Category: THE DIRECTOR’S CHAIR
When Roald met Beatrix
A real-life encounter between beloved authors Roald Dahl and Beatrix Potter serves as the inspiration behind Sky’s Roald & Beatrix: The Tail of the Curious Mouse. Director David Kerr tells DQ about the magic behind this festive family film and discusses working with animals.
Hatching Chicks
Writer and director Eduard Oganesyan speaks to DQ about Chicks, a Russian drama in which four fearless women fight for independence in a provincial town that is dominated by men.
Axe to grind
12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen comes to the small screen for the first time with Small Axe, a series of feature-length TV films focusing on London’s West Indian community. He reveals how the long-gestating project took shape and explains how these historical stories look to the future.
Team talk
Director Peter Grönlund tells DQ about filming “dark fairytale” Björnstad (Beartown), a Swedish drama about a small-town hockey team and a brutal crime that tears the community apart.
Kiss chase
Mary Poppins Returns star Emily Mortimer opens up about writing and directing The Pursuit of Love for the BBC and Amazon, adapting Nancy Mitford’s novel and why she wanted to fire herself.
Mountain mystery
Based on real events, Russian thriller Pereval Dyatlova (Dead Mountain: The Dyatlov Pass Incident) posits what happened when nine students set out on a ski trek in 1959 and were never seen again.
Case study
Tobias Lindholm, writer and director of Danish real-life drama Efterforskningen (The Investigation), reveals why he wanted to tell the story of the people working to solve the 2017 murder of Swedish journalist Kim Wall.
Unhappy holidays
Us director Geoffrey Sax tells DQ how the BBC drama was filmed across Europe to tell the story of a family on the verge of splitting up as they embark on one final holiday together.
Sherlock abroad
Nurbek Egen, director of Sherlock: The Russian Chronicles, introduces DQ to this Russian take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic detective, pitting him against Jack the Ripper and recreating 1880s St Petersburg.
Building up Hope
Director Elena Hazanova tells DQ about making Russian drama Hope, an action espionage series about a wife and mother living a double life as a brutal and efficient contract killer.
Deception point
Chloë Thomas, the director of psychological thriller The Deceived, tells DQ about filming the four-part drama, channelling Alfred Hitchcock and burning down the set.
A breath of fresh Nair
In her television debut, award-winning Indian filmmaker Mira Nair has partnered with screenwriter Andrew Davies to bring Vikram Seth’s novel A Suitable Boy to the small screen. She tells DQ how she has embraced longform storytelling.
Brazil’s bright future
Carlos Manga Jr, the director behind Globo miniseries Unsoul and Aruanas, speaks to DQ about the changing direction of Brazilian series and the universal appeal of supernatural dramas.
Dramatising Windrush
Sitting in Limbo director Stella Corradi explains how she brought to television the true story of one man’s fight to remain in the UK against the backdrop of the Windrush immigration scandal.
Strange lands
Taku Kato, the director of Japanese film A Stranger in Shanghai, discusses making the single drama for broadcaster NHK, filming in China, and appealing to international audiences.
Directing the flow
After a decade away from the small screen, veteran Greek director Manousos Manousakis talks to DQ about returning to TV with To Kokkino Potami (Red River) and why historical dramas should talk as much to the present as the past.
Personal touch
Brazilian drama Onde Está Meu Coração (Where My Heart Is) charts the struggle of a doctor battling a devastating drug addiction. Director Luisa Lima tells DQ about her intimate approach behind the camera.
In the saddle
Director Leonora Lonsdale takes DQ behind the scenes of The Pale Horse, the fifth Agatha Christie adaptation from the BBC and writer Sarah Phelps.
Bringing up Baby
Italian director Andrea De Sica has achieved global success with Netflix teen drama series Baby. He talks to DQ about the joys of working with a young creative team, what it’s like directing for Netflix and why he thinks the controversial series has proved successful.
Paint job
Japanese director Kazutaka Watanabe introduces NHK’s film An Artist of the Floating World, based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro and starring Ken Watanabe as an ageing painter revisiting his past.