Spotlight: Derek Bourgeois (Music)

Derek David Bourgeois was born on 16^th October 1941 in Kingston upon Thames, the oldest of three children. His sister Linda was born in 1947 followed by another sister, Wendy, arriving in 1953. Derek began composing music at the age of five and by the age of thirteen he had written his first piano sonata. He was educated at the independent Cranleigh School, based in Surrey, between 1954 and 1959.

Bourgeois studied at Magdalene College, Cambridge University between 1959 and 1963, graduating with a first class honours degree in music. He then spent two years at the Royal College of Music studying composition and conducting. During his time at Cambridge he composed music for a unique collaboration between Cambridge and Oxford acting societies which resulted in the staging of a production of Sophocles Oedipus the King at Cambridge Guildhall from 6^th to 11^th February 1963. Bourgeois married Jean Berry, an accomplished violinist for both the Halle Orchestra and the Welsh National Opera, in 1965.

Between 1970 and 1984 he was a lecturer in music at Bristol University, but gave up this role to take up the position of director of the National Youth Orchestra. He held this role from 1984 until 1993. Shortly after his appointment BBC 2 screened a documentary profile on him entitled Derek Bourgeois – Composer (1^st September 1984). Bourgeois was also appointed as the chairman of the Composers Guild of Great Britain and was a member of the Music Advisory Panel for the Arts Council. He held both positions between 1980 and 1983. In 1988 he founded the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and was appointed the Artistic Director of the Bristol Philharmonic Orchestra in 1990. During 1994 he was appointed as the Director of Music at St Pauls Girls School in London following respected previous post holders such as Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams. In 2002 he retired and moved to Mallorca in Spain where his wife was diagnosed with motor neurone disease. He spent the next few years nursing his ailing spouse until she passed away in 2006. After meeting and marrying his second wife, Norma Torney, the couple moved back to the UK in 2009 and settled in Dorset.

Bourgeois has composed over ninety symphonies as well as concertos, orchestral works, operas and musicals. He has composed for stage, film and television and in particular has collaborated with the director Don Taylor on several productions including the Beasts episode ‘Buddyboy’. His earliest screen credits were for British Transport Films and the Central Office of Information in the form of scores for a pair of short documentary films. The first was Thirty Million Letters (1963) which earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Short. This was directed by James Ritchie who also co-directed the second short film which Bourgeois worked on. The Driving Force (1966) examined the transition from steam power to diesel and electric locomotives and the impact it had on the passengers.

For the theatre Bourgeois provided music for stage productions including Oedipus Rex (1963) for the Cambridge University Players, Anthony and Cleopatra (1967) at the Cranleigh School Dramatic Society, Don Taylor’s play A Long March To Jerusalem (1980) at Watford Playhouse, Tom Stoppard’s On The Razzle (1983) for The National Theatre and King Lear (1987) starring Anthony Quayle for a touring Compass Theatre production.

During 1976, after two years of planning, Bourgeois staged the opera Rumpelstiltskin, which he had composed following a commission from Bristol Cathedral School. The two-act opera, based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, premiered on 23^rd March 1976. His next credit was the Beasts episode ‘Buddyboy’ which established his collaborations with the director Don Taylor. Post-‘Buddyboy’ Bourgeois also worked on a score for the unrealised Nigel Kneale project Crow during 1978 with Don Taylor on boards to direct. He later provided the music for the radio drama A Flight into the Wilderness (1979) which was written by Don Taylor.

He reunited with Taylor for the 1980 BBC drama The Crucible which was adapted from the Arthur Miller play set during the Salem witch trials. His next project was providing the score for all seven episodes of the BBC period drama The Barchester Chronicles (1982) which were adapted from the novels by Anthony Trollope. He also scored the television documentary A Prospect of Kew (1981).

He reunited with Don Taylor for The Theban Plays by Sophocles (1986) which formed a trio of classical drama which Taylor also translated. He had previously worked on Theatre Night in 1985 and returned to the programme with a pair of Don Taylor directed editions; ‘Bingo: Scenes of Money and Death’ (30^th June 1990) and ‘Iphigenia at Allius’ (21^st July 1990). His final TV credit was for the documentary series Wildlife On One with the score for the episode ‘Little Leviathans’ (1991). Bourgeois died from cancer on 6^th September 2017 aged 75 and left behind a body of work that numbered over 390 compositions including 17 concertos and 116 symphonies.

TV Credits
1976                            Beasts – ‘Buddyboy’
1980                            The Crucible
1981                            A Prospect of Kew
1982                            The Barchester Chronicles
1983                            Mansfield Park
1984                            The Father
1985                            Theatre Night – ‘The Father’
1986                            The Theban Play by Sophocles
1989                            Bingo
1990                            Theatre Night – ‘Bingo: Scenes of Death and Money’ / ‘Iphigenia at                                   Aulis’
1991                            Wildlife on One – ‘Little Leviathans’

 

Cinema Credits
1963                            Thirty Million Letters (British Transport Films short)
1966                            The Driving Force (British Transport Films short)

 

Spotlight: Denis Holmes (Ashwell in Buddyboy)

Denis Holmes was born on 7th June 1921 in Foleshill, Coventry. He studied his craft at LAMDA where he was awarded a gold medal for his performance work before graduating. Holmes would become a much in demand character actor with a career in theatre, television and film spanning five decades.

During 1948 and 1949 he was a member of the Century Players actors company based at Swindon Playhouse. He then joined the Liverpool Repertory Company and appeared in productions such as The Silver Curlew at the Liverpool Playhouse. Denis was particularly busy during 1950 with appearances in several productions in the London theatre world including Headwind, the very first Chilean play to be produced in the capital. He also made his television debut as the servant Green in a BBC Sunday Night Theatre production of Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of King Richard II” (29th October 1950). The following year Holmes enjoyed his first cinema role, a miniscule part billed as “4th Priest”, in the film Murder in the Cathedral (1951), adapted from the T S Eliot play of the same name.

Holmes joined rep in Sheffield and was involved in numerous productions at the Sheffield Playhouse during 1954 and 1955; playing Inspector Flatt in Meeting at Night, John Pym in His Conscience and as a performer in The Sleeping Prince during May 1955. The Stage praised his performance in The Sleeping Prince saying “he has the ability to make full use of his eyes and facial muscles, which, in a play of this sort, can be made to speak volumes.[1]”

Between 1969 and 1975 Holmes was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company appearing in such plays as The Winter’s Tale, Arden of Faversham, Pericles, King John, Richard II, Island of the Mighty, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, Love’s Labours Lost, Doctor Faustus and The Merry Wives of Windsor.

During November 1987 Holmes was a cast member of a stage revival of the farce Room Service presented at the Haymarket in Leicester. Also in the cast was Pamela Moiseiwittsch who had appeared in 'Buddyboy' along with Holmes.

After moving to America in 1989 Holmes made a few final appearances including the role of the butler in the Harrison Ford starring film Sabrina (1995) and the Oscar nominated short film Speed For Thespians (2000). Holmes died 27th May 2013 in the USA, a few days before his 92nd birthday.


Stage Credits
1951 Hamlet - The New Bolton Theatre, London
1951 The Thistle and the Rose - The Vaudeville Theatre, London
1952 The Firstborn - The Winter Garden Theatre, London
1952 Hobson’s Choice - Arts Theatre, London
1955 Julius Caesar (in the dual role of Cicero and Titinus), The Winter’s Tale, King Henry V - Old Vic Theatre, Bristol
1956 Romeo and Juliet, Richard III, Troilus and Cressida - Old Vic Theatre, Bristol
1964 Daphne Laureola, The Seagull - Pitlochry Festival Theatre
1966 Ring Around The Moon - Pitlochry Festival Theatre
1968 Henry V, Arms and the Man, The Hayling Family, The Magistrate - Phoenix Theatre, Leicester
1969 – 1975 Member of the Royal Shakespeare Company
1976 The Seagull (cast headed by Alan Bates) - Derby Playhouse
1978 A Man For All Seasons - Leeds Playhouse
1978 The Caucasian Chalk Circle, While The Sun Shines - Pitlochry Festival Theatre
1979 The Wicked Cooks - Birmingham Repertory Studio
1980 King Lear, The Master Builder - Birmingham Repertory Studio
Worzel Gummidge (stage version with Jon Pertwee and Una Stubbs) - Birmingham Repertory Studio
1981 Chips With Everything - Birmingham Repertory Studio


Television Credits
1950 BBC Sunday Night Theatre – “The Tragedy of King Richard II”
1953 Stand By To Shoot – “The Elephant’s Child” / “Curiouser and Curiouser”
1957 Romeo and Juliet (televised version of the Old Vic production), BBC Sunday Night Theatre – “The Calendar”
1958 Big Guns – “Go West Young Man”, Armchair Theatre – “Vendetta” / “The Franchise Affair”, “The Inspector”, Starr and Company (3 episodes as the character Bernard Kay), Saturday Playhouse – “My Flesh My Blood” / So Many Children”
1959 BBC Sunday Night Theatre – “The Exiles #4: Full Circle”, Probation Officer, Four Just Men – “The Judge” / “National Treasure“
1960 Four Just Men – “The Survivor” / “The Rhietti Group” / “The Man in the Road” /“Money To Burn”, Armchair Theatre – “Guardian Angel” / “The Innocent”, Deadline Midnight, Chasing The Dragon, The Adventures of Robin Hood - “Goodbye Little John”, Boyd QC – “The Little Man”, The Dark Man
1961 Maigret – “The Children’s Party”, ITV Television Playhouse – “Hi Diddle Diddle”, Element of Doubt, No Hiding Place – “Nina and the Night People” / “Silent Witness”, Coronation Street (four episodes as the character Brian Foley)
1962 BBC Sunday Night Play – “The Alderman”, The Dark Island, No Hiding Place - “The Most Beautiful Room in the World”
1963 Compact – “Changing Step”, Ghost Squad –“ Polsky”, No Hiding Place – “Alibis Are Fixed”
1964 Sergeant Cork – “The Case of Big Ben Lewis”
1965 Z Cars – “Partners”, Fothergale Co. Ltd – “Location Story”, The Sullavan Brothers – “The Corrupters”
1966 Sergeant Cork – “The Case of the Wayward Wife”, Our Man At St Marks – “The Peppermint Man” / “The Silent Village”, The Power Game – “The Front Men”, Dr Finlay’s Casebook – “The Comical Lad”
1975 Poldark
1976 Beasts – “Buddyboy”, Angels – “Façade”
1977 The Survivors – “Long Live The King”, The Sunday Drama – “Why Here?”
1978 Will Shakespeare – “The Living Road”
1979 BBC Play of the Month – “The Vosey Inheritance”, Emmerdale (playing the character Cully Hotson for six episodes), Secret Army - “Prisoner”
1981 Angels
1983 The Hard Word – “Life Isn’t Like Pictures”, Reilly: Ace of Spies – “An Affair With A Married Woman”, Partners in Crime – “The Sunningdae Mystery”
1984 Eh Brian! It’s A Whopper
1989 The Bill – “Getting It Right”
1990 Bergerac – “Roots of Evil”


Film Credits
1951 Murder in the Cathedral
1959 Cover Girl Killer
1960 The Last Train (half hour short - a murder mystery based in the London Underground)
1961 Return of a Stranger, Attempt To Kill
1962 Flight From Singapore
1963 The Partner, Echo of Diana, The Crimson Blade AKA The Scarlet Blade (uncredited role as a chaplain)
1965 The Return of Mr Moto, Licensed To Kill AKA The Second Best Secret Agent in the Whole Wide World
1966 The Brides of Fu Manchu
1982 Moonlighting
1985 The Dirty Dozen: The Next Mission
1995 Sabrina
2000 Speed For Thespians (short film)






[1] The Stage, Thursday 12th May 1955, page 12

The Kneale Archives Collection - Isle of Man stamp set

 

Isle of Man Stamps and Coins issued a set of Nigel Kneale stamps on 18th April, 2023 consisting of six designs based on his life and work. The issue comes in two limited editions. A set of franked (with Kneale's autograph) stamps in a branded envelope has a run of 2,000. Inside the envelope is an information card with a summary of Kneale's life and work. 

Sadly I did spot a mistake in the text which talks about "the chilling series of eight stories for ITV" which made up Beasts. I'm pretty sure there are only six episodes.

The presentation pack comes in a folder designed to clipped into a stamp album and is limited to just 1,500 copies. Inside the folder are a set of unfranked, mounted stamps. Each order comes with a glossy folder which has Jane Asher recalling the making of both The Quatermass Xperiment and The Stone Tape to together with a  set of stamps, though these are unfranked with all the stamps presented as a single sheet. 

The designs are delightful and all carry a portrait of Kneale at the time of the events or productions featured. The 80p stamp looks at Kneale's brief time as an actor whilst the £1:28 stamp covers the publication of his award short story anthology Tomato Cain. The £1:51 stamp celebrates his most famous creation, the Quatermass productions. The Year of the Sex Olympics comes under the spotlight for a second stamp with the value of £1:51. The penultimate stamp, costing £2:31, carries imagery from The Stone Tape. The most expensive stamp, at a cost of £2:72, commemorates Beasts with the iconic image of Jane Wymark and the husk from the episode 'Baby'.

As well as being beautifully designed and presented there is one final little touch. I was puzzled by the presence of a small UV light torch in the pack, but quickly realised that if you shone it on the stamps a secret message could be picked out. For example the Stone Tape stamp quotes the line "It's in the computer!". As for Beasts stamp the secret message quotes dialogue from 'Baby' - "Wait til he's hungry."

For more information or to order visit https://www.iompost.com/stamps-coins/collection/the-kneale-archives/

Spotlight: Marianne Morris (Usherette in Buddyboy)

 

A curvaceous former model with brunette hair, Marianne Morris was born in 1950 in Belgium and educated at Bromley Grammar School and St Joseph’s Convent in Sidcup, Kent. Morris was first seen on the screen in an uncredited role as a murdered topless girl in Peter Cushing’s most nihilistic and graphic film, Corruption (1968), directed by Robert Hartford-Davies. However, it does depend which cut of the film you see. In the cut of the film seen in the UK and the USA the girl is played by Jan Waters who keeps her clothes on. The international cut, made for European and Far East audiences, it is actually Morris who goes topless for her death scene. The murder sequence is also far more graphic with her throat being slit and a perturbed looking Peter Cushing even briefly fondling her breasts!

 

Her next big screen role was in the British sexploitation film The Love Box (1972) which attempted an anthology format by framing stories around the classified adverts of a saucy magazine. Morris played Janet in a segment titled “The Wife Swappers”. The film also featured actor Dave Carter, who would later appear in the Beasts episode “The Dummy”, in a different vignette, “The Bored Housewife”.

Her signature role came next with the cult Anglo-Spanish horror film Vampyres (1974). She played Fran, who along with Miriam (Anulka Dziubinska), lure unsuspecting men and women to their rural estate where they hold them captive until they kill them and feed on their blood. The film was directed by Jose Larraz (credited in the film as Joseph Larraz) who had recently directed the atmospheric Brit horror Symptoms (1974), which had been Britain’s official entry to the Cannes Film Festival in 1974. Vampyres has taken on a cult status since it was made due to its heady cocktail of gore, lesbianism and nudity. After having three minutes of footage cut the film was finally released in UK cinemas during spring 1976 as part of a double bill with The Devil’s Rain.

Her second film of the year was Just One More Time AKA The Over-Amorous Artist (1974), another British sex comedy, starring John Hamill as Alan, an artist, who has to fend off a succession of female neighbours wanting to bed him. Morris appears as Anne, one of the predatory women. More sex comedy shenanigans followed with Percy’s Progress AKA It’s Not The Size That Counts (1974) was a sequel to previous box office hit Percy which had starred Hywell Bennett as the owner of the world’s first penis transplant. In this sequel Bennett is replaced by Leigh Lawson. Morris appears as Miss Buxton in an uncredited decorative role.

Her first credited TV role was in an episode of the BBC sitcom No Strings. Morris appears in episode two, ‘Grow and Let Grow’ (11th October 1974), of the Carla Lane scripted show as a hippy girl. Also during 1974 Morris could be seen on the cover of The Kinks concept album ‘Preservation Act 2’.

The Amorous Milkman (1975), yet another sex comedy, cast Morris is an uncredited role as the character Dora. She also made brief appearance in sketches for such comedy stars as The Two Ronnies, Ken Dodd, Benny Hill, Stanley Baxter and Mike Yarwood. Her appearance as the usherette in the Beasts episode ‘Buddyboy’ was her final television role. Her final film appearance was on a poster seen in the background of the action in the film Queen Kong (1976) advertising ‘Drink Konga Kola’. Later the same year she posed topless for the October edition of the adult magazine Mayfair as a centrefold model[1]

In recent times she has made appearances as herself discussing her career and her Vampyres role in an episode of the documentary series Eurotika! as well as the DVD and Blu-ray extras ‘Return of the Vampyres’ (2003) and ‘On Vampyres and Other Symptoms’ (2011). She has now retired from acting and is the managing director of Marble Direction, a company that renovates natural stone surfaces.

 

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[1] Mayfair, October 1976, Volume 11, Issue 10

Spotlight: Pamela Moiseiwitsch (Lucy in Buddyboy)

Moiseiwitsch was born as Sandra Pamela Moiseiwitsch during the summer of 1947 in Hampstead and was educated at the local King Alfred School. She has been active as an actor on stage and screen since the late 1960s and has occasionally been credited as Pamela Moiseiwitch, Pamela Moisewitch or Pamela Moisiewitch.

One of her earliest stage roles I’ve been able to trace was as Doris, a lady of the night, in The Lunatic, The Secret Sportsman and the Woman Next Door at the Open Space theatre during December 1968. She made her onscreen debut shortly afterwards with the role of Pauline in the Z Cars episode ‘Alibi: Part Two’ (28th January 1969) and this was followed by the part of Mrs Tetley in 'Run for Your Money' (10th June 1969), an episode of ATV’s police procedural drama Fraud Squad. Whilst her appearance in Fraud Squad was being broadcast Moiseiwitsch was appearing in a stage production of Uncle Vanya at the Bath Royal Theatre. Later in the year she appeared in the play Revenge at the Royal Court theatre during September 1969.

Who-Dun-It was a series of thirteen crime dramas and Moiseiwitsch featured in the episode ‘Death in a Séance’ (3rd November 1969) as Abigail Austen. This episode was written by Nicholas Palmer who would later become the producer of Beasts and it was through this appearance that she may have been later cast in ‘Buddyboy’.

Pamela started to make small appearances in film from the start of the new decade with the role of an unnamed girl on a train in a scene from the offbeat science fiction film The Mind of Mr Soames (1970). This was followed by another small role, as a maid, in the period horror film Cry of the Banshee (1970). She was then cast as a secretary in the British romantic drama Private Road (1971) which starred Susan Penhaligon and future Withnail and I creator Bruce Robinson as two youngsters taking their first tentative steps into a love affair. On television 1970 was bookended by two ITV Sunday Night Theatre productions – ‘The Pretenders’ (31st January 1970) cast as Lorna, whilst ‘The Policeman and the Cook’ (26th December 1970) saw her portray Mrs Jane Zebedee. This was an adaptation of the Wilkie Collins novel of the same name and featured roles for Michael Crawford and Tim Curry early in their careers. Stage work for the year included Christopher Hampton's play, The Philanthropist, at the Mayfair Theatre in London, with George Cole, Edward De Souza and Elisabeth Sladen in the cast.

During 1972 she concentrated on stage roles which included the production The Fifth Labour of Hercules presented at the Soho Theatre during August and September. She made an effective Ruth against Yvonne Antrobus as her sister Tillie and Sheila Hancock as her mother Beatrice in a staging of The Effect of the Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds at the Arnaud theatre, Guilford over November and December 1972.

The following year she began to break through in television. A Picture of Katharine Mansfield was an unusual biographical drama produced by the BBC based on the life and work of the novelist. Each of the six episodes was split into three segments with the first segment titled “The Life” and dramatized Mansfield’s life. The other two sections were adaptations of some her stories. Moiseiwitsch appears in the third episode (15th May 1973) as a character called Mouse in the dramatized segment ‘Je ne parle pas Francais’. This was followed by The Strauss Family, a seven part period drama based on the life and times of the composer Johann Strauss. Moiseiwitsch played Tina in the seventh episode, ‘Lili’ (16th June 1973). Her other TV role came in ‘Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont’ (18th October 1973), a BBC Play for Today adapted from a story by Elizabeth Taylor. Moiseiwitsch appeared as Rosie.

Her cinema appearance for the year was in The Lovers (1973), a big screen version of the successful TV sitcom of the same name. Richard Beckinsale and Paula Wilcox both transitioned from their roles in the TV series to the film version. Moiseiwitsch can be seen as the character Enid. Meanwhile, in her personal life, Moiseiwitsch married Anthony C Burton.

1974 saw her balance television and theatre commitments. She took part in the Royal Lyceum Theatre Company’s staging of Terence Rattigan’s comedy French without Tears in Edinburgh during January 1974. As part of the Cambridge Theatre Company she took the role of Orphelia in a staging of Hamlet at the Cambridge Arts Theatre during November 1974.

Post-Beasts her only television appearance during 1977 was in an episode of the Barry Foster starring detective series Van Der Valk. She can be seen as Miss Schaar in the episode ‘Wolf’ (26th September 1977). The following year saw her concentrate on theatre work which included the play Zigomania during April 1978 at London’s Bush Theatre and a production of Underarm Bowling, a thriller written by actor Henry Woolf, during October and November 1978. She continued to work mainly in theatre during 1979 with highlights including The Constant Wife at Croydon’s Ashcroft Theatre directed by her old colleague Sheila Hancock and a touring production of Anatol for the Cambridge Theatre Company during the winter. Television work for the year included the drama series Kids, based around an assessment centre for children who have been taken into care. Each episode, based on a real life case, told the story of a different child. Moiseiwitsch appears in the first episode, ‘Stephen’ (27th April 1979), as Elizabeth Black.

Her television credits for the 1980s are sparse. She was a guest actor in ‘Homecoming’ (7th October 1981), an episode of the ATV drama series Diamonds, and the following year she could be seen as Miss Lucas in ‘Mode Murder’ (29th April 1982), an episode of the BBC tech thriller Birds of Prey. She was cast as Margaret in the BBC production of Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing (22nd December 1984) alongside Robert Lindsay, Jon Finch and Cherie Lunghi. Her theatre work continued to be the major strand of her career and for the remainder of the decade she could be seen in a variety of productions including an Old Vic production of The Women in 1986 alongside Diana Quick and Susannah York. Theatre work for 1987 included Disaster, a new play by Rocky Horror Picture Show creator Richard O’Brien, during July and August at the ICA Theatre and a revival of the 1937 farce Room Service in Leicester during October and November. This production also had Denis Holmes in the cast who had appeared with Moisiewitch in ‘Buddyboy’.

Her remaining television credits take in two episodes of The Bill – ‘Unlucky for Some’ (5th October 1993) as Wendy Dobson and the episode ‘Skin Deep’ (18th July 1995). Next was the police drama Backup appearing as Christina in the episode ‘Not All There’ (7th September 1995). Her final on screen role to date is as the chain smoking Janice in ‘The Sofa’ (7th November 2002,) the first episode of the cult BBC 3 Sean Lock comedy 15 Storeys High.

Moiseiwitsch has three children from her marriage to Anthony Burton – Joseph born 1976, Emily born in 1977 and Luke born in 1983. She was the partner of actor Bill Stewart from 1999 until his death in 2006 from motor neurone disease. He was best known to TV viewers for his role as Sandy Longford, journalist friend of Inspector Frost in A Touch of Frost.