Nationality British Name Roger James | Role Producer Died January 25, 2015 | |
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Born 13 June 1944 ( 1944-06-13 ) London, England Occupation Film Editor, Producer, Commissioner Nominations British Academy Television Craft Award for Film Editor Similar People Ken Loach, Antony Thomas, Barry Hines, Misha'el bint Fahd bin Moha | ||
Roger James (13 June 1944 – 25 January 2015) was a producer of documentaries in Britain, first at Lew Grade's ATV, then its successor, Central Independent Television.
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He began as a film editor and one of the earliest documentaries on which he worked, To Be Seven in Belfast (1975), looking at how three Catholic and three Protestant children were affected by the Troubles in Northern Ireland. This showed his to bring socially relevant stories to the screen. He was sought after by other film makes such as John Pilger, Antony Thomas and Ken Loach to Adrian Cowell, Michael Grigsby, Charles Stewart, Brian Moser, John Willis and John Walsh.
Early life
He was born in East London, son of Reginald, who served in the Royal Navy on minesweepers during the Second World War before becoming a Greater London Council technical officer, and his wife, Dora (née Browne). When, at Cornwell School, Manor Park, a teacher fostered in him an interest in film-making, he edited Paperchase, which won a national competition.
Leaving school at 16, James found a job in the post room at ATV's London offices. Within a few years he was an assistant film editor and, moving to ATV's Elstree studios. In 1968 he became a film editor on regional productions in Birmingham where he met his future wife, Jo, a nurse. Keen to work solely on documentaries, he returned to Elstree in 1972. He became a producer, then executive producer, and Controller of features for Central in 1991.
Film editor
In this role, James worked on the ITV film, Antony Thomas's Death of a Princess (1980), which depicted the public execution of a Saudi Arabian princess and her lover for committing adultery. The drama caused an international incident with the Saudi government. James also edited Ken Loach's television film adaptation of Barry Hines' book The Gamekeeper (also 1980), which blurred the lines between drama and documentary. He received a TV Craft BAFTA nomination for editing these films.