FEATURES
SPOTLIGHT ON THE INDUSTRY We hear from ORs working in the TV, film and theatre industries. Rick Barker (1990, B)
Role: Editor Experience: 20 years in the industry Your career story in 150 words … Tom Crowther, Jamie Campbell and myself were given a huge amount of support at Radley, and made three films while we were there. After studying Film at university, I worked for Oxford TV directing, filming and editing short reports. I then got a place on an ITV scheme for youngsters called The Lab, where I developed a love of editing. After a year there, I was offered the chance to become freelance, and learn on the job. I edited a couple of short TV docs, before cutting an episode of Who Do You Think You Are. 20 years later, I’m a BAFTA winning editor with over 100 credits across a huge variety of unscripted TV, still learning from every job and loving my time in the cutting room.
Ed Tuke (1991, E)
Role: Writer & Producer Experience: 22 years in the industry Your career story in 150 words … I directed a couple of plays at Radley, including a TERRIBLE Haddon Cup entry. To my eternal shame the second half fell apart when the cast forgot their lines, but we made it to the end with a healthy dose of surprisingly comedic ad-libbing. I was never much of an actor, unlike other ex-Radley creatives I know of, but instead played extras in a few big productions (Nosferatu, Midsummer Night’s Dream) and helped to build sets for a number of other plays. Just being in the theatre was an experience, and always carried with it an incredible sense of potential and excitement. My background is as a TV producer, a role I have held for nearly twenty years, working on shows such as The X Factor and Big Brother. However, in 2019 I set up Six Films in order to focus on writing my first feature film, an adaptation of the novel Far As The Eye Can See by Robert Bausch, which we optioned over lockdown.
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the old radleian 2023
Key to my career are my relationships with directors and producers, who often ask to work with me repeatedly. Lately the shows I’ve edited have been up for or have won awards. I’m the busiest I’ve ever been and lucky to be paid to do something I love. What has been your favourite project? The Real Mo Farah - I was given a huge amount of creative freedom by the director Leo to craft the film. It has gone on to be awarded Broadcast, BAFTA TV, and Rose d’Or awards. What’s next? I’ve just finished as lead editor on the recent BBC series Parole, and I am about to start as the lead editor on Amazon’s first true crime documentary. Explore Rick’s work: The Real Mo Farah is currently available on BBC iPlayer. Check Rick’s profile on imdb.com for a list of over 25 other projects he’s worked on, including Bin Laden: The Road to 9/11, popular TV series Who Do You Think You Are, and a number of Panorama episodes.
What has been your favourite project? I am completely obsessed with our current adaptation for the big screen of Robert Bausch’s seminal novel. But prior to this, I’d say that producing Big Brother for Channel 4 was a career highlight. It really taught me how to tell stories, especially on those slow summer days when nothing much was happening in the house. Those subtler, quieter stories were almost more satisfying to produce than something brash and obvious, and I am absolutely convinced that this is how I cut my teeth as a storyteller. What’s next? As well as our adaptation of the novel Far As The Eye Can See, Six Films also has plans to produce a number of other drama features and limited series for broadcast or theatrical release, and we are very excited about what the future holds. Explore Ed’s work: You may have seen TV shows that Ed’s worked on, such as The X Factor, Big Brother, and Glow Up: Britain’s Next Make-Up Star. Take a look at his production company website, sixfilms.co.uk, for forthcoming projects.
