Antonia Bird obituary
Stage, TV and film director motivated by a desire to tell relevant and provocative stories
She was not on the list.
As the director Antonia Bird, who has died aged 62 from anaplastic thyroid cancer, moved from the stage into television and film, she retained the ideals that had come out of the political radicalisation of theatre during the 1970s. Though she was at home in other genres, as with the horror-movie satire Ravenous (1999), her main aim was to use whatever medium she was working in, however commercial or mainstream, to tell important stories, highlight issues and champion causes.
In 1985 the producers of the groundbreaking BBC TV soap EastEnders recruited Antonia to direct 17 early episodes, including the renowned two-hander focusing on the disintegrating marriage of Den and Angie Watts (Leslie Grantham and Anita Dobson). She was the initial director on the BBC's drama Casualty (1986-87), responsible for casting and keen to ensure that the writers used this prime-time format to tackle important and controversial subjects.
Her five-part television adaptation of Ann Oakley's feminist novel The Men's Room (1991) starred Harriet Walter, Amanda Redman and Bill Nighy. Through it Nighy, playing a lecherous academic, came to wider attention.
Antonia's own breakthrough came with Safe (1993), a feature
film for the BBC based on the lives of a group of homeless young people – Aiden
Gillen, Robert Carlyle and myself – in the West End of London. It won both a
Bafta award and an Edinburgh festival first film award. The controversial
Priest (1994) had a cinema release before its broadcast in the BBC's Screen Two
series. Written by Jimmy McGovern in the wake of his criminal psychology drama
Cracker, it tells of a young, gay but conservative priest (Father Greg, played
by Linus Roache) encountering an older, more radical colleague (Tom Wilkinson).
Greg's position is undermined by an indecency charge; he also becomes aware
through the confessional of a girl's abuse by her father. This came at a time
of growing discussion of priests, celibacy, sex and hypocrisy.
Hollywood called, and Antonia directed her first film there, Mad Love (1995), starring Drew Barrymore and Chris O'Donnell as a young couple on the run. It emerged rather crushed from the studio system and she returned to London to shoot the gangster film Face (1997), with Ray Winstone, Damon Albarn and Carlyle, who played a bank robber disillusioned by the failure of socialism in 1980s Britain. Carlyle was again the star in her next US venture, Ravenous, as a stranger arriving at a 19th-century US army fort with a tale of cannibalism. By this time, Antonia was keen to gain more creative control. Carlyle joined her in the setting up of her production company, 4Way Pictures, along with the documentary-maker and film critic Mark Cousins and the novelist Irvine Welsh, who saw her as "an amazing life force; a powerhouse of ideas, enthusiasm and positivity".
Her BBC film Care (2000), starring Steven Mackintosh, was a fictionalised account of sexual abuse in children's homes, and won Bafta and Prix Italia awards. Other credits included Rehab (2003), The Hamburg Cell (2004), a fictionalised account of the 9/11 bombers, and a film-length episode of Cracker (2006), in which McGovern returned to the couple at the heart of his 1990s success, played by Robbie Coltrane and Barbara Flynn. Antonia's documentary debut came with Off By Heart (2009). Produced and directed by her for the BBC, it followed primary schoolchildren from across Britain in a poetry recitation competition, and brought her another Bafta award. She was the principal director on Peter Moffat's The Village, the first episodes of which, recounting the often harsh reality of rural Derbyshire life in the early years of the 20th century, were seen on BBC1 earlier this year.
Born in London, Antonia was the daughter of a stage manager
mother, Rosemary, and an actor father, Michael. By her 17th birthday she was
working as an assistant stage manager at Coventry Rep, where she also became
involved in publicity, theatre administration and acting. It was suffering from
terrible stage fright that fortuitously settled her on the path of directing.
She then joined Michael Bogdanov's innovative company at the Phoenix theatre,
Leicester, directing a variety of productions, including Joe Orton's What The
Butler Saw.
In 1978 Antonia went to the Royal Court theatre, London, as a resident director. Passionate about new writing, she worked with Hanif Kureishi, Samuel Beckett and Trevor Griffiths, and was the driving force behind Jim Cartwright's Road being premiered in 1986.
At the National Theatre she was assistant director to
Richard Eyre on his production of Guys and Dolls, and directed its West End
transfer (1985-86). Her casting of Clarke Peters as the first black Sky
Masterson was a typically inspired move.
Once she had started with EastEnders, Antonia never returned to the theatre: she loved the way in which working with actors on film enabled her "to really capture the light in their eyes". She had no time for the manipulation that can go on in the director-actor relationship. Instead, she put great energy into supporting her actors on and off set. I was lucky enough to work as an actor with her six times and came to understand only later how remarkable her attitude was. Along with many others, I will miss her hugely.
She is survived by her beloved husband, Ian Ilett.
Director
Maxine Peake, John Simm, Tom Varey, and Chloe Rowley in The
Village (2013)
The Village
7.7
TV Series
Director
2013
4 episodes
Alun Armstrong and Sue Johnston in A Passionate Woman (2010)
A Passionate Woman
6.6
TV Mini Series
Director
2010
2 episodes
Off by Heart
TV Movie
Director
2009
Cracker (1993)
Cracker
8.4
TV Series
Director
2006
1 episode
Robbie Coltrane in Cracker (2006)
Cracker
7.7
TV Movie
Director
2006
Peter Firth and Nicola Walker in MI-5 (2002)
MI-5
8.3
TV Series
Director
2005
2 episodes
The Hamburg Cell (2004)
The Hamburg Cell
6.9
TV Movie
Director
2004
Richard Harrington and Daniel Mays in Rehab (2003)
Rehab
7.9
TV Movie
Director
2003
Steven Mackintosh in Care (2000)
Care
7.6
TV Movie
Director
2000
Ravenous (1999)
Ravenous
6.9
Director
1999
Robert Carlyle, Damon Albarn, Phil Davis, Lena Headey,
Steven Waddington, and Ray Winstone in Face (1997)
Face
6.6
Director
1997
Drew Barrymore and Chris O'Donnell in Mad Love (1995)
Mad Love
5.4
Director
1995
Linus Roache in Priest (1994)
Priest
7.1
Director
1994
Screenplay (1986)
Screenplay
6.5
TV Series
Director
1993
1 episode
Peak Practice (1993)
Peak Practice
6.5
TV Series
Director
1993
2 episodes
Reece Dinsdale, Sue Johnston, Rowena King, and Kevin McNally
in Full Stretch (1993)
Full Stretch
6.8
TV Series
Director
1993
3 episodes
Imelda Staunton and Janet McTeer in A Masculine Ending
(1992)
A Masculine Ending
6.3
TV Movie
Director
1992
John Thaw and Kevin Whately in Inspector Morse (1987)
Inspector Morse
8.2
TV Series
Director
1992
1 episode
The Men's Room (1991)
The Men's Room
7.8
TV Mini Series
Director
1991
5 episodes
Rob Spendlove in TECX (1990)
TECX
7.2
TV Series
Director
1990
4 episodes
Saracen (1989)
Saracen
6.1
TV Series
Director
1989
2 episodes
Colin Blumenau, Nula Conwell, Peter Ellis, Trudie Goodwin,
Jon Iles, Gary Olsen, Eric Richard, John Salthouse, Tony Scannell, Jeff
Stewart, and Mark Wingett in The Bill (1984)
The Bill
6.7
TV Series
Director
1989
2 episodes
Buki Armstrong and Rosie Rowell in South of the Border
(1988)
South of the Border
7.3
TV Series
Director
1988
3 episodes
Thin Air (1988)
Thin Air
8.2
TV Mini Series
Director
1988
5 episodes
Casualty (1986)
Casualty
6.1
TV Series
Director
1986–1987
5 episodes
EastEnders (1985)
EastEnders
4.8
TV Series
directed by
1985–1986
18 episodes
Submariners
TV Movie
Director
1983
Producer
Oi for England: Summer of '82 (2021)
Oi for England: Summer of '82
9.1
executive producer
2021
Son of Babylon (2009)
Son of Babylon
7.2
executive producer
2009
Off by Heart
TV Movie
producer
2009
Christine Tremarco in Faith (2005)
Faith
7.5
TV Movie
producer
2005
Richard Harrington and Daniel Mays in Rehab (2003)
Rehab
7.9
TV Movie
producer
2003
Thanks
XX (2017)
XX
4.6
in memory of
2017
Calibre 9 (2011)
Calibre 9
4.2
dedicatee
2011
Self
Ricky Tomlinson in Venice Report (1997)
Venice Report
7.6
TV Movie
Self
1997
Archive Footage
Antonia Bird: From EastEnders to Hollywood (2016)
Antonia Bird: From EastEnders to Hollywood
7.2
TV Movie
Self (archive footage)
2016
E! True Hollywood Story (1996)
E! True Hollywood Story
6.5
TV Series
Self (archive footage)
2007
1 episode
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