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Zenith Productions (later Zenith Entertainment) was a British independent film and television
production company
A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and ...
. Zenith created content for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
,
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
,
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
,
Sky
The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space.
In the field of astronomy, ...
and
UKTV
UKTV Media Limited, simply known as UKTV, is a British multi-channel broadcaster, which, since 2019, has been wholly owned by BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide), a commercial subsidiary of the BBC. It was formed on 1 November 1992 through ...
, including a number of series such as ''
Inspector Morse
Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse, GM, is the eponymous fictional character in the series of detective novels by British author Colin Dexter. On television, he appears in the 33-episode drama series '' Inspector Morse'' (1987–2000), ...
'' for
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
and ''
Byker Grove
Byker is a district in the east of the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne. Home to the Byker Wall estate, made famous by TV series '' Byker Grove'', Byker’s population was recorded at 12,206 in the 2011 census. Byker is borde ...
'' and ''
Hamish Macbeth
Hamish Macbeth is the lackadaisical police constable of the fictional Scottish Highland town of Lochdubh, in a series of murder mystery novels created by M. C. Beaton (Marion Chesney).
Considered by many to be a useless, lazy moocher, Macbeth ...
'' for the BBC.
Through its subsidiary Blaze Television, Zenith produced the Saturday morning series ''
SMTV Live
''SMTV Live'' (an abbreviation of ''Saturday Morning Television Live'', and also stylised as ''SM: LIVE'') was a British Saturday morning children's television programme, produced by Blaze Television for ITV. Operating on a similar format to o ...
'' and ''
CD:UK'' for ITV featuring
Ant & Dec
Ant & Dec are a British television presenter, television presenting duo, consisting of Anthony McPartlin (born 18 November 1975) and Declan Donnelly (born 25 September 1975), from Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Formed after their meeting as chil ...
. The company ceased trading in 2006.
[
Jason Deans]
End of the line for Zenith?
''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', 30 August 2006
Jason Deans
Zenith goes into administration
''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', 30 August 2006
History
Zenith was established in 1984 as a subsidiary of
Central Television, the holder of the ITV Midlands broadcast franchise. The company was headed by
Charles Denton, formerly the controller of programmes at Central's predecessor,
ATV.
The company was initially designed to target the American market, and the company initially ran in the similar fashion
Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...
has been done with the
Euston Films
Euston Films is a British film and television production company. It was originally a subsidiary company of Thames Television, and operated from 1971 to 1994, producing various series for Thames, which were screened nationally on the ITV network. ...
subsidiary. Some of Zenith's early productions or co-productions included the films ''
The Hit'', ''
Wetherby
Wetherby () is a market town and civil parish in the City of Leeds district, West Yorkshire, England, close to West Yorkshire county's border with North Yorkshire, and lies approximately from Leeds City Centre, from York and from Harrogat ...
'', ''
Insignificance'', ''
Sid and Nancy
''Sid and Nancy'' (also known as ''Sid and Nancy: Love Kills'') is a 1986 British biographical film directed by Alex Cox, co-written with Abbe Wool, and starring Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb. The film portrays the life of Sid Vicious, bassist of t ...
'', ''
Personal Services
''Personal Services'' is a 1987 British comedy film directed by Terry Jones and written by David Leland, about the rise of a madam of a suburban brothel which caters to older men. The story is inspired by the real experiences of Cynthia Payne, ...
'', ''
Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire
''Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire'' is a 1985 British independent musical fantasy horror comedy-drama sports film starring Phil Daniels and Alun Armstrong. The film was directed by Alan Clarke and written by Trevor Preston. The BFI ha ...
'', ''
Prick Up Your Ears
''Prick Up Your Ears'' is a 1987 British film, directed by Stephen Frears, about the playwright Joe Orton and his lover Kenneth Halliwell. The screenplay was written by Alan Bennett, based on the 1978 biography by John Lahr. The film stars Gar ...
'' and ''
Wish You Were Here Wish You Were Here may refer to:
Film, television, and theater Film
* ''Wish You Were Here'' (1987 film), a British comedy-drama film by David Leland
* ''Wish You Were Here'' (2012 film), an Australian drama/mystery film by Kieran Darcy-Smith ...
''. Other productions with which Zenith was involved include ''
Escape from Sobibor
''Escape from Sobibor'' is a 1987 British television film which aired on ITV and CBS. It is the story of the mass escape from the Nazi extermination camp at Sobibor, the most successful uprising by Jewish prisoners of German extermination ...
'', ''
A Gathering of Old Men
''A Gathering of Old Men'' is a novel by Ernest J. Gaines published in 1983.
Set on a 1970s Louisiana cane farm, the novel addresses racial discrimination and a bond that cannot be usurped.
Plot summary
One afternoon, Candy Marshall, a white ...
'' and an adaptation of
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...
's ''
The Dead''. Zenith scored a major hit with the ''
Inspector Morse
Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse, GM, is the eponymous fictional character in the series of detective novels by British author Colin Dexter. On television, he appears in the 33-episode drama series '' Inspector Morse'' (1987–2000), ...
'' television series, which began airing in 1987. In 1986, the company unveiled a pair of Yank-involved features, which included the film ''
Slam Dance'', which was directed by
Wayne Wang
Wayne Wang (; born January 12, 1949) is a Hong Kong Americans, Hong Kong–American Film director, director, Film producer, producer, and screenwriter. Considered a pioneer of Asian-American cinema, he was one of the first Chinese Americans, ...
, and it was presold to film distributor
The Samuel Goldwyn Company
The Samuel Goldwyn Company was an American independent film company founded by Samuel Goldwyn Jr., the son of the famous Hollywood mogul, Samuel Goldwyn, in 1978.
Background
The company originally distributed and acquired art-house films fro ...
. On December 17, 1986, Zenith Productions is teaming up with
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter, actor and visual artist. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered ...
in order to make a version of the
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...
short story ''
The Dead'', which Zenith only provided funding for the film, and will be produced by Wieland Schulz-Keil and Chris Sievernich under the Liffey Films umbrella. In November 1987, Zenith Productions teamed up with film distributor/producer Atlantic Entertainment Group for a $20-million, three-picture agreement, after the success of ''
Wish You Were Here Wish You Were Here may refer to:
Film, television, and theater Film
* ''Wish You Were Here'' (1987 film), a British comedy-drama film by David Leland
* ''Wish You Were Here'' (2012 film), an Australian drama/mystery film by Kieran Darcy-Smith ...
'', which Atlantic was distributing in North America, in which the agreement was more than subtle than a 50/50 agreement, and will be an equal partnership, and three films would be covered for the Atlantic/Zenith deal, which included pictures in the first wave like ''Patty'', as well as ''
For Queen and Country
''For Queen and Country'' is a 1988 crime drama film co-written and directed by Martin Stellman and starring Denzel Washington in Panavision. Washington stars as Reuben James, a Black British former paratrooper, who joined the British Army to esc ...
'' and ''
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
''The Wolves of Willoughby Chase'' is a children's novel by Joan Aiken, first published in 1962. Set in an alternative history of England, it tells of the adventures of cousins Bonnie and Sylvia and their friend Simon the goose-boy as they thw ...
'', a co-production between the Czech and the U.S., and Atlantic would handle worldwide rights for the former, and had North American rights to the latter two, and foreign sales would be handled by Zenith's Sales Company.
Ahead of an
IBA directive that 25% of ITV programming would have to be provided by independents, Zenith was sold by Central to
Carlton Communications
Carlton was a British media company. It was led by Michael P. Green and listed on the London Stock Exchange from 1983 until 2 February 2004, when it was bought by Granada plc in a corporate takeover to form ITV plc. Carlton shareholders gained ap ...
in October 1987 for £6.3 million. Zenith announced that they would planning on to become a separate independent production company, producing projects for not just Central, but for other networks and ITV franchisees, like
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
, while the British government is requiring the 16 ITV companies and
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
to commission an increasing quantity of independently produced material from outside suppliers. Carlton sold a 49% stake to