Clive Syddall
Clive Syddall is a British filmmaker and television journalist noted for several campaigning documentaries. He was a trustee of Marie Curie Cancer Care and communications advisor to the British Red Cross.
Life and career
Syddall was born in Forfar, Scotland. He was educated at St Egbert's College London, followed by the University of Leicester and Wadham College, Oxford.Syddall was the BBC’s resident producer in Washington covering the Watergate Hearings securing the first interview with Nixon White House aide, John D. Erlichman, later gaoled for his role in the scandal. Clive also persuaded President Nixon's daughter Julie and her husband David Eisenhower, grandson of the former President, to appear live on the BBC to take questions from the ordinary British public. Reported at the time as ‘unprecedented’ and ‘an astonishing coup by the BBC’.
In 1978 he was appointed deputy editor of the BBC's The Money Programme and later story editor on Newsnight.
In 1982 he moved to New York as an independent producer, directing and producing documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4 and PBS. Films included Gang City – the story of the ongoing gang warfare in the Olympic City of Los Angeles BBC2, A Bitter Harvest - The Killing Fields of Mindanao, an investigation into major human rights violations taking place on a plantation funded by the British taxpayer in the Philippines and Eater of Men - the first rafting expedition attempting the descent of the treacherous Waghi River in New-Guinea 'the-most-dangerous white-water river run ever filmed' reported The Royal Geographic Society at the time; produced for British Academy series River Journeys. He was also involved in the development of several feature films including the Oscar winning movie The Mission.
In 1988 he was invited to become managing director of Antelope Films. Productions included Global Rivals - The History of US Soviet Rivalry, for PBS, Pasternak - for an extended South Bank Show - a dramatised documentary on Boris Pasternak, the creator of Dr Zhivago, the first co-production between the British film Industry and Soviet State Film Company Video-Film. Other productions included The Margot Fonteyn Story and the Cinema Short 1867 The Execution of Maximilian winner of the New York Film Festival Gold Medal Award for best Cinematography.
In 1992 he set up Paladin Pictures Ltd, specialising in current affairs, history and music and arts programming. Productions included Dance Ballerina Dance a BBC Christmas special and Travels With My Tutu which attracted record audiences, both presented by the Royal Ballet's principal ballerina Deborah Bull, The People's Duchess - the dramatised documentary of Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire the ill-fated ancestor of Diana Princess of Wales, reviewed at the time as 'The Benchmark for all Future History Documentaries. Several campaign documentaries included The Last Flight of Zulu Delta 576 - an investigation into the Chinook helicopter crash over the Mull of Kintyre killing 29 of Britain's top secret service personnel. The film led to a Parliamentary Inquiry and a decision in 2008 by the Secretary of State for Defence to review the case finally clearing the names of the two helicopter pilots.
In 2000 he formed a joint venture with Bill Cran as Paladin Invision. Productions for international distribution included Sinatra Dark Star - a 90-minute investigation into Sinatra's connection to the Mafia, Harem – TV mini-series telling the story of three of the most powerful women in the Ottoman Empire for Channel 4 and Jihad - The Men and Ideas Behind Al-Qaeda a 2-hour documentary that launched the PBS series America at a Crossroads.
He was council member of the Royal Television Society, Trustee of Marie Curie Cancer Care 1991-1994 and communications advisor to the British Red Cross.
Documentary Filmography
| Year | Title | Format | Description | Distribution | Awards |
| 2002 | P G Woodhouse The Long Exile | 1 x 75 mins | TV documentary. The story of lyricist and writer P.G. Wodehouse, from his days on Broadway through to his wartime years in an internment camp in Germany which led to accusations of treachery. | Channel 4 | |
| 2001 | The Real Tommy Cooper | 1 x 60 mins | Workaholic comic Tommy Cooper is remembered by friends and colleagues. | Channel 4 | |
| 1997 | A Death in Venice | An investigation in to who or what caused the fire at Venice's Fenice Opera House. | BBC 2 | ||
| Dance Ballerina Dance | 100 years of the choreography of women, presented by the Royal Ballet's Principal Ballerina Deborah Bull for BBC2's Dance Night | BBC 2 | |||
| 1994 | The Shearing Touch – with Melvyn Bragg | 1 x 60 mins | Profile of the congenitally blind pianist George Shearing, including interviews with various musicians and recordings of performances including Johnny Dankworth, Cleo Lane and Mel Tormé. | LWT / RM Arts | New York International Film & TV Festival Award. |
| 1992 | The Vanishing Rembrandts | 1 x 50 mins | Film following the Dutch Investigation into the authenticity of several Rembrandt paintings | BBC & A&E | |
| 1991 | 1867 – The Execution of Maximilian | 11’ cinema short re-enacting Edouard Manet painting a series of pictures of the execution of the Emperor Maximilian, filmed in a single take | Metropolitan Museum Art on Film Project / Channel 4 | New York International Film & TV Festival 'Gold Medal' Award for Best Cinematography | |
| 1990 | Pasternak | 1 x 90 mins | Marking the centenary of Pasternak's birth and the first co-production between the British film industry and the Soviet state film company Video-film | LWT South Bank Show / Granada International / Video-Film | |
| 1989 | The Margot Fonteyn Story | 1 x 90 mins | Feature-length documentary presented by Margot Fonteyn. | Channel 4 / RM Arts |
| Year | Title | Format | Description | Distribution | Awards |
| 1984 | Gang City | 1 x 50 mins | Documentary on the ongoing gang warfare in the Olympic City of Los Angeles launching the BBC1 series Real Lives | BBC | |
| 1984 | 1 x 50 mins | documentary on the first navigation of the Waghi river, Papua New Guinea's most treacherous white water river with explorer Christina Dodwell. For the BBC series River Journeys | BBC / PBS / ABC Australia | BAFTA Award for ‘Best Factual Series’ | |
| 1973 | Jimmy Hoffa Comes Back | One of the last interviews with the notorious leader of America's largest trade union before he went mysteriously missing, presumed murdered. | BBC | ||
| 1973 | Bad Blood - The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment | Documentary tracking down the survivors of a clinical study in the American South to examine the long term effects of Syphilis who were falsely told by the US Public Health Service that they were being treated for the disease | BBC | ||
| Regine - Queen of Clubs | 1 x 40 mins | Documentary on the legendary singer and international night club entrepreneur | BBC | ||
| 1975 | John Bloom Goes West | Documentary tracking down the controversial washing machine millionaire starting a new life in Lost Angeles | BBC Midweek / BBC 1 Special | ||
| 1972 | Ulster Veterans – Forgotten Men | The lives of some of the 1,000 men badly wounded fighting in Northern Ireland. | BBC |