David Cunliffe (18 April 1935 – 1 January 2022) was a British television director and producer whose long career, starting in 1961, encompassed numerous television films as well as hundreds of episodes of some of Britain's best remembered television series and miniseries. Born in the

outer London Outer London is the name for the group of London boroughs that form a ring around Inner London. Together, the inner and outer boroughs form London, the capital city of the United Kingdom. These were areas that were not part of the County of Londo ...

village of

Cheam Cheam () is a suburb of London, England, south-west of Charing Cross. It is divided into North Cheam, Cheam Village and South Cheam. Cheam Village contains the listed buildings Lumley Chapel and the 16th-century Whitehall. It is adjacent to tw ...

, Cunliffe became interested in drama while attending Tiffins High School in Kingston upon Thames. This interest led to his winning, at age 16, a Queen's Scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) after which he worked for several years in repertory theatre around England until he became, in his mid-twenties, one Granada Television's directors during ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Origi ...

s earliest years. Over the succeeding decades he accumulated a very large body of work as a director, producer-director or executive producer, much at

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

, in such programmes as 1962's ''Before My Time'', 1965's ''

The Man in Room 17 ''The Man in Room 17'' is a British television series which ran for two series in the mid-1960s, produced by the northern weekday ITV franchise, Granada Television. Key to the series' success was the involvement of writer/producer Robin Chapman ...

'', the 1969 and 1970 programmes, ''Great Performances'', ''Ryan International'' and ''

Dr. Finlay's Casebook ''Dr. Finlay's Casebook'' is a television drama series that was produced and broadcast by the BBC from 1962 until 1971. Based on A. J. Cronin's 1935 novella ''Country Doctor'', the storylines centred on a general medical practice in the fictiona ...

'', 1971's ''

Kate Kate name may refer to: People and fictional characters * Kate (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Gyula Káté (born 1982), Hungarian amateur boxer * Lauren Kate (born 1981), American autho ...

'', 1972's ''

The Onedin Line ''The Onedin Line'' is a BBC television drama series that ran from 1971 to 1980. The series was created by Cyril Abraham. The series is set in Liverpool from 1860 to 1886 and covers the rise of a fictional shipping company, the Onedin Line, nam ...

'', 1973's ''

Warship A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the armed forces of a state. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster a ...

'', 1974's ''

Fall of Eagles ''Fall of Eagles'' is a 13-part British television drama aired by the BBC in 1974. The series was created by John Elliot and produced by Stuart Burge. The series portrays historical events from 1848 to 1918, dealing with the ruling dynasties of ...

'' and ''Good Girl'', 1975's ''

The Main Chance ''The Main Chance'' is a British television series first aired on ITV in four series between 1969 and 1975. It is a drama series that depicts the sudden transformation in the life of a solicitor, David Main (played by John Stride), after he mo ...

'', 1976's '' Hadleigh'', ''Forget Me Not'' and ''

Dickens of London ''Dickens of London'' is a 1976 television miniseries from Yorkshire Television based on the life of English novelist Charles Dickens. Both Dickens and his father John were played by British actor Roy Dotrice. The series was written by Wolf Mank ...

'', 1977's '' Raffles'' and ''

Beryl's Lot ''Beryl's Lot'' is a British comedy drama about a woman approaching middle-age and embarking on a programme of personal development. It was written by Kevin Laffan (who also created Emmerdale), produced by David Cunliffe and Peter Willes, and di ...

'', 1979's ''

Flambards ''Flambards'' is a novel for children or young adults by K. M. Peyton, first published by Oxford University Press in 1967 with illustrations by Victor Ambrus. Alternatively, "Flambards" is the trilogy (1967–1969) or series (1967–1981) name ...

'' and ''

The Sandbaggers ''The Sandbaggers'' is a British spy drama television series about men and women on the front lines of the Cold War. Set contemporaneously with its original broadcast on ITV in 1978 and 1980, ''The Sandbaggers'' examines the effect of espionage ...

'', 1981's ''The Good Companions'' and '' Get Lost!'', 1982's ''

Airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...

'' and ''

ITV Playhouse ''Playhouse'' is a British television anthology series that ran from 1967 to 1983, which featured contributions from playwrights such as Dennis Potter, Rhys Adrian and Alan Sharp. The series began in black and white, but was later shot in colour ...

'', 1984's '' Sorrell and Son'' and ''

Killer A killer is someone or something that kills, such as a murderer or a serial killer. Killer may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Killer (''Home and Away''), a character from ''Home and Away'' * Killer Kane, ...

'', 1985's ''

The Beiderbecke Affair ''The Beiderbecke Affair'' is a television series produced in the United Kingdom by ITV during 1985, written by the prolific Alan Plater, whose lengthy credits in British television since the 1960s included the four-part mini series '' Get Lost!' ...

'', 1986's ''Love and Marriage'', 1989's ''

A Bit of a Do ''A Bit of a Do'' is a British comedy-drama series based on the books by David Nobbs. The show starred David Jason and Gwen Taylor. It was produced by Yorkshire Television for two series and aired on the ITV network from 13 January to 1 December ...

'', 1995's ''

Oliver's Travels ''Oliver's Travels'' is a five-part television serial written by Alan Plater and starring Alan Bates, Sinéad Cusack, Bill Paterson, and Miles Anderson. It first aired in the UK in 1995. Plot Bates plays the titular Oliver (it is never made c ...

'', 2001's '' Victoria & Albert'', 2006's ''

The Shell Seekers ''The Shell Seekers'' is a 1987 novel by Rosamunde Pilcher. It became one of her most famous best-sellers. It was nominated by the British public in 2003 as one of the top 100 novels in the BBC's Big Read. In Germany the novel is called ''Die M ...

'' and many others. Several of the TV series and other productions which David Cunliffe directed or produced were also broadcast in the United States. ''The Onedin Line'' achieved considerable popularity when it was broadcast by stations of the non-commercial

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

network. Two years after its original showing, ''Fall of Eagles'' was transmitted on cable/satellite station TBS and, in 1990, was shown on another cable/satellite station,

Bravo Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels *Bravo (band), a Russian rock band * Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984 *Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing company ...

which, at the time, was operating as a high-quality, non-commercial outlet devoted to the arts. One of the productions on which he worked, '' The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank'', a 1988 Telecom Entertainment/

film, shown by

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

, won a

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

for its writer,

William Hanley William Hanley (October 22, 1931 – May 25, 2012) was an American playwright, novelist, and scriptwriter, born in Lorain, Ohio. Hanley wrote plays for the theatre, radio and television and published three novels in the 1970s. He was related to ...

, as well as a number of nominations for other achievements, including acting, directing and producing, with David Cunliffe receiving a nomination as co-executive producer...one of the nine executives who were nominated for overseeing the production. Cunliffe died on 1 January 2022, at the age of 86.

References

External links

* *
David Cunliffe
at

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunliffe, David 1935 births 2022 deaths Alumni of RADA English television directors English television producers People from Cheam