Susan Elizabeth Birtwistle, Lady Eyre, (born 9 December 1945) is a producer and writer of

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

drama. Birtwistle has won awards for several of her productions, including '' Hotel du Lac'', ''

Pride and Prejudice ''Pride and Prejudice'' is the second published novel (but third to be written) by English author Jane Austen, written when she was age 20-21, and later published in 1813. A novel of manners, it follows the character development of Elizabe ...

'' and '' Emma'', and was one of the nominees for the 2008

BAFTA Awards The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs or BAFTA Awards, is an annual film award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best Cinema of the United Kingdom, British and Worl ...

for her production of '' Cranford''.

Early life

Birtwistle was born in

Northwich Northwich is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire West and Chester borough of Cheshire, England. It lies on the Cheshire Plain, at the confluence of the rivers Weaver and Dane, east of Chester, south of Warrington and south of Ma ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and attended Northwich County Grammar School for Girls (now The County High School, Leftwich). She studied drama and English at

Coventry College of Education Coventry College of Education existed as a separate institution until its incorporation into the University of Warwick in 1978 as the Westwood campus. It was located to the north of the university's main site. From 1948, the Principal of Coventr ...

(became part of the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...

Career

Birtwistle is known for producing

costume drama Costume is the distinctive style of clothing, dress and/or cosmetics, makeup of an individual or group that reflects class, gender, occupation, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch—in short, culture. The term also was traditionally used ...

Partial filmography as producer

*''Oi For England'' *'' Educating Marmalade'', 1982–83 * ''

Dutch Girls ''Dutch Girls'' is a 1985 film, released by the London Weekend Television Company, produced by Sue Birtwistle, directed by Giles Foster, and written by William Boyd. The film is about a group of teenage boys who go to the Netherlands to play ho ...

'', 1985 * '' Hotel du Lac'', 1986 * ''

Scoop Scoop, Scoops or The Scoop may refer to: Artefacts * Scoop (machine part), a component of machinery to carry things * Scoop (tool), a shovel-like tool, particularly one deep and curved, used in digging * Scoop (theater), a type of wide area l ...

'', 1987 * '' Ball Trap on the Cote Sauvage'', 1989 * ''Or Shall We Die?'' * ''v.'' * ''

'', 1995 * '' Emma'', 1996 * ''Armadillo'' * ''King Lear'' * '' Wives and Daughters'', 1999 * '' Cranford'', 2007 * '' Return to Cranford'', 2009

Personal life

Birtwistle married the English film, theatre, television and opera director

Richard Eyre Sir Richard Charles Hastings Eyre (born 28 March 1943) is an English film, theatre, television and opera director. Eyre has received numerous accolades including three Laurence Olivier Awards as well as nominations for six BAFTA Awards and two ...

in 1973 in Chelsea, London; they have one daughter. In 2008, she was awarded an honorary

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

at the

University of Chester The University of Chester is a public university located in Chester, England. The university originated as the first purpose-built teacher training college in the UK. As a university, it now occupies five campuses, campus sites in and around Ch ...

References

External links

* 1945 births Living people Alumni of the University of Warwick English television producers English television writers People from Northwich British women television writers British women television producers Wives of knights {{UK-tv-bio-stub