Prudence Mary Fitzgerald, (18 January 19306 September 2018) was an English television director and producer. She was known for directing and producing numerous British TV series including ''

Dr. Finlay's Casebook ''Dr. Finlay's Casebook'' is a television drama series that was produced and broadcast by the BBC from 1962 until 1971. Based on A. J. Cronin's 1935 novella ''Country Doctor'', the storylines centred on a general medical practice in the fiction ...

'', '' The Expert'', ''

The Shadow of the Tower ''The Shadow of the Tower'' is a historical drama that was broadcast on BBC2 in 1972. It was a prequel to the earlier serials '' The Six Wives of Henry VIII'' and ''Elizabeth R'' and featured several actors who had appeared in them (but in new ro ...

'', ''

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

'' and the 1979 series ''A Family Affair''. She was also a programme co-ordinator for the 1974 BBC TV mini-series ''

Fall of Eagles Autumn, also known as fall (especially in US & Canada), is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March (Southern Hemisphere ...

''.

Life and career

Prudence Fitzgerald was born in

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, England. It is located about south of Stoke-on-Trent, north of Wolverhampton, and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 71,673 at the 2021–2022 United Kingd ...

in 1930 to Kevin Columba Fitzgerald, a chemical company advisor and Vida Lamb. She started working in television in the early 1960s, beginning her directing career at 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 ...

in 1961. She worked on several TV movies and series there before making her name as a director of the hugely popular ''

'' in 1965-1966. She was the most prolific director on the

series, '' The Expert'', helming eighteen of the sixty-two episodes. It starred

Marius Goring Marius Re Goring (23 May 191230 September 1998) was an English stage and screen actor. He is best remembered for the four films he made with Powell and Pressburger, Powell & Pressburger, particularly as Conductor 71 in ''A Matter of Life and D ...

as the title character, Professor John Hardy. It was the first series to feature a forensic pathologist in the lead role as an investigator, working with police. It had an influence on such later shows as '' Quincy, M.E.'' and '' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation''. Several of the series on which she worked, including '' The Expert'' and '' The Brothers'', were created by the prolific producing duo

Gerard Glaister John Leslie Glaister DFC (21 December 1915 – 5 February 2005), known as Gerard or Gerrard Glaister, was a British television producer and director best known for his work with the BBC. Amongst his most notable successes as a producer were ''Co ...

and N.J. Crisp. Fitzgerald met her future husband

when she chose him from his photo in a casting directory for a part on '' The Expert''. Goring's second wife, the German actress

Lucie Mannheim Lucie Mannheim (30 April 1899 – 17 July 1976) was a German singer and actress. Life and career Mannheim was born in Friedrichshain, a district of Berlin, where she studied drama and quickly became a popular figure appearing on stage in plays ...

, died in 1976. Marius Goring and Prudence Fitzgerald married on 21 May 1977. They shared a seventeenth-century house in London's Hampton Court that looked out onto a royal park, before moving to the village of

Rushlake Green Rushlake Green is a small village in the civil parish of Warbleton in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. Rushlake Green is situated on the slopes of the Weald between Heathfield north-west, Battle south-west and Hailsham south. Hi ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...

, where they lived for the rest of their lives. Marius Goring died of cancer in 1998 and Prudence survived him by twenty years, dying on 6 September 2018. They are buried together in the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin,

Warbleton Warbleton is a village and civil parish in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. Within its bounds are three other settlements. It is located south-east of Heathfield on the slopes of the Weald. Etymology The place-name Warbleton, der ...

Filmography

* ''The Big Boys'' (1961) TV movie – producer * ''

Studio 4 Studio 4 was an acting and filmmaking school located in New York City and Los Angeles, founded by American actor James Franco in 2014. Franco opened the school after studying at Playhouse West in Los Angeles. In 2017, multiple female students ...

'' (1962) TV series – producer/director of 3 episodes * ''Crying Down the Lane'' (1962) TV mini-series – producer/director of 6 episodes * ''

Moonstrike ''Moonstrike'' is a British television series produced by the BBC in 1963. The series was an anthology programme: a collection of self-contained stories about acts of resistance in occupied Europe during the Second World War. Producer Gerard Gl ...

'' (1963) TV series - director of 2 episodes * ''Festival'' (1963–64) TV series – director of 2 episodes * ''

First Night First Night is a North American artistic and cultural celebration on New Year's Eve, taking place from afternoon until midnight. Some cities have all their events during the celebration outside, but some cities have events that are hosted indoors ...

'' (1964) TV series – director of 1 episode * ''Detective'' (1964) TV series – director of 1 episode * ''

'' (1965–66) TV series - director of 14 episodes * ''

This Man Craig ''This Man Craig'' is a TV drama series produced by BBC Scotland and screened over 52 episodes in 1966 and 1967. It was set in a secondary school in the fictional Scottish town of Strathaird. Episodes were filmed at Glasgow’s Bellahouston Acad ...

'' (1966–67) TV series – director of 7 episodes * ''

Champion House ''Champion House'' is a BBC television drama series created by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling, who had previously devised ''Compact'' and ''Crossroads''. The series dealt with the Yorkshire-based Champion family and the dramas surrounding the fami ...

'' (1967) TV series – director of 3 episodes * ''

The Revenue Men ''The Revenue Men'' is a British television series, produced and transmitted by the BBC between 1967 and 1968. The series dealt with cases handled by the Investigation Branch of Customs and Excise such as the illegal import of goods, illegal i ...

'' (1967–68) TV series – director of 6 episodes * '' The Expert'' (1968–1976) TV series – director of 18 episodes * ''

Paul Temple Paul Temple is a fictional character created by English writer Francis Durbridge. Temple is a professional author of crime fiction and an amateur private detective. With his wife Louise, affectionately known as 'Steve' in reference to her jo ...

'' (1970) TV series - director of 1 episode * '' The View from Daniel Pike'' (1971) TV series – director of 2 episodes * ''

'' (1972) TV series – director of 4 episodes * '' The Brothers'' (1972) TV series – director of 2 episodes * ''

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 ...

'' (1974) TV series – director of 2 episodes * ''

'' (1974) TV mini-series – programme co-ordinator of 3 episodes * ''

'' (1977–78) TV series – producer of 16 episodes * ''A Family Affair'' (1979) TV series - producer of 10 episodes/director of 1 episode * ''Juno and the Paycock'' (1980) TV movie – producer * ''Out of Order'' (1984) TV movie – producer

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, Prudence 1930 births 2018 deaths English television producers English television directors British women television directors English women television producers People from Stafford People from Heathfield, East Sussex People from Warbleton