Susan Elizabeth Birtwistle, Lady Eyre, (born 9 December 1945) is a producer and writer of

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

drama. Birtwistle has won awards for several of her productions, including ''

Hotel du Lac ''Hotel du Lac'' is a 1984 Booker Prize-winning novel by English writer Anita Brookner. It centres on Edith Hope, a romance novelist who is staying in a hotel on the shores of Lake Geneva. There she meets other English visitors, including Mr ...

'', '' Pride and Prejudice'' and '' Emma'', and was one of the nominees for the 2008 BAFTA Awards for her production of '' Cranford''.

Early life

She was born in Northwich, Cheshire,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and attended Northwich County Grammar School for Girls (now The County High School, Leftwich). She studied drama and English at

Coventry College of Education Coventry College of Education existed as a separate institution until its incorporation into the University of Warwick in 1978 as the Westwood campus. It was located to the north of the University's main site. From 1948, the Principal of Coventr ...

(became part of the

University of Warwick , mottoeng = Mind moves matter , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £7.0 million (2021) , budget = £698.2 million (2020� ...

Career

She is known for producing well-known

costume drama A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and swa ...

Partial filmography as producer

*''Oi For England'' *''

Educating Marmalade Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Var ...

'' * '' Dutch Girls'', 1985 * ''

'', 1986 * ''

Scoop Scoop, Scoops or The scoop may refer to: Objects * Scoop (tool), a shovel-like tool, particularly one deep and curved, used in digging * Scoop (machine part), a component of machinery to carry things * Scoop stretcher, a device used for casualt ...

'', 1987 * ''

Ball Trap on the Cote Sauvage ''Screen One'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and distributed by BBC Worldwide, that was transmitted on BBC One from 1989 to 1998. A total of six series were broadcast, incorporating sixty individual fil ...

'' 1989 * ''Or Shall We Die?'' * ''v.'' * '' Pride and Prejudice'', 1995 * '' Emma'', 1996 * ''Armadillo'' * ''King Lear'' * ''

Wives and Daughters ''Wives and Daughters, An Every-Day Story'' is a novel by Elizabeth Gaskell, first published in the ''Cornhill Magazine'' as a serial from August 1864 to January 1866. It was partly written whilst Gaskell was staying with the salon hostess M ...

'', 1999 * '' Cranford, 2007'' * ''Return to Cranford'', 2009

Personal life

In 2008, she was awarded an honorary

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

at the

University of Chester , mottoeng = "He that teacheth, on teaching" , former_names = , established = (gained university status in 2005) , type = Public , endowment = £395,000 (2018) , budget = £118.3 million , chancellor = Gyles Brandreth , vice_chancell ...

. She married the English film, theatre, television and opera director

Richard Eyre Sir Richard Charles Hastings Eyre (born 28 March 1943) is an English film, theatre, television and opera director. Biography Eyre was born in Barnstaple, Devon, England, the son of Richard Galfridus Hastings Giles Eyre and his wife, Minna Mar ...

in 1973 in

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, London; they have one daughter, Lucy (born in 1974).

References

External links

* 1945 births Living people Alumni of the University of Warwick English television producers English television writers People from Northwich British women television writers British women television producers Wives of knights {{UK-tv-bio-stub