Michael John Tuchner (24 June 1932 – 17 February 2017) was a British film and

theatre director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

. Born in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

, to German-Jewish parents, he was seven years old when his family moved to Britain with the rise of the Nazis. He eventually read classics at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

, where he was president of the film society, and subsequently joined the BBC as a trainee

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, ...

on the '' Tonight'' programme. After work on documentaries and commercials, he made his debut as a TV director with ''

The Wednesday Play ''The Wednesday Play'' is an anthology series of British television plays which ran on BBC1 for six seasons from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually original works written for television, although dramatic adaptations of fiction ...

'' in 1969.

Feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

s followed, and Tuchner's credits included ''

Villain A villain (also known as a "black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character a ...

'' (1971), '' Fear is the Key'' (1972), '' Mister Quilp'' (1975), the film version of '' The Likely Lads'' (1976), '' The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' (1982), the Disney film '' Trenchcoat'' (1983), '' Wilt'' (1989) and ''

Back to the Secret Garden ''Back to the Secret Garden'' is a 2001 family fantasy film. Produced for television, the film serves as a sequel to the 1987 ''Hallmark Hall of Fame'' film, ''The Secret Garden''. It contains some of the previous characters such as Lady Mary ...

'' (2001). Nominated for a BAFTA TV Award four times, he won for the 1975

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

'' Bar Mitzvah Boy''. He died on 17 February 2017 at the age of 84.Bergen, Ronald; Apted, Michael (March 23, 2017).
Michael Tuchner obituary
. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

''. Retrieved 2021-01-02.

References

External links

* 1932 births 2017 deaths British film directors {{UK-film-director-stub