and Susannah Yo ...
'' (1988)
* ''
Four Eyes and Six Guns'' (1992)
* ''
Conquest'' (1998)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haggard, Piers
1939 births
Living people
Haggard family
British television directors
British film directors
Television people from London
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
People from Clackmannanshire