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Paddy Russell

Directing

Biography

Patricia "Paddy" Russell (4 July‌ 1928 – 2 November 2017) was a British television director. She was among the earliest female directors at the BBC. She was the first female floor manager to work for the BBC, her non-gendered credit being a means of avoiding problems with prospective technical crews. Although she appeared in the first two episodes of The Quatermass Experiment (1953), her main role was a production assistant for television director Rudolph Cartier. She worked on the later Quatermass science-fiction serials, as well as the 1954 adaptation of George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. In the Studio 4 series, she appeared on screen in the Cartier-directed Holocaust drama Doctor Korczak and the Children (1962), instructing the actors on the roles they were to perform. The production was made in the unadorned studio without sets or the actors in costume. She progressed to becoming a director herself, one of the first two women directors in BBC television, along with Julia Smith. She directed many television programmes from 1962. She became the first woman to direct episodes of Doctor Who when she directed The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve (1966). She directed three further Doctor Who serials: Invasion of the Dinosaurs (1974), Pyramids of Mars (1975), and Horror of Fang Rock (1977). The last two Doctor Who serials featured Tom Baker in the title role. Her other work included Out of the Unknown (1965), Pere Goriot (1968), The Moonstone (1972) and The Omega Factor (1980).

Known For

Compact
5.0

Compact was a British television soap opera shown by the BBC between 1962 and 1965. The series was created by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling, who together went on to devise Crossroads. In contrast to the kitchen sink realism of Coronation Street, Compact was a distinctly middle-class serial, set in the more "sophisticated" arena of magazine publishing. An early "avarice" soap, it took the viewer into the business workplace, and aligned the professional lives of the characters with more personal storylines. The show was scheduled for broadcast on Tuesdays and Thursdays, thus avoiding a clash with ITV's Coronation Street on Mondays and Wednesdays. When Compact began, the editor was a woman, Joanne Minster, yet it was not long before she was replaced by Ian Harmon, the son of the magazine's owner. Despite being largely criticised by reviewers, Compact was popular with the general public, and in 1964 a regular omnibus edition was introduced, broadcast on Sundays. Morris Barry, a some-time actor and BBC director – he directed several Doctor Who stories in the 1960s – took over as producer and was given a brief to spice the series up in view of the criticism it had received from the national press. But the BBC, never comfortable with the concept of soap opera, quietly dropped the series in 1965.

Compact

1962Series
3-2-1
10.0

3–2–1 was a popular British game show that was made by Yorkshire Television for ITV. It ran for ten years, between 29 July 1978 and 24 December 1988, with former Butlins Redcoat Ted Rogers as the host. It was based on a Spanish gameshow called Un, dos, tres... responda otra vez and was three shows in one, a quiz show, a variety show and a game show. The show was a huge success consistently pulling in large ratings. The first series, though, intended as a summer filler, attracted up to 16.5 million viewers and subsequent years never failed to peak below 12 million. The show occupied a Saturday early evening slot for most of its run. The final Christmas special attracted 12.5 million viewers, so, it is to this day unclear why an eleventh series was not commissioned in 1989. Ted Rogers claimed in a 1996 interview that "The Oxbridge lot got control of TV and they didn't really want it. It was too downmarket for them. We were still getting 12 million viewers when they took it off after ten years. These days if a show gets nine million everyone does a lap of honour.".

3-2-1

1978Series
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6.5

The Newcomers was a late 1960s BBC soap opera which dealt with the subject of a London family, the Coopers, who moved to a housing estate in the fictional country town of Angleton. It was broadcast in bi-weekly half hour episodes from 5 October 1965 until 28 November 1969. It was initially produced by Verity Lambert. In the series, a fictional light industrial manufacturing company called Eden Brothers decides to relocate to the rural location. There are conflicts with the older members of the existing community, as well as some lighter moments as urbanites encounter "country characters". Many of the relocated workers have trouble living outside the city. As the series progresses, problems on the factory floor spill over into the community. Throughout this the Coopers strive to raise their daughter and two sons, who are having their own issues.

The Newcomers

1965Series