Peter Eckersley (TV producer)
Peter Eckersley (1935 – 1981) was a British television producer who was Head of Drama at Granada Television in the 1960s and 70s.
In the 1960s, he was also a writer and producer on Coronation Street. He wrote 62 episodes between April 1962 and November 1969.[1] There he met and married one of its stars, Anne Reid, who played Valerie Barlow.[2]
He also produced the sitcom Nearest and Dearest with Hylda Baker and Jimmy Jewel.[1]
During the late 1970s he spotted and developed a young comedienne Victoria Wood, who went on to become one of the UK's most successful comedy stars. He produced the TV version of her play Talent, and its follow-ups Nearly A Happy Ending and Happy Since I Met You (also by Wood). He also produced the pilot of Wood and Walters, but died before the series was made. Wood cites him as her biggest influence.[3]
David Liddiment, ITV's former director of programmes said "Peter Eckersley nurtured a new cadre of young northern writers who reflected the realities of post-War urban life for the first time....They were all to make television drama younger, sharper and closer to the experience of the mass audience."[4]
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Coronation Street writers". corrie.net. http://www.corrie.net/profiles/staff/writers.html. Retrieved 2008-01-03.
- ^ "Anne's swinging sixties". This Is London. 2003-11-14. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/film/article-7687481-details/Anne's+swinging+sixties/article.do. Retrieved 2008-01-03.
- ^ Brandwood, Neil (2002). Victoria Wood – The Biography (1st Edition ed.). London: Boxtree. ISBN 1-85227-982-6.
- ^ Liddiment, David (2005-10-22). "Why ITV matters". transdiffusion.org. http://www.transdiffusion.org/emc/itv50/matters/index.htm. Retrieved 2008-01-03.
