Alan Plater(1935-2010)
- Autor
- Script and Continuity Department
- Music Department
Born in Jarrow in 1935, Alan Plater was brought up in Hull, and trained
as an architect in Newcastle. He has been a full-time writer since
1961, with over two hundred assorted credits in radio, television,
theatre and film - plus six novels, occasional journalism, broadcasting
and teaching. His first plays were written for radio, a medium he still
loves. His play, THE JOURNAL OF VASILUE BOGDANOVIC, won the 1983 Sony
Radio Award, justifying his faith in eccentric titles. Recent works
include a three part dramatisation of ALL THINGS BETRAY THEE the
classic novel by Gwyn Thomas about the early days of the Industrial
revolution, a radical new version of Gorki's LOWER DEPTHS and a new
play, ONLY A MATTER OF TIME, heard in February of this year. His
television career began with a string of single plays as well as
contributions to the pioneering Z CARS series. Subsequent work has
included BARCHESTER CHRONICLES, the BEIDERBECKE TRILOGY, FORTUNES OF
WAR and A VERY BRITISH COUP - accumulating Awards from, among others,
BAFTA, the Broadcasting Press Guild and the Royal Television Society -
plus an International Emmy (USA), the Golden Fleece of Georgia (USSR)
and the Grand Prix of the Banff Festival (Canada). His film, SELECTED
EXITS, about Gwyn Thomas and starring Anthony Hopkins, was screened on
Christmas Day 1993, wining the BAFTA Cymru Writing Award and the Royal
Television Society Award for Best Regional Programme. DOGGIN' AROUND,
about a jazz pianist adrift in the North of England, was shown in the
BBC Screen One season in the Autumn of 1994, starring Eillot Gould and
Geraldine James. His work in the theatre includes the musical, CLOSE
THE COALHOUSE DOOR, written with Alex Glasgow and Sid Chaplin, a key
work in the development of British political drama and triumphantly
revived by Live Theatre, Newcastle in October 1994; two celebrated
adaptations of Bill Tidy's FOSDYKE SAGA for London's Bush Theatre: RENT
PARTY and 1 THOUGHT 1 HEARD A RUSTLING for the Theatre Royal, Stratford
East; SWEET SORROW, a celebration of the poet Phillip Larkin for Hull
Truck and GOING HOME, a celebration of Tyneside, Australia, forgotten
footballers and cool jazz for Newcastle Playhouse. His stage play,
SHOOTING THE LEGEND, was seen at at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle in
September 1995, where it played to packed houses and rave reviews and
won him a nomination for the Lloyd's Playwright of the Year Award. In
1998 he made his debut at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre with ALL CREDIT
TO THE LADS, starring Roy Marsden. His first film for the big screen
was THE VIRGIN AND THE GYPSY, from D. H. Lawrence's novel, and he later
worked with Richard Lester on JUGGERNAUT. He wrote the screenplay for
KEEP THE ASPIDISTRA FLYING (A MERRY WAR in the U.S.) from George
Orwell's novel, released in 1997, directed by Robert Bierman, starring
Richard E. Grant and Helens Bonham Carter. He has also written at least
twenty abandoned projects of surpassing brilliance, has been fired by
some eminent people and can be very boring about all this in
conversation. His latest television work includes contributions to the
DALZIEL AND PASCOE series for the BBC, dramatised from the novels by
Reginald Hill, starring Warren Clarke and Colin Buchanan. He Lives very
contentedly in London with his wife, Shirley. When he remembers where
he left his spare time, he spends it adoring his grandchildren,
juggling with crazy projects, hanging around jazz clubs and willing
Hull City to show some form. He was president of the Writer's Guild of
Great Britain from September 1991 until April 1995. He has received
honorary degrees from the University of Hull and, in November 1997,
from the University of Northumbria in his beloved Newcastle.