Andrea Newman (7 February 1938 – 9 November 2019) was an English writer of fiction. [1] [2] [3]
Andrea Newman was born in Dover, Kent. An only child, her father, a reporter on the Kentish Mercury, was born in India. Her mother, who worked in an office during World War II, was born in Jamaica. [4] [1] She taught at a grammar school after graduating with a degree in English from Westfield College, University of London. [5] A film version of her novel Three into Two Won't Go (1967), with a screenplay by Edna O'Brien, was released in 1969. It starred Rod Steiger and Claire Bloom. It was directed by Peter Hall.
She adapted one of her short stories "The Night of the Stag" for The Frighteners, an anthology series produced by London Weekend Television (LWT). [3] [6] Helen: A Woman of Today was another LWT drama recounting the side of a wronged wife [2] for which Newman wrote two episodes. Having been commissioned by Tony Wharmby for both projects, Newman sent him a copy of A Bouquet of Barbed Wire (1969) as a present; the book was by then out of print. [3]
Newman wrote the adaptation of her sixth novel for television. [7] Broadcast in early 1976, Bouquet of Barbed Wire (losing the indefinite article) as a seven-part serial, it attracted an audience of 20 million viewers. [3] [4] [1] In a 2010 interview, Newman recalled her work on the adaptation: "I never set out to shock, just to tell a story about an imaginary family, but I imagine most people would still disapprove of hitting your pregnant wife and having sex with her mother." [7] Its sequel, Another Bouquet, followed in 1977.
Another novel, Mackenzie, was dramatized by the BBC in 1980, starring Jack Galloway, Lynda Bellingham and Tracey Ullman. This adaptation was followed by Alexa (1968 – adapted for the BBC, 1982), A Sense of Guilt (1988 – adapted for the BBC, 1990), and An Evil Streak (1977 – adapted for LWT, 1999). In 2001, Newman was the writer for the television drama Pretending to Be Judith.
Her other novels include A Share of the World (1964), Mirage (1965), The Cage (1966), and A Gift of Poison (1991). Triangles, a book of 15 short stories, was published in 1990. A notable theme in Andrea Newman's novels was the disintegration of a family after a baby arrives.
Newman married in 1959 while studying at university. However, the couple did not live together for long and eventually divorced. [1] She died in London in November 2019, aged 81, after suffering from breast cancer since 2004. [3]
Rosamunde Pilcher, OBE was a British novelist, best known for her sweeping novels set in Cornwall. Her books have sold over 60 million copies worldwide. Early in her career she was published under the pen name Jane Fraser. In 2001, she received the Corine Literature Prize's Weltbild Readers' Prize for Winter Solstice.
Helen Cresswell was an English television scriptwriter and author of more than 100 children's books, best known for comedy and supernatural fiction. Her most popular book series, Lizzie Dripping and The Bagthorpe Saga, were also the basis for television series.
Thomas Nigel Kneale was a Manx screenwriter who wrote professionally for more than 50 years, was a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, and was twice nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay.
Andrea Levy was an English author best known for the novels Small Island (2004) and The Long Song (2010). She was born in London to Jamaican parents, and her work explores topics related to British Jamaicans and how they negotiate racial, cultural and national identities.
The Wednesday Play is an anthology series of British television plays which ran on BBC1 for six seasons from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually original works written for television, although dramatic adaptations of fiction also featured. The series gained a reputation for presenting contemporary social dramas, and for bringing issues to the attention of a mass audience that would not otherwise have been discussed on screen.
Rebecca is a 1938 Gothic novel written by English author Daphne du Maurier. The novel depicts an unnamed young woman who impetuously marries a wealthy widower, before discovering that both he and his household are haunted by the memory of his late first wife, the title character.
Francis Finlay, was an English actor. He earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance as Iago in Othello (1965). In 1983, he was directed by Italian filmmaker Tinto Brass in the erotic classic The Key, with Stefania Sandrelli. His first leading television role came in 1971 in Casanova. This led to appearances on The Morecambe and Wise Show. He also appeared in the drama Bouquet of Barbed Wire.
Philip Madoc was a Welsh actor. He performed many stage, television, radio and film roles, and was recognised for having a "rich, sonorous voice" and often playing villains and officers. On television, he starred as David Lloyd George in The Life and Times of David Lloyd George (1981) and DCI Noel Bain in the detective series A Mind to Kill (1994–2002). His guest roles included multiple appearances in the cult series The Avengers (1962–68) and Doctor Who (1968–1979), as well as playing the U-boat captain in the Dad's Army episode "The Deadly Attachment" (1973). He was also known to be an accomplished linguist.
Deborah Grant is an English actress. Between 1981 and 1991, she played Deborah Bergerac in the BBC television detective series Bergerac. Since 2007, she has appeared in the sitcom Not Going Out as Wendy Adams, the mother of Tim and Lucy.
Bouquet of Barbed Wire is a British television drama series based on the novel by Andrea Newman published in 1969. It was produced by London Weekend Television for ITV and first broadcast in 1976. The series is known for its treatment of family and sexual dynamics, focused on the relationship between father and daughter. A remake was broadcast in 2010.
Rosemary Anne Leach was a British stage, television and film actress. She won the 1982 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a New Play for 84, Charing Cross Road and was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her roles in the films That'll Be the Day (1973) and A Room with a View (1985).
Anna Maxwell Martin, sometimes credited as Anna Maxwell-Martin, is a British actress. She won two British Academy Television Awards, for her portrayals of Esther Summerson in the BBC adaptation of Bleak House (2005) and N in the Channel 4 adaptation of Poppy Shakespeare (2008). She is also known for her roles as DCS Patricia Carmichael in BBC One crime drama Line of Duty (2019–2021) and Kelly Major in Code 404 (2020–present). Since 2016, Martin has starred in the BBC comedy Motherland, for which she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Female Comedy Performance.
Hayley Elizabeth Atwell is a British and American actress. Born and raised in London, Atwell studied acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and made her stage debut in a 2005 production of Prometheus Bound. She subsequently appeared in multiple West End productions and on television, and was recognised for her breakthrough role as Lady Elizabeth Foster in The Duchess (2008), for which she was nominated for a British Independent Film Award. Her leading performance in the miniseries The Pillars of the Earth (2010) earned her a nomination for a Golden Globe Award.
Hermione Norris is an English actress. She attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in the 1980s, before taking small roles in theatre and on television. In 1996, she was cast in her breakout role of Karen Marsden in the comedy drama television series Cold Feet. She appeared in every episode of the series from 1998 to 2003 and was nominated for a British Comedy Award.
Irene Shubik was a British television producer and story editor, known for her contribution to the development of the single play in British television drama. Beginning her career in television at ABC Weekend TV, she worked on Armchair Theatre as a story editor, where she devised the science fiction anthology series Out of this World.
War Horse is a British war novel by Michael Morpurgo. It was first published in Great Britain by Kaye & Ward in 1982. The story recounts the experiences of Joey, a horse bought by the Army for service in World War I in France and the attempts of 15-year-old Albert, his previous owner, to bring him safely home. It formed the basis of both an award-winning play (2007) and an acclaimed film adaptation (2011) by Steven Spielberg. The novel is often considered one of Morpurgo's best works, and its success spawned a sequel titled Farm Boy, which was published in October 1997.
Betty Kathleen Willingale was a British television producer and script editor, best known for her work on BBC Television adaptations of classic literature in the 1970s and 1980s.
Sheila Allen was an English actress, who was best known to the wider public for her role on television as Cassie Manson in Bouquet Of Barbed Wire and its sequel Another Bouquet (1976–77). From 1966 to 1978, Allen was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
A Bouquet of Barbed Wire may refer to:
Mary Sally Home, born in Southsea, was a British actress whose career encompassed stage, television and radio.