GILES
FOSTER
Giles Foster was born
in
Education: BA(Hons)
English; MA (RCA)
His graduation film DEVICES
AND DESIRES, a 50min drama about an eccentric Church of England vicar,
was an instant success at film festivals, sold to the ITV Network and gained
him his first job as director of THE OBELISK (BBC), an adaptation of
the outrageous and very English comic short story by E.M.Forster (Monte Carlo
Film Festival).
Early credits include
four films for the BBC 'Play For Today ' strand:
CHANCE OF A LIFETIME(Robert
Holman) CRIES FROM A WATCHTOWER
(Stephen Lowe) LAST SUMMER'S CHILD (Susan Hill) and FARMER'S ARMS (Nick
Darke) and three films and plays by Alan
Bennett: ALL DAY ON THE SANDS (Alun Armstrong, Marjorie Yates) SAY
SOMETHING HAPPENED (Thora Hird and Julie Walters) and the first
monologue that Bennett wrote A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE (Patricia
Routledge)
Giles also directed
six of Anglia TV's famous Tales
of The Unexpected.
The mixture of strong
drama and high comedy continued with
THE AERODROME, a black comedy about a fascist take-over in
1930's
Over the following
three years Giles Foster directed three of the BBC's most prestigious and
successful film dramas of that time:
SILAS MARNER (with Ben Kingsley, Patsy Kensit and Jenny
Agutter); and
HOTEL DU LAC (with Anna Massey, Denholm
Elliott, Patricia Hodge, Googie Withers and Julia McKenzie); and NORTHANGER
ABBEY (Peter Firth, Robert Hardy and Katherine Schlesinger).
All received
widespread acclaim (see press), high audience figures and good overseas sales.
SILAS MARNER gained six
BAFTA nominations including Best Drama.
HOTEL DU LAC won the BAFTA
Award for Best Drama and also Best Actress and Best Editing.
It also won the ACE Best Movie Award
Continuing his earlier
association with Alan Bennett, Giles Foster directed two monologues for the TALKING
HEADS series: HER BIG CHANCE (Julie Walters);
and LADY OF LETTERS (Patricia Routledge)
which gained another
BAFTA nomination for Best Drama
CONSUMING PASSIONS (Vanessa Redgrave, Jonathan Pryce) from an idea by the Monty Python writers, is
a comedy set in a chocolate factory; TREE OF HANDS, from Ruth Rendell's
dark thriller stars Lauren Bacall and Helen Shaver;
and THE
LILAC BUS (Stephanie Beacham, Dervla Kirwan) is a film of Maeve
Binchy's gently comic novel set in
Harry Dean Stanton
stars in MONSTER MAKER, a father and son story with the fantasy
animatronic characters of Jim Henson; and IN MY DEFENCE is a monologue version
of the Sir Roger Casement treason trial, performed by Robert Stephens.
Giles Foster returned
to the classics with George Eliot's ADAM
BEDE, starring James Wilby, Patsy Kensit and Iain Glen. This was
followed by THE RECTOR'S WIFE, from Joanna Trollope's best-selling
novel about a clergyman's wife and her struggle between love and duty. High viewing figures and favourable
press reaction made it one of Channel 4's most successful drama serials.
OLIVER'S TRAVELS, starring Alan Bates and Sinead Cusack, is a
love story and murder mystery filmed across the length and breadth of
Strong performances
and a major score by Carl Davis (who also wrote the music for Silas Marner, The
Aerodrome and Hotel du Lac) added to this original production written by Alan
Plater.
COMING HOME is a 2 x 100 min. adaptation of the World War
Two romantic novel by Rosamunde Pilcher, starring Peter O'Toole, Joanna Lumley
and David McCallum.
An exceptionally high
ITV audience of 11 million on each of two nights led to an early repeat and
good overseas sales.
RELATIVE STRANGERS starring Oscar-winning Brenda Fricker with Adrian Dunbar
is the most successful serial transmitted by RTE. Over four weeks this gripping
tale of marital infidelity and the death of a child was watched by 1 in 5 of
the population (UK
Nominated for IFTA Best Drama (Irish BAFTA): Brenda Fricker Nominated Best Leading Performance
THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER for Hallmark, starring Aidan Quinn and Alan Bates was acclaimed as being the best version for many years of this beloved and moving story.
Shot in
Alan Bates gave an equally powerful performance as another king, George V, in
BERTIE AND ELIZABETH. Predating THE KING’S SPEECH, it tells the same story - the abdication crisis. Eileen Atkins, James Wilby and Charles Edwards play the heart-rending tale with dignity, pathos and wit. Hugely popular, it is repeated to coincide with almost every Royal occasion.
Giles was lead director for the second successful series of FOYLE’S WAR the WW2 police series starring Michael Kitchen and Honeysuckle Weeks. This series gained a BAFTA Nomination for Best Drama Series.
Over the past six years Giles has directed a continuing run of single, two-part and four-part dramas based on the best-selling romantic novels of Rosamunde Pilcher.
Financed
by ZDF and TMG these top-end films are not only hugely popular in
Shot in English with international casts, the strong and moving stories are matched with high production values.
Titles include STARTING OVER (Rutger Hauer); THE FOUR SEASONS (Michael York, Tom Conti, Senta Berger, Juliet Mills); SHADES OF LOVE (Charles Dance, Eileen Atkins, Anthony Higgins); THE OTHER WIFE (Rupert Everett, John Hannah, Natalia Worner); and UNKNOWN HEART ( Jane Seymour, James Fox, Julian Sands, Greg Wise, Carolina Vera, Sophie Cookson)
COMMERCIALS
Giles Foster's career as a commercials director included leading agencies and major accounts: J.Walter Thompson/ Kelloggs; Leo Burnett/ McDonalds;
Grey /Fairy(Joanna Lumley campaign);BBH/ NatWest/ Swinton;Bates Dorland/ Stones Bitter;Lowe Howard Spink/Mail On Sunday; R S Alliance/ Muller;
WCRS/ Guardian Royal Exchange/Paxo.
Mail On Sunday
Kelloggs
NiQuitin
McDonalds
Stones Bitter