Stephen Poliakoff

Infobox Actor

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name = Stephen Poliakoff
birthdate = birth date and age|1952|12|1|df=yes
location = London, England

Stephen Poliakoff CBE (born 1 December 1952 in Holland Park in West London, England) is an acclaimed British playwright, director and scriptwriter, widely judged amongst Britain's foremost television dramatists.

Family

Stephen Poliakoff was born to a Russian-Jewish father and Anglo-Jewish mother [ [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/510844/index.html screenonline: Poliakoff, Stephen (1952-) Biography ] ] . His brother Martyn Poliakoff CBE FRS is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Nottingham, and father of physicist Simon Poliakoff.

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, Poliakoff 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 in the absence of a cinema distribution deal.

He subsequently returned to his favoured form, television, this time choosing a flexible serial format resulting in the acclaimed and Prix Italia [http://www.imdb.com/Sections/Awards/Prix_Italia/1999] -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), a single drama 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 won a Peabody Award in April 2007, with 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 latest drama "Joe's Palace" was screened on 4 November 2007 on BBC One and "Capturing Mary" was screened on BBC Two on 12 November 2007. "The Culture Show" also screened a Poliakoff special, including an interview between Poliakoff and Mark Kermode and a new TV play, "A Real Summer", on 10 November. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2006/11_november/09/poliakoff.shtml] .

Personal life

Poliakoff lives in London and is married to fellow scriptwriter Sandy Welch, with whom he has two children. He was awarded a CBE in the Queen's 2007 Birthday Honours list. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6758183.stm Rushdie and Eavis lead honours] , BBC News, 15 June, 2007]

References

tage 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

* "Runners" (director Charles Sturridge, 1983)
* "Hidden City" (1988)
* "Close My Eyes" (1991)
* "Century" (1993)
* "Food of Love" (1997)

Television Dramas/Films Made for Television

All (originally) made for British television unless otherwise stated.
* "Caught on a Train (1980)
* "Termeszet" (Hungary, 1981)
* "Doppelte Welt, Die" (West Germany, 1985)
* "She's Been Away" (1989)
* "Frontiers" (co-written with Sandy Welch, 1996)
* "The Tribe" (1998)
* "Shooting the Past" (1999)
* "Perfect Strangers" (2001)
* "The Lost Prince" (2003)
* "Friends and Crocodiles" (2006)
* "Gideon's Daughter" (2006)
* "Joe's Palace" (2007)
* "Capturing Mary" (2007)

See also

* "Play For Today"

External links

*
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/oct/29/mondaymediasection.bbc Guardian interview, October 29 2007]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/cinema/features/poliakoff.shtml Poliakoff on Film] , BBC, 2003
* [http://www.johannhari.com/archive/article.php?id=117 Profile]