Anthony Waller was a production designer and set designer active in theatre and television from the late 1950s until the early 1980s when he was the Head of Design at ATV. Born as Anthony Edward Pratt, and occasionally known as Anthony Wallis, he started as a set dresser for the BBC working on live plays and productions from the late 1940s onwards. During this period he was also toiling away as a set designer in theatre - a notable highlight being his sets for a production of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice performed at the Library Theatre in Manchester. Sir Peter Hall was the director with a cast that included Frank Windsor, Peter Jeffrey and Clifford Rose. Waller began regular design work for ATV in 1957 working on drama and light entertainment shows, though later on he tended to specialise in drama presentations.
The
Market at Honey Lane (produced by future Beasts director John Cooper) was a soap
opera set in an open air market in London and can now be seen as shadowing the
later successful format of Eastenders.
The programme would be a challenge for Waller as over three quarters of each
episode were videotaped in a street market constructed in the grounds of
Elstree Studios. The Stage trade newspaper
interviewed Waller about his creation shortly before the series was
transmitted; “John Cooper gave me the basic requirements like the number of
stalls needed, sizes and so forth. Then I toured every London street market to
see the real thing and sketched what I saw. What we have created is a London
street market. Not one, but all of them – combined.[1]”
The set was extensive including a theatre, a betting
shop, a pub, a restaurant, a night-club, a strip-joint, a barber’s shop, a
bookshop and a mews called Apple Yard which led off Honey Lane[2].
Apple Yard consisted mainly of lock-ups and garages where the stallholders
stored their gear. The production design was highlighted by several
contemporary reviews including one in The
Stage which opened with “Market in
Honey Lane looks like the real thing. Filmed, surely, somewhere in Soho, it
had as an incidental landmark a sign advertising strip-tease. That, along with
the breath clouds on frosty air, was enough to convince me.[3]”
Created by Lewis Griefer Who-Dun-It, was an ATV series that combined mystery thrillers with
an element of audience participation. Each week Inspector Jeremy Moon (played
by Gary Raymond) would investigate a baffling murder case. Viewers where
invited to submit their own solutions to the mystery before Moon would reveal
his findings. The series can be seen as a forerunner to the later panel show Whodunnit? which did away with the
audience input and instead had celebrities delivering their verdicts. Waller
was one of the main designers on the series.
One of the more prestigious productions Waller worked during the 1970s was the period biographical drama series Edward the Seventh (1st April – 1st July 1975) which starred Timothy West as the English monarch. Waller oversaw all thirteen episodes alongside his fellow ATV staff designer Henry Graveney and both shared the BAFTA Award for Best Television Design at the 1976 awards ceremony in recognition of their skill and achievement.
During the 1980s Waller undertook design work on The Further Adventures of Oliver Twist
(2nd March – 1st June 1980), which featured Beasts actor
Pauline Quirke in the cast, as well as the biographical drama series I Remember Nelson (21st February
– 18th April 1982). Both capitalised on his attention to rich period
detail in his production design and would be his final credits before
promotion. After serving as the head of the design department at ATV Waller
retired and lived in Bexhill-On-Sea, East Sussex. He died 1st June
2003.
[1] “Series To Show Harsh Side of Market Life”, The Stage, Thursday 16th
March 1967, page 14
[2] The Stage, Thursday 16th March 1967, page 14
[3] “New Series Padded Out Too Much” by N Alice Frick, The Stage, Thursday 6th April 1967, page 12
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