Ian Bayley Curteis (1 May 1935 – 24 November 2021) was a British dramatist and television director.

Life and career

Curteis was born in London on 1 May 1935, and began his career as an actor, joining

Joan Littlewood Joan Maud Littlewood (6 October 1914 – 20 September 2002) was an English theatre director who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and is best known for her work in developing the Theatre Workshop. She has been called "The Mother of M ...

Theatre Workshop Theatre Workshop is a theatre group whose long-serving director was Joan Littlewood. Many actors of the 1950s and 1960s received their training and first exposure with the company, many of its productions were transferred to theatres in the West ...

in the mid-1950s, and later working in this profession in regional theatres, and as a stage director or producer. His career in television began as a script reader for both the BBC and

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...

. Curteis joined the staff of the BBC as a trainee director in 1964. '' The Projected Man'' (1966), which he directed, is his only cinema film. Around the same time Curteis directed an episode of the

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

anthology series, ''

Out of the Unknown ''Out of the Unknown'' is a British television science fiction and horror anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in four series between 1965 and 1971. Most episodes of the first three series were dramatisations of s ...

'', William Trevor's "Walk's End". Both projects had a problematic production; Curteis has disputed the claims of the producers of both. Switching to a career as a television dramatist from the late 1960s onwards, Curteis wrote for many series of the time, including ''

The Onedin Line ''The Onedin Line'' is a BBC television drama series that ran from 1971 to 1980. The series was created by Cyril Abraham. The series is set in Liverpool from 1860 to 1886 and covers the rise of a fictional shipping company, the Onedin Line, nam ...

'' and ''

Crown Court The Crown Court is the criminal trial court, court of first instance in England and Wales responsible for hearing all indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals of the decisions of magistrates' courts. It is ...

''. Meanwhile, Curteis was writing television plays - he preferred the term over "drama documentaries" - with historical themes. ''Philby, Burgess and Maclean'' was commissioned by Granada, and broadcast in 1977. In autumn 1979 came '' Churchill and the Generals'', ''Suez 1956'', and the 8-part series ''

Prince Regent A prince regent or princess regent is a prince or princess who, due to their position in the line of succession, rules a monarchy as regent in the stead of a monarch, e.g., as a result of the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illness) or ab ...

'', about

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until his death in 1830. At the time of his accession to the throne, h ...

. ''

Lost Empires ''Lost Empires'' is a 1986 television miniseries adaptation of J. B. Priestley's 1965 novel of the same name and starred Colin Firth, John Castle and Laurence Olivier. Produced by Granada Television, it was shown as a serial, and premiered on t ...

'', a television adaptation of J. B. Priestley's novel followed in 1986. '' The Falklands Play'', originally scheduled for production in 1985, was eventually broadcast in 2002. At the time production was cancelled, Curteis blamed a "liberal conspiracy" at the BBC. A BBC commission for a dramatisation of the

Yalta Conference The Yalta Conference (), held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the postwar reorganization of Germany and Europe. The three sta ...

in 1945 was cancelled in 1995, Curteis alleged, because of his politically conservative presentation of events. A stage play, ''The Bargain'' (2007), dealing with a fictionalised account of the meeting between

Robert Maxwell Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, politician and fraudster. After escaping the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, ...

and

Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu (born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, ; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa or Saint Mother Teresa, was an Albanian-Indian Catholic Church, Roman Catholic nun, founder of the Missionaries of ...

in 1988 was adapted for BBC Radio in 2016. Curteis divorced his first wife, Dorothy Curteis, and his second, the novelist Joanna Trollope. His third wife was Lady Deirdre (formerly Lady Grantley), daughter of

William Hare, 5th Earl of Listowel William Francis Hare, 5th Earl of Listowel, (28 September 1906 – 12 March 1997), styled Viscount Ennismore between 1924 and 1931, was an Anglo-Irish peer and Labour politician. He was the last Secretary of State for India, as well as the la ...

; they married in 2001 in the chapel of Markenfield Hall, which had been restored to a great extent by her previous husband. This was the first wedding to be held there for some 400 years. The couple continued restoration projects which were expected to be ongoing until 2030. He died on 24 November 2021, at the age of 86.

Filmography

* '' The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling'': ''Watches of the Night'' (1964) director * '' Pity About the Abbey'' (1965) director * ''

'': ''Walk's End'' (1966) director * '' The Projected Man'' (1966) director (feature film) * '' ITV Saturday Night Theatre'': ''The Haunting'' (1969) writer * ''

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 ...

'': ''A Distinct Chill'' (1971) writer * ''

'' (1971) various episodes, writer * '' Spy Trap'' (1972) writer * '' Doomwatch'': ''Flood'' (1972) writer * '' The Edwardians'' (1972) writer * '' The Regiment'': Riot (1973) writer * '' Sutherland's Law'' (1973) writer * '' Barlow at Large'' 3 episodes (1974–75) writer * '' Victorian Scandals'': ''The Portland Millions'' (1976) writer * ''

'' 6 episodes (1974–77) writer * '' Philby, Burgess and Maclean'' (1977) writer * '' The Cedar Tree'' (ATV, 1977) writer, 2 episodes * '' People Like Us'' (1978) adaptation * '' Churchill and the Generals'' (1979) writer * '' Atom Spies'' (1979) writer * ''

'' (1979) writer * '' Suez 1956'' (1979) writer * '' Miss Morison's Ghosts'' (1981) writer * ''

'' (1986) adaptation * '' The Nightmare Years'' (1990) writer * '' The Choir'' (1995) adaptation * '' The Falklands Play'' (2002) writer

References

External links

*
Ian Curteis biography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Curteis, Ian 1935 births 2021 deaths Alumni of the University of London English male screenwriters English screenwriters Writers from London