Mark Shivas(1938-2008)

Influential British television executive and producer who began as a film critic and assistant editor for Movie magazine (1962-64). The son of an English teacher (father) and a librarian (mother), Mark Shivas abandoned a legal career to join Granada Television in 1963 as assistant to the head of the story department. He went on to become both director and producer at Granada before moving on to the BBC where he served, respectively, as head of drama (1988-93) and of films (1993-97). In the latter capacity, he worked as executive producer on some twenty motion pictures. During his distinguished career, Shivas won three BAFTA awards and two Emmys for some of the most highly regarded drama productions of the period: The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970), The Edwardians (1972), Rogue Male (1976), The Glittering Prizes (1976) , Telford's Change (1979) and Cambridge Spies (2003). Among his few critical failures was the poorly conceived and written miniseries The Borgias (1981). Shivas's wide range of film credits include the exceedingly 'British' A Private Function (1984) and The Witches (1990). In 1997, Shivas established his own production company, Perpetual Motion Pictures. He served for the British Film Academy as Chairman of the Short Film Jury from 2002 to 2007.