Cedric Messina

Last updated • 2 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Cedric Messina (14 December 1920 [1] in Port Elizabeth, South Africa — 30 April 1993 in London) [2] was a South-African born British television producer and director who worked for the BBC and is best remembered for his involvement in television productions of classic drama.

Contents

Early life and career

Born to Sicilian and Welsh immigrant parents, Messina attended school in Johannesburg and joined the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) in the 1930s. [1] He first worked for the BBC as a radio announcer and drama producer for a time in 1947, later permanently moving to the UK and joining BBC Radio in the later role during 1958.

Joining BBC Television in 1962, he was responsible for Dr Finlay's Casebook as producer and director for a time before being given responsibility for Theatre 625 on the new BBC 2. Becoming the producer of Play of the Month in 1966 he supervised more than 80 productions until 1977, and also produced opera for television. [1]

Later career

In 1975, [3] while on location at Glamis Castle for a Play of the Month production of The Little Minister by J. M. Barrie, Messina thought he had found the ideal location for Shakespeare's As You Like It , an idea which soon grew to the BBC undertaking the entire Bardic canon. [4] The BBC Television Shakespeare was the result, and Messina was responsible for the first two seasons (twelve plays) broadcast between 1978 and 1980. The series gained mixed reviews, and the perceived problems were often thought the responsibility of Messina himself. Clive James complained that Romeo and Juliet , the first screened production, was set "not in Verona, but in that semi-abstract, semi-concrete, wholly uninteresting city known to students as Messina." [5] Susan Willis, in her book on the BBC Shakespeare cycle, writes: "That we have the televised Shakespeare series at all is entirely due to Messina; that we have the series we have and not perhaps a better, more exciting one is also in large part due to Messina." [6]

He was chosen to produce The Falklands Play by Ian Curteis. TC1 at BBC Television Centre was booked for late January and early February 1987, [7] but the £1 million production was postponed and then cancelled; [8] Messina continued to defend both the play and author with no consideration for the effect it might have on his career. [9] The Falklands Play was eventually televised in 2002 in a cut version. [8] Messina's last production, was the BBC's The Happy Valley (1987) with Holly Aird.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timothy West</span> English actor (1934–2024)

Timothy Lancaster West, CBE was an English actor and presenter. He appeared frequently on stage and screen, including Coronation Street as Eric Babbage, EastEnders as Stan Carter, and Not Going Out as the original Geoffrey Adams. He was married to the actress Prunella Scales. From 2014 to 2019, they travelled together on UK and overseas canals in ten series of Great Canal Journeys.

<i>BBC Television Shakespeare</i> Series of TV adaptations of Shakespeares plays

The BBC Television Shakespeare is a series of British television adaptations of the plays of William Shakespeare, created by Cedric Messina and broadcast by BBC Television. Transmitted in the UK from 3 December 1978 to 27 April 1985, the series spanned seven seasons and thirty-seven episodes.

Sir Trevor Robert Nunn is an English theatre director. He has been the artistic director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal Haymarket. He has directed dramas for the stage, including Macbeth, as well as opera and musicals, such as Cats (1981) and Les Misérables (1985).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Writers' Guild of Great Britain</span> Trade union for professional writers

The Writers' Guild of Great Britain (WGGB), established in 1959, is a trade union for professional writers. It is affiliated with both the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds (IAWG).

<i>Armchair Theatre</i> British TV drama series (1956–1974)

Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by ABC Weekend TV. Its successor Thames Television took over from mid-1968.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian Richardson</span> Scottish actor (1934–2007)

Ian William Richardson was a British actor from Edinburgh, Scotland. He was best known for his portrayal of machiavellian Tory politician Francis Urquhart in the BBC's House of Cards (1990–1995) television trilogy, as well as the pivotal spy Bill Haydon in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979). Other notable screen work included a portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in two films, as well as significant roles in Brazil, M. Butterfly, and Dark City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaretta Scott</span> British actress (1912–2005)

Margaretta Mary Winifred Scott was an English stage, screen and television actress whose career spanned over seventy years. She is best remembered for playing the eccentric widow Mrs. Pumphrey in the BBC television series All Creatures Great and Small (1978–1990).

<i>Play of the Month</i> British television anthology series

Play of the Month is a BBC television anthology series, which ran from 1965 to 1983 featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays which were usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted regularly from October 1965 to May 1979, before returning for the summer seasons of 1982 and 1983. The producer most associated with the Play of the Month series was Cedric Messina. Thirteen productions were also shown previously or subsequently on BBC2 in the period 1971-73 under Stage 2. Productions were broadcast in colour from November 1969.

Shaun Alfred Graham Sutton was an English television writer, director, producer and executive, who worked in the medium for nearly forty years from the 1950s to the 1990s. His most important role was as the Head of Drama at BBC Television from the late 1960s until 1981, a role he occupied for longer than anyone else.

Donald Victor Taylor was an English writer, director and producer, active across theatre, radio and television for over forty years. He is most noted for his television work, particularly his early 1960s collaborations with the playwright David Mercer, much of whose early work Taylor directed for the BBC.

<i>The Falklands Play</i> 2002 British television play

The Falklands Play is a dramatic account of the political events leading up to, and including, the 1982 Falklands War. The play was written by Ian Curteis, an experienced writer who had started his television career in drama, but had increasingly come to specialise in dramatic reconstructions of history. It was originally commissioned by the BBC in 1983, for production and broadcast in 1986, but was subsequently shelved by Controller of BBC One Michael Grade due to its pro-Margaret Thatcher stance and alleged jingoistic tone. This prompted a press furore over media bias and censorship. The play was not staged until 2002, when it was broadcast in separate adaptations on BBC Television and Radio. It was aired again on BBC4, 1 December 2020, over 18 years after it was last transmitted.

Andrew James Tiernan is a British actor and director.

John Summer Gorrie is an English director and screenwriter. He began his career as an actor, but in early 1963 he completed the BBC's directors' course. His first assignments as a director were for the soap opera Compact and the anthology series Suspense. He directed the Doctor Who serial The Keys of Marinus.

Ian Bayley Curteis was a British dramatist and television director.

Margaret is a 2009 television film produced by Great Meadow Productions for the BBC. It was first broadcast on 26 February 2009 on BBC Two. It was made by the same production company as the 2008 television film The Long Walk to Finchley, which fictionalised the start of Thatcher's political career.

Mary Josephine O'Malley was an English playwright of Irish-Lithuanian descent.

James MacTaggart was a Scottish television producer, director and writer. He worked in London from 1961.

Thomas Welsh Watson was a Scottish-born stage, television and film actor.

Alan Shallcross was a British television producer

Burt Caesar is a British actor, broadcaster and director for stage and television, who was born in St Kitts and migrated to England with his family as a child. His career has encompassed acting in Bond films, stage performances including in Shakespearian roles, and many plays for BBC Radio 4. Caesar regularly works as a director and is an artistic advisor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). He is also a commentator on theatre and literature.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Oliver Wake "Cedric Messina", British Television Drama, 24 June 2012
  2. ↑ "Cedric Messina Dies; TV Producer Was 72", The New York Times, 17 May 1993
  3. ↑ Oliver Waken "Messina, Cedric (1920-1993)", BBC screenonline
  4. ↑ Susan Willis The BBC Shakespeare Plays: Making the Televised Canon, Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1991, p.3
  5. ↑ Quoted by Susan Willis, p.51
  6. ↑ Willis, p.24
  7. ↑ Ian Curteis The Falklands play: a television play, London: Hutchinson, 1987, p.18
  8. 1 2 Oliver Wake "Disputed territory: drama and the Falklands", British Television Drama, 2 April 2012
  9. ↑ David Giles "Obituary: Cedric Messina", The Independent, 17 May 1993
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.