Irene Shubik (26 December 1929 – 26 September 2019) was a British television producer and story editor, known for her contribution to the development of the single play in British

television drama In film and television show, television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or docudrama, semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humour, humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms t ...

. Beginning her career in television at

ABC Weekend TV ABC Weekend TV was the popular name of the British broadcaster ABC Television Limited, which provided the weekend service in the Midlands and Northern England regions of the Independent Television (ITV) network from 1956 to 1968. It was one ...

, she worked on ''

Armchair Theatre ''Armchair Theatre'' is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by ABC Weekend TV. Its successor Thames Television took over from mid-1968. The Canadi ...

'' as a story editor, where she devised the

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

anthology series '' Out of this World''. Moving to the

BBC #REDIRECT 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 ex ...

, she briefly worked as a story editor before being promoted to producer, creating the science fiction

anthology television series An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a differ ...

Out of the Unknown ''Out of the Unknown'' is a British television science fiction anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in four series between 1965 and 1971. Most episodes of the first three series were a dramatisation of a science f ...

''. Leaving ''Out of the Unknown'' after two seasons, Shubik co-produced ''

The Wednesday Play ''The Wednesday Play'' is an anthology series of United Kingdom, British television plays which ran on BBC One, BBC1 for six seasons from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually original works written for television, although dramati ...

'', overseeing its transition into ''

Play for Today ''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage ...

'' in 1970. She left the BBC in 1976, and subsequently produced the first season of ''

Rumpole of the Bailey ''Rumpole of the Bailey'' is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer. It starred Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, a middle-aged London barrister who defended a broad variety of clients, o ...

'' for

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a Broadcast license, franchise holder for a region of the British ITV (TV network), ITV television network serving Greater London, London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until th ...

before joining

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...

where she produced ''

Staying On ''Staying On'' is a novel by Paul Scott, which was published in 1977 and won the Booker Prize. Plot summary ''Staying On'' focuses on Tusker and Lucy Smalley, who are briefly mentioned in the latter two books of the Raj Quartet, ''The Towers ...

'' and devised '' The Jewel in the Crown''. She also wrote film scripts and a novel, ''The War Guest''.

Early life and career

Irene Shubik was born in 1929 in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

to a

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n-born

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

ish father Joseph Shubik, who ran a textile factory, and a French Jewish mother, Sara (née Soloveychik). When

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

broke out in 1939, she was evacuated to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

with her mother and Martin, her brother.Ward, ''Out of the Unknown'', p. 9. She read

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

, obtaining an MA in “The Use of English History in Drama from 1599-1642”.Shubik, ''Play for Today'', p. ix. Uninterested in a career in academia, she applied to join the

but was turned down. Unable to obtain work, she moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, visiting her brother, the

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

Martin Shubik Martin Shubik (1926-2018) was an American mathematical economist who specialized in game theory, defense analysis, and the theory of money and financial institutions. The latter was his main research interest and he coined the term "mathematical ...

, who was teaching at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

. Meeting with little success in building a career in Princeton, when her brother was called before the Dean of the University for keeping a woman in his quarters, she moved to

Wilmette Wilmette is a village in New Trier Township, Cook County, Illinois, United States. Bordering Lake Michigan and Evanston, Illinois, it is located north of Chicago's downtown district. Wilmette had a population of 27,087 at the 2010 census. The ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

where her other brother,

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

researcher

Philippe Shubik Philippe Shubik (April 28, 1921 – December 20, 2004) was a British born American cancer researcher who founded the organization the Toxicology Forum, which facilitates international discussions on the topic of cancer. He was also Director of the ...

, was based. She joined the film department of the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...

'', who were impressed by her MA thesis, where Shubik worked as a scriptwriter. Shubik was subsequently offered a twelve-month contract with the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

but was unable to take up the position as both of her parents had become seriously ill.

Television career

With ABC Weekend TV

By 1960, now back in England, Shubik's career was back at square one. She contributed occasional scripts to documentary series such as

Associated-Rediffusion Associated-Rediffusion, later Rediffusion London, was the British ITV franchise holder for London and parts of the surrounding counties, on weekdays between 22 September 1955 and 29 July 1968. It was the first ITA franchisee to go on air, ...

's '' This Week'' before securing employment at

.Vahimage, ''Irene Shubik (1935 - )''. At ABC, she worked as a

story editor Story editor is a job title in motion picture and television production, also sometimes called "supervising producer". In live action television, a story editor is a member of the screenwriting staff who edits scripts, pitches stories, and reports ...

for producer

Sydney Newman Sydney Cecil Newman (April 1, 1917 – October 30, 1997) was a Canadian film and television producer, who played a pioneering role in British television drama from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. After his return to Canada in 1970, Newman w ...

on the

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

series ''

'', overseeing such plays as ''Where I Live'' by

Clive Exton Clive Exton (11 April 1930 – 16 August 2007) was a British television and film screenwriter who wrote scripts for the series ''Poirot,'' ''Jeeves and Wooster,'' and ''Rosemary & Thyme.''A Night Out'' by

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanne ...

and ''After The Funeral'' by

Alun Owen Alun Davies Owen (24 November 1925 – 6 December 1994) was a Welsh playwright, screenwriter and actor, predominantly in television. However, he is best remembered by a wider audience for writing the screenplay of The Beatles' debut feature fi ...

. An enthusiast of

, while working on ''Armchair Theatre'' she oversaw ''Murder Club'', an adaptation of

Robert Sheckley Robert Sheckley (July 16, 1928 – December 9, 2005) was an American writer. First published in the science-fiction magazines of the 1950s, his many quick-witted stories and novels were famously unpredictable, absurdist, and broadly comical. ...

’s novel ''Seventh Victim''. Its success enabled her to persuade Newman to develop a science fiction version of ''Armchair Theatre'' – this became '' Out of This World'', a thirteen part anthology series, hosted by

Boris Karloff William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), better known by his stage name Boris Karloff (), was an English actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film ''Frankenstein'' (1931) (his 82nd film) established h ...

, that aired between 30 June 1962 and 22 September 1962. Many of the stories featured in ''Out of this World'' were adaptations of stories by science fiction authors including

Isaac Asimov yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...

, Philip K. Dick and

Clifford D. Simak Clifford Donald Simak (; August 3, 1904 – April 25, 1988) was an American science fiction writer. He won three Hugo Awards and one Nebula Award. The Science Fiction Writers of America made him its third SFWA Grand Master, and the Horror Wr ...

At the BBC

When Sydney Newman was poached by the BBC to head up their drama department in late 1962, he invited Shubik to join him. Accepting the offer, on the condition that she be promoted to producer within a year, Shubik joined the BBC in 1963 and became the story editor for ''Story Parade'', an anthology series of adaptations of modern novels that was intended to be the main drama strand for the new channel

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

due to be launched in 1964. One of the best-received installments of ''Story Parade'' that Shubik worked was an adaptation of

's 1954 novel ''

The Caves of Steel ''The Caves of Steel'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov. It is a detective story and illustrates an idea Asimov advocated, that science fiction can be applied to any literary genre, rather than just being a limited ge ...

'' starring

Peter Cushing Peter Wilton Cushing (26 May 1913 – 11 August 1994) was an English actor. His acting career spanned over six decades and included appearances in more than 100 films, as well as many television, stage, and radio roles. He achieved recognition ...

. Just as the success of “Murder Club” had enabled Shubik to persuade Newman to commission ''Out of this World'', so ''The Caves of Steel''’s positive reception opened the door for Shubik to devise a similar anthology series for BBC2 called ''

'', on which Shubik acted as story editor and producer. Like ''Out of this World'', under Shubik's stewardship ''Out of the Unknown'' concentrated mainly on adaptations of science fiction stories including works by

Frederik Pohl Frederik George Pohl Jr. (; November 26, 1919 – September 2, 2013) was an American science-fiction writer, editor, and fan, with a career spanning nearly 75 years—from his first published work, the 1937 poem "Elegy to a Dead Satelli ...

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and r ...

J. G. Ballard James Graham Ballard (15 November 193019 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer, satirist, and essayist known for provocative works of fiction which explored the relations between human psychology, technology, sex, and mass medi ...

and Isaac Asimov (of whom Shubik was a particular fan, commissioning adaptations of six of his works for ''Out of the Unknown'', once commenting that he was "one of the most interesting and amusing men I have ever met"). Among the most notable productions were adaptations of

Kate Wilhelm Kate Wilhelm (June 8, 1928 – March 8, 2018) was an American author. She wrote novels and stories in the science fiction, mystery, and suspense genres, including the Hugo Award–winning ''Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang''. Wilhelm established ...

’s ''Andover and the Android'', John Brunner’s ''Some Lapse of Time'',

E.M. Forster Edward Morgan Forster (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970) was an English author, best known for his novels, particularly '' A Room with a View'' (1908), ''Howards End'' (1910), and ''A Passage to India'' (1924). He also wrote numerous short stor ...

’s ''

The Machine Stops "The Machine Stops" is a science fiction short story (12,300 words) by E. M. Forster. After initial publication in ''The Oxford and Cambridge Review'' (November 1909), the story was republished in Forster's ''The Eternal Moment and Other Storie ...

'' and

Mordecai Roshwald Mordecai Marceli Roshwald (May 26, 1921 – March 19, 2015) was an American academic and writer. Born in Drohobycz, Ukraine to Jewish parents, Roshwald later emigrated to Israel. His most famous work is '' Level 7'' (1959), a post-apocalyptic sc ...

’s '' Level 7''. The adaptation of ''The Machine Stops'' won the first prize at the Fifth ''Festival Internazionale del Film di Fantascienza'' (''International Science Fiction Film Festival'') in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

on 17 July 1967. In parallel with producing the second season of ''

'', Shubik produced ''

Thirteen Against Fate ''Thirteen Against Fate'' is a British mystery thriller series, comprising thirteen individual stories by the Belgian writer, Georges Simenon. There are no links between each story, other than the original author, and no story features Simenon' ...

'', a series of adaptations of short crime stories by ''

Maigret Jules Maigret (), or simply Maigret, is a fictional French police detective, a '' commissaire'' ("commissioner") of the Paris ''Brigade Criminelle'' ('' Direction Régionale de la Police Judiciaire de Paris:36, Quai des Orfèvres''), created b ...

'' creator

Georges Simenon Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (; 13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer. He published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, and was the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret. Early life and education ...

broadcast between 19 June 1966 and 11 September 1966. In 1967, as she began work assembling scripts for the third season of ''Out of the Unknown'', Shubik accepted the chance to take over as co-producer (with

Graeme MacDonald Graeme Patrick David MacDonald (30 July 1930 – 30 September 1997), sometimes credited as Graeme McDonald or Graham McDonald, was a British television producer and executive. Early life MacDonald was educated at St Paul's School, London an ...

) of ''

'',

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

’s premier drama slot, producing such plays as Tony Parker's “Mrs Lawrence Will Look After It”,

William Trevor William Trevor Cox (24 May 1928 – 20 November 2016), known by his pen name William Trevor, was an Irish novelist, playwright, and short story writer. One of the elder statesmen of the Irish literary world, he is widely regarded as one of the ...

's “A Night With Mrs Ta Danka” and

Peter Terson Peter Terson (born Peter Patterson; 16 February 1932 – 8 April 2021) was a British playwright whose plays have been produced for stage, television and radio. Most of his theatre work was first produced at the Victoria Theatre in Stoke-on-Tren ...

's “The Last Train Through the Harecastle Tunnel”. In 1970, she oversaw the transition of ''The Wednesday Play'' into ''

''. The most well received play she oversaw for ''Play for Today'' was

Jeremy Sandford Christopher Jeremy Sandford (5 December 1930 – 12 May 2003) was an English television screenwriter who came to prominence in 1966 with ''Cathy Come Home'', his controversial entry in BBC1's ''The Wednesday Play'' anthology strand, which wa ...

's "

Edna, the Inebriate Woman "Edna, the Inebriate Woman" is the second episode of second season of the British BBC anthology TV series '' Play for Today''. The episode was a television play that was originally broadcast on 21 October 1971. "Edna, the Inebriate Woman" was wri ...

", which was later ranked 57th in the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

's list of the

100 Greatest British Television Programmes The BFI TV 100 is a list of 100 television programmes or series that was compiled in 2000 by the British Film Institute (BFI), as chosen by a poll of industry professionals, with the aim to determine the best British television programmes of any ...

published in 2000. However, ''Edna''s writer

later wrote that Shubik seemed to "sabotage" the effectiveness of the play influencing policy makers in her 1975 book on television drama by questioning the veracity of its content. Moving on from ''Play for Today'' she oversaw an adaptation of

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...

’s ''

Wessex Tales ''Wessex Tales'' is an 1888 collection of tales written by English novelist and poet Thomas Hardy, many of which are set before Hardy's birth in 1840. In the various short stories, Hardy writes of the true nature of nineteenth-century marria ...

'' in 1973 before taking on the role of producer on another anthology series called '' The Mind Beyond'', a spin-off from the '' Playhouse'' series of single plays.

Return to Independent Television

One of the plays Shubik produced for ''Play for Today'' was

John Mortimer Sir John Clifford Mortimer (21 April 1923 – 16 January 2009) was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author. He is best known for novels about a barrister named Horace Rumpole. Early life Mortimer was born in Hampstead, London, ...

’s “

” (broadcast 17 December 1975), starring

Leo McKern Reginald "Leo" McKern, Order of Australia, AO (16 March 1920 – 23 July 2002) was an Australian actor who appeared in numerous British, Australian and American television programmes and films, and in more than 200 stage roles. His notabl ...

as the eponymous barrister. He was cast at Shubik's insistence, while Mortimer had expressed a strong preference for

Michael Hordern Sir Michael Murray Hordern CBE (3 October 19112 May 1995)Morley, Sheridan"Hordern, Michael Murray (1911–1995)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, online edition, May 2009, accessed 22 July 2015 was ...

. McKern greatly enjoyed playing the role and had indicated it was a part to which he would be interested in returning. Shubik commissioned six new ''Rumpole'' scripts from John Mortimer with a view to making a series but a change of senior personnel in the BBC led to the project being put on hold. In late 1976, at the invitation of

Verity Lambert Verity Ann Lambert (27 November 1935 – 22 November 2007) was an English television and film producer. Lambert began working in television in the 1950s. She began her career as a producer at the BBC by becoming the founding producer of ...

, Shubik departed the BBC for

and brought the ''Rumpole'' scripts with her. Shubik produced the first season of ''Rumpole of the Bailey'' in 1978 and commissioned the scripts for the second. "I wouldn’t say the BBC threw away a pearl richer than all its tribe, but it has mislaid a tasty box of kippers", wrote

Nancy Banks-Smith Nancy Banks-Smith (born 1929) is a British television and radio critic, who spent most of her career writing for ''The Guardian''. Life and career Born in Manchester and raised in a pub, she was educated at Roedean School. Banks-Smith began her ...

in ''

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 ...

''.Shubik, ''Play for Today'', p. 195 She left Thames for

, her professional relationship with Lambert having seriously deteriorated, where she was hired to produce an adaptation of Paul Scott’s ''

Raj Quartet ''The Raj Quartet'' is a four-volume novel sequence, written by Paul Scott (novelist), Paul Scott, about the concluding years of the British Raj in India. The series was written during the period 1965–75. ''The Times'' called it "one of ...

''. When Granada got cold feet about the scale of the project and the cost of filming in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, Shubik suggested that she produce an adaptation of Scott's ''

'' as a pilot. ''Staying On'' was made in 1980 and put stars

Trevor Howard Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith (29 September 1913 – 7 January 1988) was an English stage, film, and television actor. After varied work in the theatre, he achieved star status with his role in the film ''Brief Encounter'' (1945), followed by ''T ...

and

Celia Johnson Dame Celia Elizabeth Johnson, (18 December 1908 – 26 April 1982) was an English actress, whose career included stage, television and film. She is especially known for her roles in the films ''In Which We Serve'' (1942), ''This Happy Bree ...

together on screen again for the first time since ''

Brief Encounter ''Brief Encounter'' is a 1945 British romantic drama film directed by David Lean from a screenplay by Noël Coward, based on his 1936 one-act play ''Still Life''. Starring Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, and Joyce Carey, ...

''. Its success led Granada to give the go ahead to the ''

'', which was filmed as '' The Jewel in the Crown'' and became one of Granada's most celebrated productions, placed twenty-second in the British Film Institute's 100 Greatest British Television Programmes. Shubik did not produce ''The Jewel in the Crown'', having moved on to write the screenplay for the film ''Girl on a Swing'' for

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

, but, having worked extensively on the fourteen scripts, was given a “devised by” credit at the start of each episode.

Other work

Shubik was the author of ''Play for Today: The evolution of television drama'', an autobiographical account of the development of the single play in British television which has become a standard reference work on the subject. The first edition appeared in 1975 and a revised second edition, incorporating new material on ''Rumpole of the Bailey'', ''Staying On'' and ''The Jewel in the Crown'', appeared in 2001. She also wrote the novel ''The War Guest'' (W.H. Allen, 1986). In 1992, Shubik was chairman of the judges for the Best Drama Serial category for that year's

British Academy Television Awards The BAFTA TV Awards, or British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the BAFTA. They have been awarded annually since 1955. Background The first-ever Awards, given in 1955, consisted of six categories. Until ...

(BAFTAs). The award was presented to ''

Prime Suspect ''Prime Suspect'' is a British police procedural television drama series devised by Lynda La Plante. It stars Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison, one of the first female Detective Chief Inspectors in Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service, who ...

'', but following the ceremony four of the other seven members of the jury signed a public statement declaring that they had voted for '' G.B.H.'' to win. Shubik, who as chairman did not cast a vote, refused to publicly comment on the affair, but BAFTA Chairman Richard Price stated that the ballot papers passed on to him by Shubik had shown four votes for ''Prime Suspect'' and three for ''G.B.H.''. Price claimed that the ballot papers could not be recounted as they had subsequently been destroyed. No blame was ever attached to Shubik by the four judges, and it was to her that they had initially turned to raise the apparent discrepancy with BAFTA. Jeremy Sandford pointed to Shubik's feud with Verity Lambert (who was the executive producer of ''G.B.H.'') as an explanation for the incident.

Production credits

Notes

References

* * *

External links

*
Biography at BFI Screenonline
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shubik, Irene 1929 births 2019 deaths Alumni of University College London BBC television producers British Jews British people of French descent British people of Russian-Jewish descent British television producers British women television producers People from Hampstead