| David Wheatley | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 20, 1949 Sunderland |
| Died | April 5, 2009 |
| Occupation | Film and television director |
David Wheatley (20 December 1949 – 5 April 2009) was a British film and television director.[1]
His Royal College of Art graduation film was on the Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte, after his tutor Gavin Millar showed him a book on the artist. The film was screened as part of the BBC's arts' programmes Omnibus in 1979. From that year, he contributed films to the Omnibus and Arena series,[2] before branching out into other areas in the mid 1980s.
He directed The Magic Toyshop (1987), a fantasy film based on the Angela Carter novel, which Carter adapted herself, and several social dramas set in the north of England. In the early 1990s he directed a series of Catherine Cookson adaptations for Tyne Tees which gained audiences of 14 million.[3]
He also directed episodes of Fat Friends and Dalziel and Pascoe.[4]
He died after a long illness on 5 April 2009, aged 59.