Denys Blakeway is a British

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon acce ...

and author who is best known for documentaries and books about

contemporary history Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

. In 1994, he set up Blakeway Productions, a

television company Television (TV) is a telecommunications, telecommunication media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of signal transmission, ...

based in London. Before establishing himself as an independent producer, Blakeway wrote and directed a number of documentaries for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

, including ''

Primo Levi Primo Michele Levi (; 31 July 1919 – 11 April 1987) was a Jewish Italian chemist, partisan, Holocaust survivor and writer. He was the author of several books, collections of short stories, essays, poems and one novel. His best-known works i ...

: The Memory of the Offence'', ''

The Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

''; and ''Thatcher - The Downing Street Years''. He has also been responsible for several documentaries about former British prime ministers, all made with their participation:

Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 1916 – 17 July 2005) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 ...

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British retired politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. Following his defeat to Ton ...

and

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

Since setting up Blakeway Productions, Blakeway has produced numerous programmes for British radio and television, including many documentaries about the

British royal family The British royal family comprises Charles III and other members of his family. There is no strict legal or formal definition of who is or is not a member, although the Royal Household has issued different lists outlining who is considere ...

, the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, several series with

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

Christopher Clark Education and academic positions Clark was educated at Sydney Grammar School from 1972 to 1978, the University of Sydney (where he studied history) and the Freie Universität Berlin from 1985 to 1987. Clark received his PhD at the Universi ...

Max Hastings Sir Max Hugh Macdonald Hastings (; born 28 December 1945) is a British journalist and military historian, who has worked as a foreign correspondent for the BBC, editor-in-chief of ''The Daily Telegraph'', and editor of the ''Evening Standard''. ...

Niall Ferguson Sir Niall Campbell Ferguson, ( ; born 18 April 1964)Biography
Niall Ferguson

and David Reynolds, and arts programmes with artist and critic Matt Collings. In 2004, Blakeway Productions was acquired by the

Ten Alps Ten Alps Plc () is a UK-based multimedia production company formed of three divisions. Television production falls under four brands: Blakeway, Brook Lapping, Films of Record and Reef TV. The first three produce documentaries and current affairs ...

plc media group. Latter television productions include a number of programmes about the causes of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, including ''The Necessary War'', written and presented by ''

'', which argued that the British were right to enter the conflict against Germany, and ''Royal Cousins at War'', which told the story of the tensions between the royal houses of Europe in the years leading up to the war, both for BBC 2. Past productions include profiles of

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. George was born during the reign of his pa ...

and Queen Mary for BBC 2, ''George and Mary: The Royals who Rescued the Monarchy"'' and an award-winning ninety-minute programme about the artist

Lucian Freud Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. His early career as a painter was inf ...

, ''Lucian Freud: Painted Life'', also for BBC 2. A three-part series about Queen Victoria's fraught relations with her children was broadcast on BBC2 in January 2013, and Blakeway was responsible for the BBC's 90 minute official obituary of

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

, ''Margaret Thatcher: Prime Minister'', which was transmitted on BBC1 on the day that her death was announced. The obituary was subsequently shown by television stations around the world. Blakeway made a 2012 video, ''The Plot to Topple a King'', about the abdication of

Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire, and Emperor of India, from 20 January ...

, in which Blakeway attributes the abdication to the machinations of the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

Cosmo Lang William Cosmo Gordon Lang, 1st Baron Lang of Lambeth, (31 October 1864 – 5 December 1945) was a Scottish Anglican prelate who served as Archbishop of York (1908–1928) and Archbishop of Canterbury (1928–1942). His elevation to Archbishop ...

. Blakeway is the author of ''The Last Dance'', an account of the turbulent year of 1936,''The Falklands War'' and ''Fields of Thunder-Testing Britain's Bomb''. Blakeway has also written and presented numerous programmes for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

, including the

Peabody award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody, George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and in ...

-winning ''The Unspeakable Atrocity'', a documentary about the BBC and

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

, produced by Nigel Acheson, and ''Remembrance'', an archive based documentary about changing attitudes to remembering British war dead. In May 2013, Blakeway presented ''The Longest Suicide Note in History'', a documentary about the Labour Party's disastrous

1983 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1983. Africa * 1983 Cameroonian parliamentary election * 1983 Equatorial Guinean legislative election * 1983 Kenyan general election * 1983 Malagasy parliamentary election * 1983 Malawian general elec ...

campaign.BBC Radio 4, '' The Archive Hour'', 1 June 2013, producer Melissa FitzGerald

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blakeway, Denys British television producers Living people Year of birth missing (living people)