John Royston Morley (25 August 1912 – 14 October 1991), was a British television producer, director and writer. He was among the earliest television producers, and also trained new producers for 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 ...

and in Australia.

Life and career

Morley was born in Kidderminster,

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

. His early work for BBC television, beginning in 1937, included a regular slot in

Cecil Madden Cecil Charles Madden, MBE (29 November 1902 – 27 May 1987), was an English pioneer of television production. In 1936, he moved from BBC radio to its experimental television service, and was responsible for many programmes until the service was ...

's "Picture Page", a magazine programme of general and topical interest."Royston Morley"
BBC Genome. Retrieved 11 February 2018 In 1937 Morley married a BBC colleague, Isa Benzie. They had one daughter."Obituary: Isa Benzie", ''The Times'', 13 July 1988, p. 18 Morley added television drama to his responsibilities, and produced or directed abbreviated versions of plays by

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

, Wilde,

Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

, John Webster,

J.B. Priestley John Boynton Priestley (; 13 September 1894 – 14 August 1984) was an English novelist, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster and social commentator. His Yorkshire background is reflected in much of his fiction, notably in ''The Good Compa ...

and

P.G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jee ...

among others. In April 1939 he produced a studio presentation of the Sadler's Wells Ballet in '' The Rake's Progress''. The fledgling television service was taken off the air during the

Second World War 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 ...

, and Morley moved to radio, writing as well as producing programmes. When BBC television returned after the war, Morley resumed his pre-war responsibilities, producing "Picture Page" and a wide range of drama, both classic, such as ''

Pygmalion Pygmalion or Pigmalion may refer to: Mythology * Pygmalion (mythology), a sculptor who fell in love with his statue Stage * ''Pigmalion'' (opera), a 1745 opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau * ''Pygmalion'' (Rousseau), a 1762 melodrama by Jean-Jacques ...

'' and ''

King Lear ''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane an ...

'', and modern works by

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Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earlier ...

Luigi Pirandello Luigi Pirandello (; 28 June 1867 – 10 December 1936) was an Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature for "his almost magical power ...

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the su ...

and others. His own play, ''The Guilty Party'' was broadcast in 1953. In addition to directing, Morley was also a trainer. The BBC was interested in recruiting potential directors from people with a theatrical background, and among those who comprised what became known as "Morley's Army" were

Kenneth Tynan Kenneth Peacock Tynan (2 April 1927 – 26 July 1980) was an English theatre critic and writer. Making his initial impact as a critic at ''The Observer'', he praised Osborne's ''Look Back in Anger'' (1956), and encouraged the emerging wave of ...

, Tony Richardson and

Peter Cotes Peter Cotes (19 March 1912 – 10 November 1998) was an English director, producer, actor, writer and production manager. Cotes was born as Sydney Boulting in Maidenhead, Berkshire. His brothers John and Roy Boulting became noted film makers. ...

. In 1956 Morley went to Australia to train staff for the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

in Sydney. His contribution to the ABC at this time has been described as crucial. While in Australia he directed productions of ''

An Enemy of the People ''An Enemy of the People'' (original Norwegian title: ''En folkefiende''), an 1882 play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, followed his previous play, ''Ghosts'', which criticized the hypocrisy of his society's moral code. That response inclu ...

'' (1958) and ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'' (1959). After returning to Britain in the 1960s, Morley produced the long-running BBC television series '' Dr Finlay's Casebook'', followed by two other drama series in the early 1970s, ''Brett'' and ''The Regiment''. These were his last work for the BBC. In the 1970s he worked for the commercial station

Associated Television Associated Television was the original name of the British broadcaster ATV, part of the Independent Television (ITV) network. It provided a service to London at weekends from 1955 to 1968, to the Midlands on weekdays from 1956 to 1968, and ...

, and in 1980 he directed a few episodes of the

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

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''. As well as his television work, Morley directed Pirandello's play, ''

Six Characters in Search of an Author ''Six Characters in Search of an Author'' ( it, Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore, link=no ) is an Italian play by Luigi Pirandello, written and first performed in 1921. An absurdist fiction, absurdist metatheatrical, metatheatric play about th ...

'' at the

Arts Theatre The Arts Theatre is a theatre in Great Newport Street, in Westminster, Central London. History It opened on 20 April 1927 as a members-only club for the performance of unlicensed plays, thus avoiding theatre censorship by the Lord Chamberl ...

in 1954,"Arts Theatre", ''The Times'', 24 June 1954, p. 10 and the 1961 cinema film, ''

Attempt to Kill ''Attempt to Kill'' is a 1961 British film. It was a rare feature directed by Royston Morley, and based on a story by Edgar Wallace, ''The Lone House Mystery''. It was one of a series of ''Edgar Wallace Mysteries'', British second-features, produ ...

'', based on an Edgar Wallace detective story. Morley died on 14 October 1991 in Weston-super-Mare,

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

."Royston Morley"
British Film Institute. Retrieved 11 February 2018

Select credits

*''

'' (1948) *'' The Admirable Crichton'' (1950) *'' Point of Return'' (1958) *'' The Gladys Half-Hour'' (1958) *'' Chance of a Ghost'' (1958) *''

'' (1958) *''

Sixty Point Bold ''Sixty Point Bold'' is a 1959 Australian television play which aired on ABC. It was produced by the Sydney station of the network, ABN-2, and was kinescoped/telerecorded for showing in Melbourne on ABV-2. It was the second 90-minute live televisio ...

'' (1959) *''

The Seagull ''The Seagull'' ( rus, Ча́йка, r=Cháyka, links=no) is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 and first produced in 1896. ''The Seagull'' is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramatises t ...

'' (1959) *''

'' (1959)

References

External links

*
Royston Morley
at BFI {{DEFAULTSORT:Morley, Royston British writers 1912 births 1991 deaths People from Kidderminster British television producers