Verity Lambert

Friday, November 23, 2007

Long-time fans of "Doctor Who" and British television will join me in mourning the untimely passing of Verity Lambert, the original producer of "Doctor Who" and the person who laid herself on the line to ensure the future of the series.
Lambert died yesterday at the age of 71. She was the epitome of 1960s chic, a feminist simply by her determination to succeed in the male-dominated television industry. Her fierce defense of the iconic Daleks in "Doctor Who" when called on the carpet by the BBC, who wanted to excise them from the program, ensured that the program became a hit and a national treasure.
From Variety:

In a career lasting more than 40 years Lambert, who famously became the youngest and only female producer at the BBC in 1963, was responsible for some of the most memorable and important small screen drama to come out of the U.K. in an era many regard as television’s golden age.

Lambert, born in London and educated at Roedean School and the Sorbonne in Paris, was the first producer of “Doctor Who.”

Her Midas touch extended to series like “Budgie,” “Rock Follies,” “Rumpole of the Bailey” and “Minder.”

Her early days in TV were spent as a junior secretary in the managing director’s office at ITV station ABC.

As a personal assistant in the drama department she learned about rehearsals and studio procedures, and followed her boss, drama topper Sydney Newman, to the BBC.

There she was given the opportunity to produce what became “Doctor Who.”

“Verity was as bright as they come, tough, and utterly fearless,” wrote the man who would be her director of programs at Thames Television, Jeremy Isaacs, where she became head of drama in 1974.

At Thames, her work encompassed mainstream hits like “Rock Follies” and “Hazell” and the breakthrough “The Naked Civil Servant,” starring John Hurt as gay icon Quentin Crisp.

By 1976, Lambert was CEO of Thames’ subsidiary Euston Films, four years later moving into film production at Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment working on pics such as “Dream Child” and “Clockwise,” starring John Cleese.

She set up her own successful shingle, Cinema Verity, in 1985, which scored across movies (“A Cry in the Dark”), sitcom (“May to December”), and drama (“GBH”), but her sure touch was absent from the BBC’s ill-fated soap “Eldorado.”

Lambert was due to receive the Working Title Films Lifetime Achievement Award on Dec 7.

Announcing the award Sophie Balhetchet, chair of Women in Film and Television, said: “Verity’s programs have consistently been voted among the greatest of the television era."

From BBC News:

Doctor Who's first producer, and the BBC's first female TV producer, Verity Lambert, has died aged 71.

She was also the youngest person to take charge of a BBC television show when the sci-fi drama started in 1963.

Lambert also produced dramas including Minder, Quatermass, Rumpole of the Bailey and Jonathan Creek, while her company made 1990s BBC soap Eldorado.

She was made an OBE in recognition of her services to film and television in January 2002.

'Total one-off'

Lambert oversaw the first two series of Doctor Who before leaving in 1965.

Russell T Davies, the current writer and executive producer of Doctor Who, said: "There are a hundred people in Cardiff working on Doctor Who and millions of viewers, in particular many children, who love the programme that Verity helped create."

"This is her legacy and we will never forget that," he added.

In 1985 Lambert formed her own independent television company, Cinema Verity, which went on to make the sitcom May to December and the short-lived soap Eldorado.

Most recently she completed the second series of BBC One's Love Soup.

Jane Tranter, controller of BBC Fiction said: "Verity was a total one-off. She was a magnificently, madly, inspirationally talented drama producer."

Lambert had been due to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Women in Film and Television Awards next month.

Her death on Thursday came the day before the 44th anniversary of the very first episode of Doctor Who.

And The Times has a longer appreciation of Verity:

When Sydney Newman, the effervescent head of drama at the BBC during the 1960s, was looking for a producer to launch a new sciencefiction series to air on Saturday evening after Grandstand, he remembered a bright, young production assistant from his previous job at ABC Television. He called her and offered her the job.

Verity Lambert was 27, and Doctor Who was her first job as a drama producer. But Newman's hunch paid off. She proved to be tough and capable, not afraid to tell writers to go back to the typewriter and try again, refusing to be overawed by more experienced actors and technicians and determined to be taken seriously in an industry where women executives were still a rarity.

Although Newman had conceived Doctor Who as believable, even educational, science fiction rather than dominated by “bug-eyed monsters”, he accepted the Daleks with equanimity and saw the series, under Lambert's skilled guidance, grow and flourish, attracting an audience from a far wider age range than the older children for whom it was originally intended.

Verity Lambert was a pioneer for women, and a pioneer for television. She broke down barriers, pushed the envelope, and changed the world. And the universe.

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