Geoffrey Sax
Encyclopedia
Geoffrey Sax is a British
film
and television director
, who has worked on a variety of critically acclaimed and popular drama productions in both the UK and the United States
.
He began his directing career in the late 1970s, initially working in comedy, directing episodes of a number of sketch shows such as Cannon and Ball
and End of Part One
. He made the move into directing drama in the early 1980s, working on episodes of popular BBC dramas such as Bergerac
and Lovejoy
.
Later in the decade he worked on ITV
programmes such as Spitting Image
and The New Statesman
. In the early 1990s he worked for a time in America, directing TV Movies
and miniseries
for various networks there. His most noted production during this time was the BBC
/ Universal Studios
/ Fox Network TV movie version of the popular science-fiction
series Doctor Who
, screened in 1996.
In 1998 Sax returned to the UK. He helmed Lynda La Plante
's adaptation of her own novel Killer Net that year, and later gained credits on Paul Abbott
's acclaimed Clocking Off
, a Red Production Company
series for BBC One
.
In 2001 he directed a modern-day adaptation
of the story of Othello
, produced by London Weekend Television
for the ITV
network and starring Eamonn Walker
, Christopher Eccleston
and Keeley Hawes
. The adaptation was written by Andrew Davies
, who Sax worked with again the following year when he directed Davies' adaptation
of Sarah Waters
' novel Tipping the Velvet
for Sally Head Productions
and BBC Two
. This was not the only connection between the two productions: Keeley Hawes also co-starred in Tipping the Velvet, the lead in which was played by Rachael Stirling
, who had a smaller role in Othello.
Sax's first theatrically released feature film, White Noise
, was released in January 2005, entering the US Box Office top ten at No. 2. His second feature, Stormbreaker
— based on Anthony Horowitz
's Alex Rider
novel of the same name — was released in the summer of 2006.
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...
film
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and television director
Television director
A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...
, who has worked on a variety of critically acclaimed and popular drama productions in both the UK and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
He began his directing career in the late 1970s, initially working in comedy, directing episodes of a number of sketch shows such as Cannon and Ball
Cannon and Ball
Cannon and Ball are an English comedy double act consisting of Tommy Cannon and Bobby Ball. The duo met in the early 1960s while working as welders in Oldham, Lancashire...
and End of Part One
End of Part One
End of Part One was a British television comedy sketch show written by David Renwick and Andrew Marshall and produced by Simon Brett, it was made by London Weekend Television. It ran for two series on ITV, from 1979 to 1980 and was an attempt at a TV version of The Burkiss Way...
. He made the move into directing drama in the early 1980s, working on episodes of popular BBC dramas such as Bergerac
Bergerac (TV series)
Bergerac was a British television show set on Jersey. Produced by the BBC in association with the Seven Network, and screened on BBC1, it starred John Nettles as the title character Detective Sergeant Jim Bergerac, a detective in "Le Bureau des Étrangers" Bergerac was a British television show...
and Lovejoy
Lovejoy
Lovejoy is a TV series about the adventures of Lovejoy, a British antiques dealer and faker based in East Anglia, a less than scrupulous yet likeable rogue. The episodes were based on a series of picaresque novels by John Grant...
.
Later in the decade he worked on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
programmes such as Spitting Image
Spitting Image
Spitting Image is a British satirical puppet show that aired on the ITV network from 1984 to 1996. It was produced by Spitting Image Productions for Central Television. The series was nominated for 10 BAFTA Awards, winning one for editing in 1989....
and The New Statesman
The New Statesman
The New Statesman is an award-winning British sitcom of the late 1980s and early 1990s satirising the Conservative government of the time...
. In the early 1990s he worked for a time in America, directing TV Movies
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
and miniseries
Miniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
for various networks there. His most noted production during this time was 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...
/ Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
/ Fox Network TV movie version of the popular science-fiction
Science fiction on television
Science fiction first appeared on a television program during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality; this makes television an excellent medium...
series Doctor Who
Doctor Who (1996)
Doctor Who is a television movie based on the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Developed as a co-production amongst Universal Television, BBC Television, BBC Worldwide, and the American network FOX, the 1996 television film premiered on 12 May 1996 on CITV in Edmonton,...
, screened in 1996.
In 1998 Sax returned to the UK. He helmed Lynda La Plante
Lynda La Plante
Lynda La Plante, CBE is an English author, screenwriter and former actress, best known for writing the Prime Suspect television crime series....
's adaptation of her own novel Killer Net that year, and later gained credits on Paul Abbott
Paul Abbott
Paul Abbott is a BAFTA award-winning English television screenwriter and producer. Abbott has become one of the most critically and commercially successful television writers working in Britain today, following his work on many popular series, including Coronation Street, Cracker and Shameless,...
's acclaimed Clocking Off
Clocking Off
Clocking Off is a British television drama series which ran on the BBC One network for four series from 2000 to 2003. It was produced for the BBC by the independent Red Production Company, and created by Paul Abbott...
, a Red Production Company
Red Production Company
Red Production Company is a British independent television production company, formed in 1998 by Nicola Shindler, an experienced television producer who had worked on such prestige dramas as Our Friends in the North and Cracker...
series for BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
.
In 2001 he directed a modern-day adaptation
Othello (2001 TV film)
Othello is a 2001 British television film starring Eamonn Walker, Christopher Eccleston and Keeley Hawes. It is an adaptation in modern English of William Shakespeare's play Othello...
of the story of Othello
Othello
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
, produced by London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and...
for the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
network and starring Eamonn Walker
Eamonn Walker
Eamonn Walker is an English film, television and theatre actor. In the United States, he is known for playing Kareem Said in the HBO television series Oz, for which he won a CableACE Award, and elsewere as Winston, the gay, black thorn in Alf Garnett's side in In Sickness and in Health and John...
, Christopher Eccleston
Christopher Eccleston
Christopher Eccleston is an English stage, film and television actor. His films include Let Him Have It, Shallow Grave, Elizabeth, 28 Days Later, Gone in 60 Seconds, The Others, and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra...
and Keeley Hawes
Keeley Hawes
Keeley Hawes is an English actress and model, known for many television roles. She is best known for her roles as Zoe Reynolds in Spooks and Alex Drake in Ashes to Ashes and Lady Agnes in the remake of Upstairs, Downstairs...
. The adaptation was written by Andrew Davies
Andrew Davies (writer)
Andrew Wynford Davies is a British author and screenwriter. He was made a Fellow of BAFTA in 2002.-Education and early career:...
, who Sax worked with again the following year when he directed Davies' adaptation
Tipping the Velvet (TV serial)
Tipping the Velvet is a 2002 BBC television drama serial based on the bestselling debut novel by Sarah Waters of the same name. It originally screened in three episodes on BBC Two and was produced for the BBC by the independent production company Sally Head Productions...
of Sarah Waters
Sarah Waters
Sarah Waters is a British novelist. She is best known for her novels set in Victorian society, such as Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith.-Childhood:Sarah Waters was born in Neyland, Pembrokeshire, Wales in 1966....
' novel Tipping the Velvet
Tipping the Velvet
Tipping the Velvet is an historical novel written by Sarah Waters published in 1998. Set in Victorian England during the 1890s, it tells a coming of age story about a young woman named Nan who falls in love with a male impersonator, follows her to London, and finds various ways to support herself...
for Sally Head Productions
Sally Head Productions
Sally Head is a British television producer. She began as a television script editor, before working as a producer, mainly for the BBC. Her credits as producer include First Born and The Life and Loves of a She-Devil and she was executive producer of the first four Prime Suspect television films...
and BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
. This was not the only connection between the two productions: Keeley Hawes also co-starred in Tipping the Velvet, the lead in which was played by Rachael Stirling
Rachael Stirling
Rachael Atlanta Stirling is an English stage, film and television actress. She is a two-time Olivier nominee for her stage work, but is best known for her performance as Nancy Astley in the BBC drama Tipping the Velvet.-Personal life:...
, who had a smaller role in Othello.
Sax's first theatrically released feature film, White Noise
White Noise (film)
White Noise is a 2005 supernatural horror film, directed by Geoffrey Sax. The title refers to electronic voice phenomena , where voices, which some believe to be from the "other side," can be heard on audio recordings...
, was released in January 2005, entering the US Box Office top ten at No. 2. His second feature, Stormbreaker
Stormbreaker (film)
Stormbreaker is a 2006 British spy film based on Anthony Horowitz's novel of the same name, the first novel in the Alex Rider series. It stars newcomer Alex Pettyfer as the teenage spy alongside actors Mickey Rourke and Bill Nighy...
— based on Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Craig Horowitz is an English novelist and screenwriter. He has written many children's novels, including The Power of Five, Alex Rider and The Diamond Brothers series and has written over fifty books. He has also written extensively for television, adapting many of Agatha Christie's...
's Alex Rider
Alex Rider
Alex Rider is a series of spy novels by British author Anthony Horowitz about a 14-15 year old spy named Alex Rider. The series is aimed primarily at young adults. Nine novels have been published to date, as well as three graphic novels, three short stories and a supplementary book...
novel of the same name — was released in the summer of 2006.