Christopher Barry | |
---|---|
Born | Christopher Chisholm Barry 20 September 1925
East Greenwich, London, England |
Died | 7 February 2014 | (aged 88)
Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
Occupation | Television director |
Years active | 1949–2000 |
Known for | Doctor Who |
Christopher Chisholm Barry (20 September 1925 – 7 February 2014) [1] was a British television director. He worked extensively in BBC television drama and became best known for his work on the science fiction series Doctor Who. [2] He also directed the direct to video Doctor Who spin-off Downtime in 1995. [3]
Barry was the son of Sir Gerald Barry, editor of the News Chronicle and director general of the Festival of Britain in 1951, and his first wife Gladys, [4] [5] He attended Blundell's School in Devon and the University of Cambridge, before service in the Royal Air Force. [2]
Barry became a trainee at Ealing Studios and worked on the film The Ship That Died of Shame (1955) as an assistant director to Basil Dearden. He joined the BBC as a production assistant in 1955. [2]
In 1963, Barry was asked by producer Verity Lambert to be one of the initial directors of the BBC's new science fiction television series Doctor Who. [2] Barry's work on Doctor Who went on to cover the longest span of any director during the original run of the series, overseeing episodes until 1979. [6]
Among Barry's other television credits were episodes of Compact (1962), Ann Veronica (1964), Paul Temple (1970–71), Z-Cars (1971–78), Poldark (1975), The Onedin Line (1977), All Creatures Great and Small (1978–80), Juliet Bravo (1980) and Dramarama (1989). [7] [8] His other science fiction credits were for Out of the Unknown (1969), Moonbase 3 (1973) and The Tripods (1984). [6] He appeared in a feature covering his life's work on the DVD release of the Doctor Who serial The Creature from the Pit (1979), released in May 2010. [9]
Barry lived in Oxfordshire in his retirement. [10] He died following an escalator fall in a shopping centre in Banbury on 7 February 2014. An inquest into his death was held on 5 June 2014. [11]
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