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January 20th, 2014 10 comments

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Drama and Delight: The Life & Legacy of Verity Lambert

verity-lambertDrama and Delight: The Life and Legacy of Verity Lambert

By Richard Marson | Miwk Publishing Ltd | January 2015

For five decades, the name Verity Lambert appeared on the end credits of many of Britain’s most celebrated and talked about television dramas, among them Adam Adamant Lives!, Budgie, The Naked Civil Servant, Minder, Edward and Mrs Simpson, Eldorado, G.B.H. and Jonathan Creek.

She was the very first producer of Doctor Who, which she nurtured through its formative years at a time when there were few women in positions of power in the television industry. Later, she worked within the troubled British film business and became a pioneering independent producer, founding her own highly-successful company, Cinema Verity. Within her profession, she was hugely respected as an intensely driven, sometimes formidable but always stylish exponent of her craft, with the stamina and ability to combine quantity with quality.Many of her productions have had a lasting cultural and emotional impact on their audiences and continue to be enjoyed to this day.

But who was the woman behind all these television triumphs and what was the price she paid to achieve them?

Combining months of painstaking research and interviews with many of Lambert’s closest friends and colleagues, Drama and Delight will capture the energy and spirit of this remarkable woman and explore her phenomenal and lasting legacy.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

After graduating from the University of Durham in 1987, Richard Marson joined the BBC and progressed from floor assistant to producer/director.

verity-lambert1Along the way, he worked on many iconic programmes including Top of the Pops, That’s Life!, Wogan and Going Live! He went freelance in 1994, with stints at companies like Planet 24, Chatsworth and LWT.

A return to the BBC in 1997 to direct series of Record Breakers and Tomorrow’s World led to his appointment as a producer on Blue Peter, where he remained for a decade.

He spent four years as the programme’s Editor and during this time, won a BAFTA. In 2007, he was Executive Producer of BBC FOUR’s Children’s TV On Trial.

More recently, he produced and directed a 90-minute documentary for BBC Four, Tales of Television Centre. He is currently with TwoFour producing a major 15-part ‘fixed rig’ documentary for CBBC called Our School.

He is the author of several books, including Inside Updown: The Story of Upstairs, Downstairs, Blue Peter 50th Anniversary and JN-T: The Life and Scandalous Times of John Nathan-Turner, which was published in 2013 amid a flurry of publicity and which received much acclaim for its searching but sensitive portrait of Doctor Who’s longest-running producer.

By Richard Marson | Miwk Publishing Ltd | January 2015



Categorised under: Autobiographies and biographies, Books

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10 comments

  • TC200

    January 22nd, 2014 - 4:53pm

    nice out after just having adventures in space and time

    Reply
  • Trenzalore

    January 20th, 2014 - 9:46pm

    Sounds interesting, and from what I have heard from classic DVD extras and an adventure in time and space she is very inspirational.

    Reply
  • Booboo Jr

    January 20th, 2014 - 9:10pm

    Might give this a read after watching ‘An Adventure in Space and Time’ last year.

    Reply
  • I Froze Gallifrey

    January 20th, 2014 - 9:06pm

    January 2015… Blimey, there’s a long time until this comes out.

    Reply
    • Sam Bentley

      January 20th, 2014 - 9:48pm

      Hardly. I’ve found that years are hardly anything really. I’m sure January 2015 will come sooner than you think…

    • T4RD1S

      January 20th, 2014 - 10:57pm

      Time flies when your having fun

    • Obsie

      January 20th, 2014 - 11:47pm

      There are moments in life that take a lifetime to get just right. I’d love to read this and when I do I have no doubt that my admiration for Verity lambert will rewarded.

    • I Froze Gallifrey

      January 21st, 2014 - 4:51pm

      I said its a long time, I didn’t say it felt like a long time,

    • Anonymous

      January 21st, 2014 - 6:25pm

      he did not say that either he just said it will come sooner than you think

      so he is just saying that it wont be that long

    • Obsie

      January 21st, 2014 - 7:51pm

      After all, put into perspective 1 year is miniscule considering the 16 years we ALL waited to be at this point in time writing about the programme we love! Something the 4th Doctor pointed out at the end of “Genesis of the Daleks”, delaying them for about 5,000 years or so.(I think I may have got the dating wrong there; feel free to correct me). Sarah Jane considered that a LONG time, The Doctor simply shrugged and said: “No more than that!”

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