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.

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.

Features

James Bachman (1985, F)

Role: Actor, Screenwriter & Comedian Experience: 30+ years in the industry

Your career story in 150 words … As far as I can remember, I was in two plays at Radley: The F Social production of You Too Can Have A Body, a comic murder thriller by Fred Robinson, in which I think I played the butler. I’m pretty sure it was directed by Harry Waldemar-Brown. The second one was Tom Stoppard’s Night and Day, quite a serious drama about journalists in a war in Africa, with a very small cast, and directed by my then very good friend, Oliver Niesewand. I started as a sketch comedian as part of the Cambridge Footlights, then began writing sketch comedy for radio and TV in the UK, eventually performing material I had written live on stage and on television.

What has been your favourite project?

I’ve enjoyed so much of the work I’ve been allowed to do, especially as a performer. Acting is honestly the easiest job in the world if you have the knack for it, and I’m very glad it turned out that I do. But the most fun I had making a show was probably working on ‘Bleak Expectations’, a pastiche Dickensian comedy for Radio 4. I played the lead character’s upbeat idiot best friend, Harry Biscuit, in all five series of the show. The project was written by my old writing partner, Mark Evans, who I had worked with almost exclusively since university - though by the time of Bleak Expectations we were no longer working as a writing partnership - and because we had known each other so long he knew instinctively how to write a part so perfectly tailored to my performing skills that it was just a dream to perform every time we did a recording. The show was recorded live in front of an audience at the BBC Radio Theatre, and getting that instant feedback to such a funny script alongside a really talented cast of comic actors was such a hit of pure joy. Loved every minute of it. series for Channel 4, The Sharp End. After making a number of contemporary history series, I set up my own company, Crux Productions, and over the past 30 years or so have produced feature-length documentaries on classical music for BBC2 and BBC4, plus a number of films about the royal family for BBC1.

What’s next?

Now I live in Los Angeles as a TV and film actor and writer, developing scripts for sitcoms and comedy dramas. Explore James’s work: James has had roles in over 40 productions for TV and cinema, including Transformers: Age of Extinction and That Mitchell and Webb Look and most are available on streaming services. Check his profile on imdb.com for a full list.

What has been your favourite project?

It’s always the last one! In this case, that’s Michael Tippett: The Shadow and The Light, a film about the life and music of one of Britain’s greatest composers of the 20th century, which was shown on BBC2 in June.

What’s next?

John Bridcut (1965, A)

Role: Director & Producer

Experience: 48 years in the industry, joined the BBC in 1975

Your career story in 150 words …

I was in the training scheme (with attachments to different parts of the BBC) for two years, then I was on the staff for ten more. I worked in Radio News and The World at One, and was in New York for six months as the radio current affairs producer there. Then I moved to TV: Nationwide, the Money Programme (where I began making short films), Panorama (my first long film) and Newsnight, where I was editor of the day. I then left to become an independent producer, making a current affairs

Time to put my feet up, and let others take the strain! Classical music is a hard row to hoe on BBC Television at present, with the threat of cuts in the BBC orchestras, and very little TV programming except for the Proms. Taken with the recent Arts Council England cuts, classical music is in an existential crisis, just when youth orchestras in this country are at a peak of excellence. Not only that, but we now have a monarch of great artistic and musical sensibility, as the Coronation service showed. A strange juxtaposition with the leadership of the Arts Council, which is characterised by incompetence and ignorance in the musical field, and a neglect of excellence. Unfortunately, music has vanished from the curriculum of so many schools – so Radley’s wonderfully high musical standards, and its encouragement of music in the local community, are a kindly light amid the encircling gloom!

Explore John’s work: Michael Tippett: The Shadow and The Light will be available on BBC iPlayer until May 2024, and visit his website for a list of productions: johnbridcut.com.