- Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media
About me
John Wyver is a writer and media producer. He is a historian of television with a particular interest in broadcasting, film and the arts, and he is currently Principal Investigator for the AHRC-funded research project Screen Plays (2011-15).
His work as a producer and director has been honoured with a BAFTA, an International Emmy and a Peabody Award. In 1982 he co-founded the production company Illuminations, which was one of the earliest British independents, and he continues to run the company. He has made numerous documentaries about the arts and about digital culture. He was Series Editor for the influential BBC2 series The Net (1993-97) which pioneered tie-ups between broadcasting and online systems. He was also Series Editor for Tx. (1993-98), an award-winning series of innovative arts documentaries.
John Wyver has produced a series of notable performance films for television, including Richard II (1997) with Fiona Shaw; Gloriana - A Film (1999), directed by Phyllida Lloyd; Macbeth (2000), with Antony Sher and Harriet Walter; Hamlet (2008), made with the Royal Shakespeare Company and with David Tennant as the prince; Macbeth (2009) with Patrick Stewart, directed by Rupert Goold; and the RSC's Julius Caesar (2012), directed by Gregory Doran. In 2013 he produced the RSC's first live-to-cinema broadcast, which brought Gregory Doran's production of Richard II with David Tennant to more than 370 UK cinemas and which was also seen in the United States, Canada, South Africa, Russia, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. He is currently Media Associate with the RSC developing their future policy for broadcasting and digital distribution.
Research
Current research interests:
- Theatre plays on British television
- History of documentaries about the arts
- Early television programming in Britain, 1930-1953