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 ...
, died 24 September 2011, was a television documentary film-maker who was a pioneer in what has been termed 'docu-soaps'. He initially followed his father into medicine, but soon entered the world of television via local journalism. He worked on programmes such as
South Today
''BBC South Today'' is the BBC's regional television news service for the south of England, covering Hampshire, Isle of Wight, West Sussex, much of Dorset and parts of Berkshire, Surrey and Wiltshire.
Since 2000, an opt-out of the main program ...
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
appeared on
Ned Sherrin
Edward George Sherrin (18 February 1931 – 1 October 2007) was an English broadcaster, author and stage director. He qualified as a barrister and then worked in independent television before joining the BBC. He appeared in a variety of ra ...
’s Saturday evening show Loose Ends.
He will primarily be remembered for a 50-programme Radio 4 series called The Village (which went on to become a ''
television series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...
''); three series of ''Country House'' set at
Woburn Abbey
Woburn Abbey (), occupying the east of the village of Woburn, Bedfordshire, England, is a country house, the family seat of the Duke of Bedford. Although it is still a family home to the current duke, it is open on specified days to visitors, a ...
, ''
An Island Parish
''An Island Parish'' is a British television documentary made by Tiger Aspect Productions for BBC Two. Series 1 and 2 covered the lives of residents of the Church of England parish of the Isles of Scilly. These series were supported by the Dioce ...
'', which evolved from '' A Country Parish'', launched in 2001 on
BBC Two
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 ...
and a series on Channel 4 called ''A Place In France''.
Bibliography
Farrell wrote several books based on his experiences and as tie-ins for his television series'.
* ''TV & Radio: Everybody's Soapbox'' (1983) with Bruce Parker, Blandford Press
* ''Smile It’s Only Television'' (1984), Blandford Press
* ''How to be a Commuter : and Survive!'' (1986), Javelin Books
* ''Fatherhood - The Awful Truth'' (1987), Javelin Books
* ''The Village: The Early Years'' (1996), BBC Books
* ''A Place in France : An Indian Summer'' (2004) with Reza Mahammad, Macmillan
Personal life
Educated at
Christ's Hospital
Christ's Hospital is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. The school was founded in 1552 and received its first royal charter in 1553 ...
School in
Sussex
Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
, he was the son of a doctor. Farrell had three children, Thomas, Alexandra and Georgina, from his 1977 marriage to Mo, which ended in divorce in 2002.
Having previously lived in the
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
village of
Crondall
Crondall () is a village and large civil parish in the north east of Hampshire in England, in the Crondall Hundred (division), Hundred surveyed in the Domesday Book of 1086. The village is on the gentle slopes of the low western end of the North ...
and with a holiday home in
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
,Nigel's Place in France (2005). Episode 3. Paul Sommers (Executive Producer). Tiger Aspect Productions Ltd for Channel 4, TX 1 March 2005. he moved to Les Fabres near
Vals-les-Bains
Vals-les-Bains (; oc, Vals) is a Communes of France, commune in the Ardèche Departments of France, department in southern France.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Ardèche department
References
Communes of Ardèche
Ardèche ...
Ardèche
Ardèche (; oc, Ardecha; frp, Ardecha) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It is named after the river Ardèche and had a population of 328,278 as of 2019.A Place in France: An Indian Summer (2004). Episode 8. Paul Sommers (Executive Producer). Tiger Aspect Productions Ltd for Channel 4, TX 11 March 2004. This later broke downA Place in France: An Indian Summer (2004). Episode 7. Paul Sommers (Executive Producer). Tiger Aspect Productions Ltd for Channel 4, TX 18 March 2004. and he started a relationship with Sally-Ann Fitt, who, despite some televised skirmishes during Nigel's Place in France,Nigel's Place in France (2005). Episode 2. Paul Sommers (Executive Producer). Tiger Aspect Productions Ltd for Channel 4, TX 22 February 2005. was to remain his partner until his death.
Farrell was diagnosed with
pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...
in early 2010. By November of the same year he was in remission but he died in September 2011 after the cancer returned.