Jeremy Isaacs
Encyclopedia
Sir Jeremy Isaacs is a British
television producer and executive, winner of many BAFTA awards and international Emmy Awards. He was also General Director of the Royal Opera House
, Covent Garden
(1987–96).
from what were described as "Scottish Jewish roots". He grew up in Hillhead
, the son of a jeweller and a GP
, and is a cousin to virologist Alick Isaacs
. He was educated at the independent Glasgow Academy
and Merton College
, Oxford
, where he read Classics
. He did his National Service in the Highland Light Infantry
.
as a producer in 1958. At Granada he was involved in creating or supervising series such as World in Action
and What the Papers Say
. He has worked for the BBC
(on Panorama)
) in the 1960s and was the overall producer for the 26-episode series The World at War
for Thames Television
in 1973. He was Director of Programmes for Thames between 1974 and 1978. He then produced Ireland: A Television History (1981) for the BBC.
between 1981 and 1987, overseeing its launch period and setting the channel's original high brow style. At that time, the channel catered more for less mainstream cultural tastes than it does now with opera and foreign language films featuring, though such programmes as The Tube
had a place in the schedule from the beginning. The channel commissioned Michael Elliott's production of King Lear (1983) with Laurence Olivier
in the title role and Isaacs re-commissioned a number of programmes from his time at Granada including What the Papers Say. His appointment of David Rose
, previously long with the BBC, as the Commissioning Editor for Fiction led to the Channel's involvement with the eighties revival of the British film industry via the Film on Four
strand. Despite a general liberal atmosphere though, a few commissioned programmes such as Ken Loach
's A Question of Leadership were withdrawn from transmission.
In 1990, Isaacs named a four-hour dramatisation of an early Percy Bysshe Shelley
Gothic horror novel, Zastrozzi
(1986), as one of the 10 programmes of which he was most proud during his tenure as Channel 4's chief executive.
When handing over responsibility for running the channel to Michael Grade
, Isaacs threatened to throttle him if he betrayed the trust placed in him to respect the channel's remit.
, Covent Garden
, a role he fulfilled until 1996. This was a difficult period for the ROH, which was not helped by the broadcast of the revealing The House
(1996) documentary series on BBC2.
Ted Turner
sought out Isaacs (confusing him with the actor Jeremy Irons
) for the role of executive producer for his 1998 24-episode Cold War
series.
Between 1997 and 2000 Isaacs was president of the Royal Television Society
. He is currently chairman of Sky Arts
.
From 1990 to 1998 Isaacs acted as interviewer in a revival of the BBC series Face to Face; John Freeman had filled this role in the original 1959-62 run.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
television producer and executive, winner of many BAFTA awards and international Emmy Awards. He was also General Director of the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
, Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
(1987–96).
Early life
Isaacs was born in GlasgowGlasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
from what were described as "Scottish Jewish roots". He grew up in Hillhead
Hillhead
Hillhead is a district of Glasgow, Scotland. Situated north of Kelvingrove Park and to the south of the River Kelvin, Hillhead is at the heart of Glasgow's fashionable West End, with Byres Road forming the western border of the area, the other boundaries being Dumbarton Road to the south and the...
, the son of a jeweller and a GP
General practitioner
A general practitioner is a medical practitioner who treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes. They have particular skills in treating people with multiple health issues and comorbidities...
, and is a cousin to virologist Alick Isaacs
Alick Isaacs
Alick Isaacs was a British virologist. He is best remembered for his work on interferon, having been Head of the Laboratory for Research on Interferon, National Institute for Medical Research, 1964–7....
. He was educated at the independent Glasgow Academy
The Glasgow Academy
Founded in 1845, the Glasgow Academy is the oldest fully independent school in Glasgow, Scotland. It is located in the Kelvinbridge area and has approximately 1300 pupils, split between three preparatory school sites and a senior school....
and Merton College
Merton College, Oxford
Merton College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor to Henry III and later to Edward I, first drew up statutes for an independent academic community and established endowments to...
, Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, where he read Classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
. He did his National Service in the Highland Light Infantry
Highland Light Infantry
The Highland Light Infantry was a regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 1959. In 1923 the regimental title was expanded to the Highland Light Infantry ...
.
Television career
Isaacs began his career in television when he joined Granada TelevisionGranada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
as a producer in 1958. At Granada he was involved in creating or supervising series such as World in Action
World in Action
World in Action was a British investigative current affairs programme made by Granada Television from 1963 until 1998. Its campaigning journalism frequently had a major impact on events of the day. Its production teams often took audacious risks and gained a solid reputation for its often...
and What the Papers Say
What the Papers Say
What The Papers Say is a BBC radio programme that originally ran for many years on British television.Its first incarnation was the second longest-running programme on British television after Panorama...
. He has worked for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
(on Panorama)
Panorama (TV series)
Panorama is a BBC Television current affairs documentary programme, which was first broadcast in 1953, and is the longest-running public affairs television programme in the world. Panorama has been presented by many well known BBC presenters, including Richard Dimbleby, Robin Day, David Dimbleby...
) in the 1960s and was the overall producer for the 26-episode series The World at War
The World at War (TV series)
The World at War is a 26-episode British television documentary series chronicling the events of World War II. It was produced by Jeremy Isaacs, narrated by Laurence Olivier and has a score composed by Carl Davis...
for Thames Television
Thames Television
Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....
in 1973. He was Director of Programmes for Thames between 1974 and 1978. He then produced Ireland: A Television History (1981) for the BBC.
Channel 4
Isaacs was the founding chief executive of Channel 4Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
between 1981 and 1987, overseeing its launch period and setting the channel's original high brow style. At that time, the channel catered more for less mainstream cultural tastes than it does now with opera and foreign language films featuring, though such programmes as The Tube
The Tube (TV series)
The Tube was an innovative United Kingdom pop/rock music television programme, which ran for five seasons, from 5 November 1982 until 1987...
had a place in the schedule from the beginning. The channel commissioned Michael Elliott's production of King Lear (1983) with Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
in the title role and Isaacs re-commissioned a number of programmes from his time at Granada including What the Papers Say. His appointment of David Rose
David Rose (producer)
David E. Rose is a retired television producer and commissioning editor.Following war service as a RAF pilot of Lancaster Bombers on 34 missions, he trained as an actor at the Guildhall School of Drama, but following graduation pursued a career in stage management...
, previously long with the BBC, as the Commissioning Editor for Fiction led to the Channel's involvement with the eighties revival of the British film industry via the Film on Four
Film4
Film4 is a free digital television channel available in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned and operated by Channel 4, that screens films.-Programming:...
strand. Despite a general liberal atmosphere though, a few commissioned programmes such as Ken Loach
Ken Loach
Kenneth "Ken" Loach is a Palme D'Or winning English film and television director.He is known for his naturalistic, social realist directing style and for his socialist beliefs, which are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as homelessness , labour rights and child abuse at the...
's A Question of Leadership were withdrawn from transmission.
In 1990, Isaacs named a four-hour dramatisation of an early Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron...
Gothic horror novel, Zastrozzi
Zastrozzi
Zastrozzi: A Romance is a Gothic novel by Percy Bysshe Shelley first published in 1810 in London by George Wilkie and John Robinson anonymously, with only the initials of the author's name, as "by P.B.S."...
(1986), as one of the 10 programmes of which he was most proud during his tenure as Channel 4's chief executive.
When handing over responsibility for running the channel to Michael Grade
Michael Grade
Michael Ian Grade, Baron Grade of Yarmouth CBE is a British broadcast executive and businessman. He was BBC chairman from 2004 to 2006 and executive chairman of ITV plc from 2007 to 2009.-Early life:...
, Isaacs threatened to throttle him if he betrayed the trust placed in him to respect the channel's remit.
Royal Opera House
After leaving Channel 4, and failing to be appointed Director General of the BBC in 1987, Isaacs became General Director of the Royal Opera HouseRoyal Opera, London
The Royal Opera is an opera company based in central London, resident at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Along with the English National Opera, it is one of the two principal opera companies in London. Founded in 1946 as the Covent Garden Opera Company, it was known by that title until 1968...
, Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
, a role he fulfilled until 1996. This was a difficult period for the ROH, which was not helped by the broadcast of the revealing The House
The House (television documentary)
The House is an award-winning fly on the wall documentary television series in six episodes which showed various behind-the-scenes events at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden...
(1996) documentary series on BBC2.
Ted Turner
Ted Turner
Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III is an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is known as founder of the cable news network CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television...
sought out Isaacs (confusing him with the actor Jeremy Irons
Jeremy Irons
Jeremy John Irons is an English actor. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969, and has since appeared in many London theatre productions including The Winter's Tale, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the...
) for the role of executive producer for his 1998 24-episode Cold War
Cold War (TV series)
Cold War is a twenty-four episode television documentary series about the Cold War that aired in 1998. It features interviews and footage of the events that shaped the tense relationships between the Soviet Union and the United States....
series.
Between 1997 and 2000 Isaacs was president of the Royal Television Society
Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
. He is currently chairman of Sky Arts
Sky Arts
Sky Arts and Sky Arts HD is the brand name for a group of art-oriented television channels offering 18 hours a day of programmes dedicated to highbrow arts, including theatrical performances, movies, documentaries and music...
.
From 1990 to 1998 Isaacs acted as interviewer in a revival of the BBC series Face to Face; John Freeman had filled this role in the original 1959-62 run.
Publications
- Never Mind the Moon, Bantam PressBantam PressBantam Press is an imprint of Transworld Publishers which is a British publishing division of Random House.It is based on Uxbridge Road in Ealing near Ealing Broadway station, the same address as Transworld....
, 1999 ISBN 0593043553 - Look Me in the Eye: A Life in Television, Little, BrownLittle, Brown and CompanyLittle, Brown and Company is a publishing house established by Charles Coffin Little and his partner, James Brown. Since 2006 it has been a constituent unit of Hachette Book Group USA.-19th century:...
, 2006 ISBN 0316727288
External links
- Cold War: About the Series at CNN.com
- Raymond Snoddy (interview with Isaacs), "Sir Jeremy Isaacs: History man - a life in pictures", The Independent (London) February 27 2006 Retrieved 3 March 2008
- Sabine Durrant (interview with Isaacs), "It hurts, it hurts, it hurts", The Guardian (London), November 5th 1999 Retrieved 3 March 2008