Stephen Poliakoff

Stephen Poliakoff
Born	December 1 1952 (1952--) (age 54) London, England

Stephen Poliakoff CBE (born December 1, 1952 in Holland Park in West London, England) is an acclaimed British playwright, director and scriptwriter. The British Film Institute's "Screenonline" website describes him as "one of the most inventive and intriguing of writer-directors in Britain today."^[1]

Career

In 1969, while still a pupil at the capital's Westminster School, he attracted sufficient attention for Granny, a play written and directed by him, to be reviewed in The Times newspaper. Following studies at King's College, Cambridge he continued to write stage plays, becoming writer-in-residence for the National Theatre at the age of 24, but became increasingly interested in the medium of television, with Stronger Than the Sun (1977 - BBC1 Play for Today), Bloody Kids (1980 - ATV), Caught on a Train (1980 - BBC2 Playhouse) starring Peggy Ashcroft, and Soft Targets (1982 - Play for Today). There were also TV adaptations of his stage plays Hitting Town (1976 - Thames Television/ITV Play for Britain) and City Sugar (1978 - Scottish Television/ITV The Sunday Drama).

Poliakoff's first feature film was Runners, directed by Charles Sturridge, starring James Fox, Jane Asher, and Kate Hardie. It received a limited theatrical release in 1983, before being shown in Channel 4's Film on Four strand. His directorial debut was the much-lauded and now rare Hidden City (1988), premiered at the Venice Film Festival and starring Charles Dance, Richard E Grant and Cassie Stuart. His television career continued with She's Been Away (1989) starring Peggy Ashcroft and also winning awards at Venice, before a return to film with Close My Eyes (1991), starring Clive Owen, Saskia Reeves and Alan Rickman in an elaborate reworking of the incest theme that had been central to Hitting Town, followed by Century (1993), with Owen, Dance and Miranda Richardson. Less successful were Food of Love (1997) with Grant, Nathalie Baye and Joe McGann and The Tribe (1998) starring Joely Richardson and Jeremy Northam, the latter eventually screened on BBC2 due to lack of a cinema distribution deal.

He subsequently decided to return to his favoured form of television, this time choosing a flexible serial format resulting in the acclaimed and Prix Italia[1]-winning Shooting the Past (1999), the fresh critical and audience success of Perfect Strangers (2001), a family drama starring Matthew Macfadyen, Michael Gambon and Lindsay Duncan, and The Lost Prince (2003); the latter recognised with an Emmy award rare for a non-American production, and featuring Miranda Richardson in a Golden Globe nominated performance, with Michael Gambon, Gina McKee and Tom Hollander. Late-2005 saw the one-off drama Friends and Crocodiles starring Damian Lewis and Jodhi May, with its overlapping companion-piece Gideon's Daughter, starring Bill Nighy, Miranda Richardson and Emily Blunt, appearing early the following year. The latter drama won a Peabody Award in April 2007, and won Golden Globes for its stars Nighy and Blunt.

In 2005, he renewed recent criticisms of BBC scheduling and commissioning policy, arguing that the reintroduction of a regular evening slot for one-off plays on BBC1 would provide the reinvigoration of drama output that has become a priority for the corporation.

His two latest dramas are scheduled to be broadcast in 2007: Poliakoff 2006 (working title) on BBC One, and Capturing Mary on BBC Two [2].

Personal life

He lives in London and is married to fellow scriptwriter Sandy Welch, with whom he has two children. He was awarded the decoration of a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Queen's 2007 Birthday Honours list.^[2] His brother, Martyn Poliakoff, is a Fellow of the Royal Society and Professor of Chemistry at the University of Nottingham.

Stage Plays

All London except where otherwise stated:

• Granny (also directed) Westminster School, 1969
• Lay-By (co-writer) Edinburgh Festival, August 1971
• Pretty Boy Royal Court, June 1972
• Berlin Days Little Theatre, 1973
• Sad Beat Up Little Theatre, 1974
• The Carnation Gang Bush, 1974
• Clever Soldiers Hampstead, 1974
• Heroes Royal Court, July 1975
• Hitting Town Bush, 1975
• City Sugar Bush, October 1975; Comedy Theatre, March 1976; Phoenix Theatre (New York), January 1978
• Strawberry Fields NT Young Vic, August 1976; NT Cottesloe, 1977; Manhattan Theatre Club (New York), May 1978
• Shout Across the River Warehouse Croydon, 1978; Phoenix Theatre (New York), December 1979
• American Days ICA, June 1979; Manhattan Theatre Club (New York), December 1980
• The Summer Party Crucible Theatre, Sheffield 1980
• Favourite Nights Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, November 1981
• Breaking the Silence RSC The Pit, November 1984
• Coming In To Land National Theatre Lyttelton, January 1987
• Playing With Trains RSC The Pit, November 1989
• Sienna Red Richmond Theatre, May 1992
• Sweet Panic (also directed) Hampstead, February 1996
• Blinded By the Sun National Theatre Cottesloe, September 1996
• Talk of the City (also directed) RSC Swan, Stratford 1998; Young Vic February 1999
• Remember This National Theatre Lyttelton, October 1999
• Sweet Panic revival (also directed) Duke of York’s, November 2003

Films

• Termeszet (Hungary,1981) (TV)
• Runners (director Charles Sturridge, 1983
• Doppelte Welt, Die (West Germany, 1985) (TV)
• Hidden City (1998)
• She's Been Away (BBC, 1989) (TV)
• Close My Eyes (1991)
• Century (1994)
• Food of Love (1997)
• Frontiers (co-written with Sandy Welch, 1996) (TV)
• The Tribe (1998)

See also

• Play For Today

References

External links

• Stephen Poliakoff at the Internet Movie Database
• Poliakoff on Film, BBC, 2003
• Profile

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