Marcus Mortimer Biograph
Marcus is presently co-producing with Big Bear partner, John Stroud, a new family comedy called BIG TOP for BBC ONE. It stars Amanda Holden, John Thomson, Tony Robinson, Sophie Thompson, Ruth Madoc and Bruce MacKinnon, and is set in a travelling circus. It will be transmitting later in 2009.
He also produced 51 episodes of the hit comedy, My Hero, starring Ardal O’Hanlon and then James Dreyfus.
As well as comedy, Marcus has produced with Big Bear Films the horror/fantasy drama series STRANGE for BBC ONE, which starred Ian Richardson, Richard Coyle and Samantha Janus. And more recently in factual entertainment he co-produced and directed the hour special of “The Hairy Bikers Come Home” for BBC TWO
He directed ITV’s flagship Christmas drama, The Flint Street Nativity, written by Tim Firth and starring Stephen Tompkinson, Neil Morrissey, Jane Horrocks, Frank Skinner, John Thomson, Mark Addy, Dervla Kirwan and Julia Sawalha.
Until 1989, Marcus was a staff Producer/Director with the BBC where his credits included Carrot’s Lib, Victoria Wood – as seen on TV and The Rory Bremner Show. In 1989 he produced and directed the series Alexei Sayle’s Stuff which won an RTS Award, the Writer’s Guild Award and an Emmy for the Best Popular Arts Programme.
On leaving the BBC to work as a freelance , he produced and directed The Mary Whitehouse Experience, the cult satire show, followed by David Renwick and Andrew Marshall’s If You See God Tell Him (starring Richard Briers, Ade Edmonson and Imelda Staunton), which marked the beginning of Marcus’s involvement in 50 minute comedy/drama. He went on to direct Tim Firth’s Preston Front, which was nominated for a BAFTA won an RTS Award and won best comedy/drama at the British Comedy Awards.
Marcus directed the first three episodes of Jonathan Creek, and won the BAFTA for best drama series. Other dramas he has directed include the highly acclaimed BBC 2 satirical thriller, In The Red, written by Malcolm Bradbury and starring Warren Clarke, Stephen Fry, John Bird, Richard Wilson, Richard Griffiths, and Rik Mayall; and Bostock’s Cup, a satirical drama about a 3rd Division Club’s road to Wembley starring Neil Pearson, Nick Hancock and Tim Healy and written by Chris England for LWT.
He has also directed commercials as well as videos for Victoria Wood, Rik Mayall and Ade Edmonson, Bob Monkhouse, Ben Elton and Peter Kay.
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