Tony Garnett steps down from World Productions

Critically acclaimed and award winning producer Tony Garnett, the man behind Cathy Come Home and Kes, has stepped down from his production role at World Productions.

 

 

It’s been announced that Tony Garnett has stepped down from his production role at the independent producer World Productions after more than twenty years with the company. While he will still remain a director of the company his role as a producer will be taken by Simon Heath. Garnett is a critically acclaimed and award winning drama who produced Cathy Come Home in 1966 which starred Ray Brooks and Carol White and was made as part of the BBC’S Wednesday Play strand. The drama followed a couple who were made homeless and the trouble they faced getting back on the “right track”. The powerful drama was written and directed by Ken Loach and lead to the creation of the charity Shelter. Garnett produced other plays in the Wednesday Play strand but perhaps his other noticeable work from the same period was the film Kes in 1970, once again written by Ken Loach, and starred Lynne Perry, Brian Glover, Freddie Fletcher and David Bradley.

 

 

At World Productions Garnett oversaw such hits as This Life; the critically acclaimed BBC Two drama from the 1990s that starred Jack Davenport, Andrew Lincoln, Amita Dhiri and Daniela Nardini and was the focus of a reunion movie in 2007. The Cops and Ballykissangel were also produced by World Productions for the BBC but in recent years it was been less noticeable in terms of television production. It made the 2007 BBC Two drama series Party Animals but while it was a critical success it was a ratings flop but was an early major role for Matt Smith who is now starring in Doctor Who. The company is currently waiting to find out if the BBC plan to commission a full series of its medical pilot Pulse for BBC Three.