Jenny Barraclough

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Jennifer Ann Barraclough OBE (born 2 May 1937) is a British film and television producer. Much of her work is in television documentaries. She has also been involved in a number of trusts and charities. They include the Grierson Trust (Chairman between 2006 and 2009) and LEPRA (Chairman between 2007 and 2011) and the Razumovsky Ensemble of which she is a Trustee.

Contents

Barraclough was educated at St Brandon's School (Somerset), Millfield (Somerset), and St Hilda's College, Oxford, where she achieved a BA Hons in English.

Barraclough was one of the first women television producers. Barraclough's film Gale is Dead (1971) was one of the first to draw attention to young homeless and drug addicts and contributed to the establishment of a House of Commons committee. Her film Women in Prison in 1972 (which won a BAFTA) was the first film to be shot in a women's prison in the UK. In the 1980s she made two films on Queen Elizabeth II and two on 10 Downing Street for BBC One. Barraclough also produced films on the arts, including one on the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and a major series on the London Symphony Orchestra in 1986.

Barraclough's films on AIDS helped promote understanding of the disease in its early days. Barraclough also produced other series focused on medicine, including series on transplant surgery and the history of cancer. Films for BBC World have included projects on leprosy (2001), vaccination (2004), and international efforts to prevent the spread of avian flu. In 2005 Barraclough produced a widely distributed film on the MMR vaccine for the Department of Health.

She was made a member of two BBC think tanks.

Barraclough was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours. [1]

Professional career

DatesAchievement
1963TV Reporter in ITV News
1964–66Researcher, then Director/Producer World in Action (Granada Television)
1966-66Presenter on late night discussion programmes, Director/Producer on This Week (Rediffusion)
1968–1988Director/Producer Man Alive series, then many one-off documentaries. Several international awards.
1970sMember BFI Production Board
1986–88Head of BBC1 Documentaries
1988Founder and Head of Programmes for multi award-winning independent, Barraclough Carey Productions, with George Carey.
1997Merged with Mentorn to become Mentorn Barraclough Carey
1999Mentorn Barraclough Carey became part of TV Corporation Group
2000Director Barraclough Productions, making major global health programmes for BBC World.
2001Member of Executive Board of LEPRA (International Leprosy Charity)
2004Trustee Razumovsky Trust (inc. Razumovsky Ensemble and Academy)
1996–2006Trustee Grierson Trust (Grierson Best Documentary Awards)
2006–2008Chairman Grierson Trust
2007-2011Chairman LEPRA

Films broadcast

For the BBC

DatesFilm
1971Gale Is Dead
1972Women in Prison
Numerous programmes for 'Man Alive'
1972Its Ours Whatever They Say
1973Alright we'll do it ourselves
1974The Bomb Disposal Men
1974Big Smile Please
1975A Day in Hyde Park
1975Terrorism – Parts 1 and 2
1976The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
1976'I'ndian Summer (Ooty)
1977Bombay Superstar (The Indian film industry)
1977Black American Dream (the legacy of Martin Luther King)
1978The Diplomatic Style of Andrew Young
1979Go Tell It to the Judge (the legal battle of the Banabans of Ocean Island)
1980Portrait of a 'Terrorist (Robert Mugabe)
1981Repeat of Gale is Dead as one of the best BBC docs ever
("Tonight belongs to Jenny Barraclough, a producer whose programmes have been delighting and moving me by turns since I started writing about television", Chris Dunkley Financial Times)
1981The Royal Wedding – "Not only Charles and Diana but also..."
1982Not in a Thousand Years (Robert Mugabe)
1982Mr Gandhi and Mr Attenborough
1982Hang on I'll Just Speak to the World (Anniversary of World Service)
1983Elisabeth – the first 30 years
1983..and the Queen passed by
1984John Paul's People (the British Catholics)
1985No 10 Downing Street
1985Living Above the Shop (Mrs Thatcher in No 10)
1986Dancing in the Rain (Ballroom dancing)
1986Happy Birthday Dear Ma'am as in Jam (Queen's birthday)
1987Life at Stake (air crash survival)
1988Fourteen Days in May (Executive Producer)

Barraclough Carey Productions

DatesFilm
1991Redemption Song (History of the Caribbean)
1991Frontiers – South Africa and Mozambique with Nadine Gordimer
1993The Plague (History of AIDS), 4 part series; produced 'Hunting the Virus' and
'The End of the Beginning' (C4 and Discovery)
1994Lost Children of Angola (C4)
1995Knife to the Heart (History of Transplant Surgery) – 4 parts (BBC and WNET)
1997Two films in the 'Lost Civilizations' series – Aegean and Greece (Time Life/NBC)
1998Cancer Wars (The History of Cancer) 4 part series (C4 and WNET) "a scrapnel-sharp new series... absorbing"(Time Out) "this excellent series" (Sunday Times)
1999Whatever happened to the Plague? (C4) – 90 min special
1999The Real Pinochet (C4)
2000Do Bras Cause Cancer? (C4)
2000Elephant Hospital – illegal logging (National Geographic)
2000Secrets of the Dead (C4 and WNET)
2001The Private Life of Guiseppi Verdi BBC4, AVRO, ARTE, and ZDF
2001The New Face of Leprosy (BBC WORLD and numerous local broadcasters)
2004Fragile Lives – Immunization at Risk (BBC WORLD and numerous local broadcasters)
2005MMR – what every mother should know (for the Ministry of Health)
2007Calm Before the Storm (avian flu) (BBCWORLD and numerous local broadcasters)
2013Blitz Over the Isle of Dogs (community project)

Awards

Jenny Barraclough won many awards for the BBC and for Barraclough Carey (founded in 1988, later Mentorn Barraclough Carey) which won many international awards for its documentaries, both singles and multi-part.

Best documentary awards

TitleAward
Gale Is Dead1971 – BAFTA, International Critics Award and Catholic Church's Jury Award
Women in Prison1972 – BAFTA
Its Ours Whatever They Say1972 – London Film Festival, and Venice Biennale
The Bomb Disposal Men'1974 – BAFTA nomination
A Day in Hyde Park1975 – Venice Biennale Gold
Mr Gandhi and Mr Attenborough1982 – US Television Academy Awards
Not in a Thousand Years1983 – International. Black Programming Consortium in US
Frontiers (series)1989 – ACE (National Academy of Cable Programmes) award in US
The Plague (series on AIDS)1993 – Royal Television Society and EMMY nomination.
Lost Civilisations (The Aegean)1995 – EMMY and GOLDEN EAGLE awards in US
Lost Civilisations (5th-century BC Athens)1995 – EMMY and GOLDEN EAGLE awards
Fragile Lives – Immunization at Risk2005 – Denver International World Cinema Award

Trusts and charity

Barraclough was trustee and Chairman of the Grierson Trust which plays a leading role in supporting the quality documentary in the UK at a time when it is threatened by ratings and other commercial imperatives. As trustee she helped expand the event from a single award to an event with nine categories, and as Chairman she initiated many new ideas including the specially commissioned films by young 'Newcomers'. She expanded the Trust's activities into many new areas, like staging the popular National Film Theatre events that highlight ethical and other issues in documentary-making, mounting Master Classes with DocHouse where leading documentary makers share their skills with their audiences, and supporting festivals that honour the documentary. She helped initiate three new Grierson Sheffield Awards at the Sheffield International Documentary Festival: the 'most innovative', best 'green' film and a 'youth award' for the film most admired by young audiences.

Jenny Barraclough made the influential programme The New Face of Leprosy in 2001 which was shown to 27 million people on BBC World and then shown by many individual national networks and also by educational groups throughout the affected countries. As a Member of the Executive Board of LEPRA she helped make decisions on the treatment of leprosy, TB and AIDS among thousands of people on three continents, speaking on the organisation's behalf and making fund raising films for them. She became chairman in 2007 and worked closely with the CEO in managing a charity with a £12 million annual income and employing over 4,500 worldwide.

She is a trustee of the Razumovsky Trust, which is the trust of the Razumovsky Ensemble and Academy. The Academy helps outstanding young musicians reach international standard and encourages classical music in some of London’s less privileged schools.

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References

  1. "No. 59090". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 June 2009. p. 9.