Roy Battersby Movies, TV Shows, and Filmography
Roy Battersby
Directing
Biography
Roy Battersby (1936-2024) was a British director. He started his career making documentary features for the BBC, including work on their groundbreaking science series Tomorrow's World. In 1970 he directed the innovative scientific documentary film The Body, before moving into drama and directing TV plays, often working with writer Colin Welland. He made with several films for the Play for Today series but his role as an organiser with the Workers Revolutionary Party and his Trotskyist politics led to him being blacklisted by the BBC at the behest of Special Branch and the security services, a fact which Battersby was unaware of at the time. Once his association ended in the 1980s, Battersby was allowed to direct at the BBC once more. Serials such as 1986's King of the Ghetto led to regular work on Between the Lines in the early 90s. Now specialising in crime drama, he also helmed several episodes of ITV's Inspector Morse, A Touch of Frost and Cracker. His 2005 film Red Mercury was shown at the Montreal World Film Festival, where it was nominated for best film. In 1996, Battersby was awarded the Alan Clarke award at BAFTA. He was married to actress Judy Loe and is the stepfather of actress Kate Beckinsale.
Filmography Movies
Acting
Right to Work March
They're young, unemployed and on the march - from Glasgow, Liverpool and Swansea to London.
Drama Out of a Crisis: A Celebration of Play for Today
Marking Play for Today’s 50th anniversary, Drama Out of a Crisis is a compelling exploration of the series, its origins, achievements, controversies and legacies. Featuring a rich and surprising range of archive extracts and original interviews with many who created the series, including producers Kenith Trodd, Margaret Matheson and Richard Eyre, and directors Mike Leigh, David Hare and Ken Loach.
Production
Red Mercury
Three young Muslim men, part of a terror cell, are making a bomb in a London flat, when they get a call to vacate immediately with their gear. The police have been alerted and they are under suspicion.
King of the Ghetto
An idealistic former soldier helps unite and house ethnic minorities in a run down area of London's east end
Doomwatch: Winter Angel
University lecturer Neil Tannahill is drawn into a sinister conspiracy involving secretly-stored Soviet nuclear waste at a remote British nuclear facility after receiving an enigmatic note from legendary atomic scientist and one-time former head of "Doomwatch" (the infamous Scientific watchdog group of the seventies), Dr Spencer Quist.
The Body
A psychedelic documentary of the body electric, with music by Pink Floyd. The film was directed and produced by Roy Battersby. The film's narrators, Frank Finlay and Vanessa Redgrave, provide commentary that combines the knowledge of human biologists and anatomical experts. The film's soundtrack, Music from the Body, was composed by Ron Geesin and Roger Waters.
Escape From Kampala
The true story of a daring prison break. Wycliffe Kato, Director of Civil Aviation in Idi Amin's Uganda was at the airport to catch a flight to Canada for a conference when he was arrested by Amin's secret police, members of the notorious State Research Bureau, and thrown into the Nakasero prison. This should have meant certain death, but, along with his cell mates, army officers who had come under suspicion of organizing a coup, he escaped and made it on foot to Nairobi. This TV movie is based on Wycliffe Kato's own account in his book "Escape From Idi Amin's Slaughterhouse".
The Palestinian
A powerful Palestinian documentary starring Vanessa Redgrave about the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) and its role in Lebanon, as well as the daily struggles and resistance of the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation. Filmed right after the Tel al-Zaatar massacre, the film highlights the Palestinian fight for identity, dignity, and homeland.
The Moth
This 1940s drama presents a story of class conflict and its influence on romance. Robert Bradley leaves the shipyards to work in his uncle's furniture business but soon finds himself at odds with the old man. So he becomes a servant for the destructive Thormans, and falls for the lady of the house, Sarah. But in 1913 this upstairs/downstairs romance can only lead to disaster.
Mr. Love
An fifty-year-old mild-mannered gardener becomes a lovable legend in his town for his talent to romantically please every woman that fancies him.
Olly's Prison
"When you marry, have kids...you'll still be in that chair." An ordinary city flat. Evening. A man tries to talk to his daughter. She will not answer. The play moves through the prison of the mind, to that of the outside world in a search that leads to a tragedy.
The Black Candle
Lily Whitmore is the heir to a crumbling factory that she's determined to restore to its former glory. Unfortunately, Lily must instead turn her attention to the conniving Lionel Filmore who's determined to marry into the family no matter what.
Gallery
