Michael J Bird - The life and work of the man who created The Lotus Eaters
Paperback, 254 pages
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Early in 1973 a group were on Crete filming a BBC drama series The Lotus Eaters. The star, Ian Hendry, was an alcoholic and at times difficult to handle. He was refusing to rehearse a crucial scene. The director turned to the series' writer and creator, Michael J. Bird, for help.
Bird disappeared and returned with a shotgun, which he pointed at Hendry. The actor, for once, was lost for words. Trying to stare down Bird didn't work, the writer was on higher ground, and the shotgun in his hands looked very much part of him. The director remembered tales of Bird's wartime service as a spook. Hendry must have heard the same tales: he picked up his script and continued as though nothing had happened.
The director believes it was not fear that made the actor change his stance - it was Bird's showmanship and mysterious past which Hendry, an artist of considerable talent, appreciated. The cast and crew were in no doubt. Michael Bird was more than the average television writer.
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Review Michael J Bird - The life and work of the man who created The Lotus Eaters
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"Michael J. Bird"
As well as exploring the many facets of this writers complex personality and colourful life, author Dave Rice takes readers behind the scenes of not only “the Lotus Eaters”, but also his many other successful television drama series such as “Who Pays the Ferryman”, “the Aphrodite Inheritance”, “Dark Side of the Sun” “Maelstrom” and other, less well known series created by Michael J. Bird. With anecdotes, comments and excerpts from personal interviews and correspondence Dave had with many of the actors, directors and others involved in the production of these series, a wide assortment of photographs many of which have been provided by Michaels widow Olive, a filmography and the Lotus Eaters writers and format notes, I can highly recommend this book as a must for everyone who appreciates the work of this talented writer.
As well as exploring the many facets of this writers complex personality and colourful life, author Dave Rice takes readers behind the scenes of not only “the Lotus Eaters”, but also his many other successful television drama series such as “Who Pays the Ferryman”, “the Aphrodite Inheritance”, “Dark Side of the Sun” “Maelstrom” and other, less well known series created by Michael J. Bird. With anecdotes, comments and excerpts from personal interviews and correspondence Dave had with many of the actors, directors and others involved in the production of these series, a wide assortment of photographs many of which have been provided by Michaels widow Olive, a filmography and the Lotus Eaters writers and format notes, I can highly recommend this book as a must for everyone who appreciates the work of this talented writer.
"Michael J Bird - The life and work of the man who created The Lotus Eaters "
I’ve just finished reading this book from cover to cover and recommend it without hesitation. It’s a well researched and well written biography of a prolific and talented writer whose name will be unfamiliar to most, but actually, you do know him.
Dangerman, Hadleigh, Paul Temple, The Onedin Line, and Warship, are all classic TV series that he contributed episodes to as well as many others. He is best known for The Lotus Eaters and Who pays the Ferryman? which are both available on DVD now, and this book is the perfect accompaniment to those series. This was the golden age of BBC drama in the... More >
I’ve just finished reading this book from cover to cover and recommend it without hesitation. It’s a well researched and well written biography of a prolific and talented writer whose name will be unfamiliar to most, but actually, you do know him.
Dangerman, Hadleigh, Paul Temple, The Onedin Line, and Warship, are all classic TV series that he contributed episodes to as well as many others. He is best known for The Lotus Eaters and Who pays the Ferryman? which are both available on DVD now, and this book is the perfect accompaniment to those series. This was the golden age of BBC drama in the... More >
"Michael J Bird"
Mr Rice has expended a great deal of time, effort and energy to chronicle the life and work of one of the unsung heroes of recent British television drama.
This very readable account details Michael J Bird's prodigious writing output and gives the reader an insight into what a remarkable man Mr Bird was.
This very readable account details Michael J Bird's prodigious writing output and gives the reader an insight into what a remarkable man Mr Bird was.
"Michael J. Bird"
I highly recommend this book which not only succeeds in presenting fascinating new information on Bird's well-loved TV dramas and the type of man that he was, but, due to the time period over which Bird was writing, also effectively examines, in nostalgic and rewarding detail, the changes in television commissioning and production between the Sixties and the Nineties. Insightful and well-chosen testimony from Olive Bird, Viktors Ritelis and David Cunliffe among others, bring both the man and his work to life and remind us just how prolific, imaginative and inventive he was. After I finished it I immediately reached, once again, for 'Who Pays the Ferryman' from my DVD shelves.
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