High Drama

Rex Firkin was one of the pioneers of independent television. He produced and directed some of ATV’s most successful drama series including Emergency Ward 10, The Plane Makers and The Power Game. Joining London Weekend Television, he ran a drama department responsible for some of the most spectacular hits of the 1970s, from Manhunt and Budgie to Upstairs, Downstairs and Bouquet of Barbed Wire. In this frank and fascinating memoir, Rex takes the reader behind the scenes on all these famous programmes, recapturing the heady highs and occasional disasters and tragedies of the heyday of British television. The manuscript was compiled and edited by Richard Marson, himself a writer and television producer, whose most recent production was the BBC documentary, Tales of Television Centre.