Vanessa Kirkpatrick joined Granada Television in 1982 as a Researcher. For much of her time at Granada she worked on Granada Reports but also had stints on This Is Your Right, Jobwatch, Flying Start, Hold Tight, Connections, What the Papers Say, Hospital Watch, Union World and University Challenge. Vanessa also worked as a presenter and…
Read MoreNorma Percy – biography (interview carried out by Geoff Moore)
Norma Percy was born and brought up in America. After university in Ohio she studied at the London School of Economics and then became a House of Commons researcher for the Labour MP John Mackintosh. In 1972 she joined Granada to work with Brian Lapping on the State of the Nation series. This began a…
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Jules Burns – biography (interview carried out by Geoff Moore)
Jules Burns joined Granada Television after a short spell as a rock musician with the band Witches Brew. He worked initially as an organizer on local programmes before Joyce Wooller invited him to join programme services. In 1994 he was appointed joint managing director with Andrea Wonfor He left in 2002 to help set up…
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Steve Anderson – biography (interview carried out by Geoff Moore)
Steve Anderson joined Granada Television as a journalist from the Liverpool Echo in 1978 and went to work in the newly set-up Liverpool newsroom at Exchange Flags. He eventually came over to Manchester and worked as a researcher on World In Action until leaving the company in 1984 to join the BBC.
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Thelma McGough – biography
Liverpool born Thelma McGough had been in and around Granada Television for many years partly through her husband the Liverpool poet Roger McGough and later through her relationship with Tony Wilson. She had made a few programmes for Granada as a freelancer and had applied for a number of jobs as a researcher. On her…
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Chris Kerr biography
Chris began his television career as a trainee vision mixer at Thames TV followed by stint as a researcher on the children’s programme Magpie but had then taken a break to work in the arts. By 1980 he was running the Bluecoat Arts Centre in Liverpool when he was headhunted to become assistant manager of…
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Trevor Hyett – biography
Wigan born Trevor Hyett cut his journalistic teeth as editor of the Young Communist Party newspaper, Challenge, and later on the Morning Star before joining the TV Times. It was here that he came into contact with Gus Macdonald when he was doing a feature about World In Action. Gus signed him up initially as…
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Derek Granger biography
Derek Granger joined Granada in 1958 from the Financial Times where he had been the paper’s first drama and film critic. He was soon made head of the play department and in 1961 was appointed as the second producer of Coronation Street. His appointment partly coincided with the Equity actors’ strike, which meant that his…
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Phil Griffin biography
Phil Griffin joined Granada TV as a researcher in 1978, moving from Piccadilly Radio. He worked there for 11 years on a variety of programmes including arts, schools and drama. He is now a freelance writer, broadcaster and curator with a special interest in architecture and urban issues.
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Jacki Turner biography
Jacki Turner joined Granada in 1966, initially as secretary to Barrie Heads, who was Head of Outside Broadcasting and Current Affairs programmes. Within 18months she began her training as a Production Assitant and went on to work on a wide range of programmes, including dramas and documentaries. She particularly enjoyed working on period dramas such…
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Colin Weston biography
Colin Weston joined Granada as an out of vision trainee announcer in 1968.He left 18 months later to work at Anglia TV where he became an in vision announcer but then returned as a freelance in the early 1980s. In addition to his role as an announcer he also read regional news bulletins and voiced…
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Jon Savage biography
Jon Savage joined Granada in 1979 as a researcher, initially working on local programmes including This is Your Right. Other credits included Fun Factory and Granada Reports and also worked on pilot for a planned series on music and teenagers. The series was never made by Granada but Jon went on to write the script…
Read MoreBrian Park biography
Brian Park joined Granada TV as a promotion scriptwriter in April 1980, becoming a researcher in 1982. He worked on a variety of programmes including entertainment and the Emmy award-winning documentary Sword of Islam. He then worked at Tyne Tees for two years re-joining Granada as a producer in 1990. After producing the drama series…
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Stewart Darby biography
Stewart Darby began an apprenticeship as a messenger boy in the Manchester office of the News Chronicle when he was fifteen years old. He then had spells with the Daily Mail and the Stockport Express before joining Granada in March 1965 as a photographic technician. A year later he became a photographer with Granada’s press…
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Esther Dean biography
Esther Dean joined Granada Television in 1967 and worked there for the next 22 years as a costume designer. Her credits included Hard Times, Shabby Tiger, Country Matters, Staying On and The Jewel in the Crown. She won a BAFTA for Costume Design for her work on Hard Times in 1978 and was nominated for an…
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Claudia Milne biography
After university Claudia Milne initially worked in Selfridges but in 1968 whilst making the fire for her mother she noticed an advert for Researchers at Granada Television. Quickly rescuing the page from the flames she then applied and was subjected to two days of interviewing. She began her Granada career on Nice Time with Kenny…
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George Jesse Turner biography
George Jesse Turner grew up in Southport and after working for a computer company he joined Mancunian Films in 1963. He subsequently joined Granada Television and became a camera assistant in the World In Action unit in 1966. So began a long association with the programme with George shooting the principal footage for some 600…
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Don Jones biography (interview carried out by Geoff Moore)
Don Jones joined Granada from the Lancashire Evening Post at the age of 24 in 1980. He worked initially as a sports researcher mainly covering football but also darts, snooker, bowls and cricket. He went onto work on the dramatisation of Arthur Ransome’s angling essays Rod and Line, other local programmes and network documentaries for the…
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Tony Drinkle – biography
Tony Drinkle joined Granada as a 15 year old boy in April 1956, working in the post room. At that stage Granada was based in Granada House in Water Street. He soon moved into film dispatch where he spent most of the rest of his career. He left Granada in 1989 but returned to work…
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Stephen Kelly biography
Stephen Kelly joined Granada Television as a Researcher in July 1978 after working as a political journalist with Tribune magazine. Over the next ten years most of his time was spent working on political programmes, the first of which was Granada’s weekly local politics show Reports Politics. That was a followed by a stint on…
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Jon Woods biography (interview carried out by Geoff Moore)
Jon Woods joined Granada TV as a cameraman in 1978 after three years at the BBC. He worked on a wide range of programmes including Coronation Street, World In Action and The Jewel in the Crown. He left Film Ops in 1989 following an accident and became a director, initially in sport and later on…
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Sandy Ross biography
Sandy Ross joined Granada Television in 1976 after working as a solicitor in Edinburgh. He worked initially as a Researcher on regional programmes and in particular Granada Reports before working with Tony Wilson on What’s On. He later became a Producer producing local and networked programmes such as the Mersey Pirate which presented more than…
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Ian Hunton biography
Ian Hunton came to Granada shortly after completing a degree in Electrical Engineering and Electronics at Newcastle University and a stint at AEI. He had spotted a Granada advert in 1969 asking for audio engineers. At the interview however they persuaded him to become a video engineer. For many years he worked in studio doing…
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June Buchan biography
June Buchan joined Granada’s London office as a programme secretary in 1973, working on State of the Nation. She remained there for six months before leaving only to return shortly as the London programme secretary on World In Action. In 1973 she applied for a job as a Production Assistant in Manchester where she was…
Read MoreSteve Leahy biography (interview carried out by Geoff Moore)
Steve Leahy originally joined Granada as an assistant transmission controller but two years later successfully applied to be a researcher, initially in local programmes. Following a period in children’s programmes he became Granada’s Head of Entertainment in 1987 where he developed his passion for quiz shows, with ITV network productions including The Krypton Factor, Busman’s…
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David Highet biography
David Highet was born on Merseyside and joined the Liverpool Echo as a runner at the age of 16. He moved to the Birkenhead News as a trainee reporter six months later and subsequently worked for the Wolverhampton Express and Star and West Cheshire Newspapers before returning to the Echo as its assistant editor. In…
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Barry Bowmer biography
Barry Bowmer joined the mailroom at Granada’s Golden Square office in August 1959. One of his principal jobs at that time was to take the early morning mail around to Lord Bernstein’s Mayfair flat where he was often greeted on the doorstep by Lady Bernstein in her negligee. He later moved to the mailroom at…
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Michael Ryan biography
Michael Ryan began his television career in 1963 as a BBC2 trainee, working on Panorama as a studio director. However a chance meeting in 1966 with Michael Parkinson in his father’s London pub, led to him joining Granada as a Researcher. In 1967 he worked on Cinema which, at the time, boasted an audience of…
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Frank Clarke biography
Frank Clarke was one of the first employees of Granada Television, joining even before it had begun transmission. He was hired by Sidney Bernstein as an Accounts Clerk and remained as an accountant with the company until he retired. During the early years he held a daily meeting at 4.00pm at the old Granada House…
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