Andre Singer on the value of Disappearing World to Granada’s reputation

It was hugely respected because it was nominated for BAFTAs every year, 75 to 78.

It got one. One series BAFTA, series award, one year. I can’t remember which year that was.

And so, do you think it was a film that… I mean, there was a stage when Granada was being touted as the best television company in the world. And do you think that Disappearing World added to that impression of Granada as a kind of global international company of great repute?

Yes. I was told, and I don’t know how true this was, who’s the guy Granada International at that time? Anyway, whoever it was is quite well-known figure and his wife was in Granada as well. For many, many years, was in charge of the international side of Granada. And I was told that Disappearing World was, if not the best marketing project Granada ever had, because even more so than Coronation Street, because they sold them every single year, year in, year out. They never dated. And even today they’re seen around the world. And that’s quite phenomenal when you mount up to 40, 50 films, and you can sell them as a block. It was a gold mine. So it’s not a matter of the quality necessarily, but the fact that this was such an economic project for the company for the group.

And I think it took them a long time to realise that, and it was by that time, it was slightly too late. In the early days, Brian and I, we had meetings, for example, with Anglia Television, and also with David Attenborough at that time. And it was kind of almost like carving up the world. “We’ll do the anthropology, you do the wildlife,” and everybody almost stuck to that. There’s kind of an unspoken agreement that went on

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