Peter Sykes (director)
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Peter Sykes (June 17, 1939 – March 1, 2006) was an Australian television and film director who worked primarily in the United Kingdom. According to ''
FilmInk ''FilmInk'' is an Australian film magazine published by FKP International Exports. It was founded by current publisher Dov Kornits and Colin Fraser in July 1997, in Sydney. The magazine has been through many changes over the course of its exist ...
'', " auteurist critics always seem to pass him by."


Biography

He was born in
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
and worked as a dancer, then as an assistant director on documentaries and children's shows on Australian television. He moved to
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
in 1963. He wrote to a fellow Australian, Donald Levy, admiring a documentary Levy had made called ''Time In''. Sykes worked for Levy as an assistant on the film ''Herostratus''. Sykes did an 18-month training cadetship with 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 ...
then made the documentary '' Walkabout to Cornwall''. He was commissioned to make a series of films for the British Pavilion exhibit at
Expo 67 The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 28 to October 29, 1967. It was a category one world's fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most s ...
in Montreal. The series was called ''Britain Around the World''. It led to him meeting
Peter Brook Peter Stephen Paul Brook (21 March 1925 – 2 July 2022) was an English theatre and film director. He worked first in England, from 1945 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, from 1947 at the Royal Opera House, and from 1962 for the Royal Shak ...
who invited Sykes to produce '' Tell Me Lies''.Gilbert p 35


Features

Max Steuer admired ''Walkabout to Cornwall'' and he invited Sykes to direct ''The Committee''. According to ''Sight and Sound'' the film "had a fairly successful if controversial art house career" and while being "top heavy with rather pretentious theatrical dialogue... contained good sequences and was put together with some flair."
Kenneth Tynan Kenneth Peacock Tynan (2 April 1927 – 26 July 1980) was an English theatre critic and writer. Initially making his mark as a critic at ''The Observer'', he praised John Osborne's ''Look Back in Anger'' (1956) and encouraged the emerging wave ...
called it "admirable". On the strength of this, Sykes was asked to direct some episodes of ''The Avengers''. Sykes recalled they told him, "Look, we've seen this film. We don't understand it, but it looks fantastic, the atmosphere is amazing. Would you come and direct ''The Avengers?'' He says "It was a passport for me to do something completely different."Last Word: Letters Anonymous. Sight and Sound; London Vol. 17, Iss. 4, (Apr 2007): 96 One of his ''Avengers'' episodes, "Noon Doomsday", was much praised. Sykes was set to direct a war film, ''The Rules of War'', but that fell through and instead he directed ''Venom'' which he called "a romantic fantasy with horror overtones".


Hammer

Sykes was hired by Hammer to direct ''Blood Will Have Blood'' which became '' Demons of the Mind'' (1972). He did two comedies for EMI, '' The House in Nightmare Park'' with Frankie Howerd, and '' Steptoe and Son Ride Again''. Sykes returned to television for '' Orson Welles Great Mysteries''. He wrote ''Beware the Darkness''. He directed the last of the Hammer horror films until 2008, '' To the Devil a Daughter'' (1976).


Later career

Sykes went to France in 1977 to direct the series ''Magicians of the Future''. He was meant to return to Australia to direct ''Eddie and the Breakthrough'' (also known as ''Eddie and the Lucky Peanut'') but the film was never made.Gilbert p 95 He went to Israel to direct ''Jesus''. Sykes went to Greece to make ''The Search for Alexander the Great'' and then to Ireland for the second series of '' The Irish R.M.''. He did ''The Lost Secret'' for the BBC and ''The Defectors'' for Video Arts In the 1990s, he taught scriptwriting at Winchester University while also directing for Danish television. He died in 2006.


Selected filmography

*''South Bank'' (1964) (documentary) - assistant editor *'' Walkabout to Cornwall'' (1966) (documentary about surfers) - director *''Britain Around the World'' (1967) (17 short documentaries) - director *'' The Avengers'' (1967–68) (TV series) - director *'' Tell Me Lies'' (1968) - documentary about the play '' US'' - executive producer *'' The Committee'' (1968) - director, writer *''
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 sti ...
'' (aka ''The Legend of Spider Forest'') (1971) - director * '' Demons of the Mind'' (1972) - director * '' The House in Nightmare Park'' (1973) - director * '' Steptoe and Son Ride Again'' (1973) - director *'' Orson Welles Great Mysteries'' (1973–74) (TV series) - director * '' To the Devil a Daughter'' (1976) - director *''Les magiciens du futur'' (1978) (TV movie) - director * ''
Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
'' (1979) - director *''
Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British television soap opera that is broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a List of fictional towns and villages, fict ...
'' (1980) (TV series) - director *'' The Search for Alexander the Great'' (1981) (TV series) - director *''The Blues Band'' (1981) - director *'' The Irish R.M.'' (1984) (TV series) - director *''The Lost Secret'' (1985) - director *''MAC Satellite Broadcasting'' (1988) (documentary) - director *''The Other Britain'' (1989) (documentary) - director *''Castle of Holstebro'' (1990) - director *''The Merger'' (1995) (TV drama) - director *''Kaosmos'' (1996) (Danish TV) - director


References


Notes

*


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sykes, Peter 1939 births 2006 deaths Film directors from Melbourne British film directors