Rachel Talalay


Rachel Talalay is an American producer, writer, and director. She is best known for directing films such as Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, Ghost in the Machine, and Tank Girl. Her television credits include episodes of Ally McBeal, Supernatural, Doctor Who, Sherlock, Riverdale, Doom Patrol, Superman & Lois, and Quantum Leap.
Talalay is also a professor at the University of British Columbia.

Early life and education

Talalay was born in Chicago. Her father Paul Talalay was a pharmacologist, born in Berlin to a Belarusian Jewish family, and her mother Pamela is an English biochemist. She has two sisters and a brother. She was raised mostly in Baltimore, with two years of her childhood in Britain. Talalay attended Yale University, where she majored in mathematics, graduating in 1980. She also ran the Yale Film Society.

Career

Talalay worked in a number of different capacities in filmmaking before making her directorial debut with the film Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare. Talalay also worked on the first four A Nightmare on Elm Street films. Her work with the earlier Nightmare films utilized her computer skills and finding ways to create better special effects while still keeping costs low. Despite her familiarity with the Freddy movies, when she directed Freddy's Dead, she was given internal memos telling her not to be "too girly" or "too sensitive."
Talalay also directed Tank Girl in 1995, and was looking into re-optioning the rights to make a new film in 2008. As a film producer, Talalay worked with director John Waters on the films Hairspray and Cry-Baby. She was also a production assistant on Waters' 1981 film Polyester.
Talalay states that ever since Doctor Who was revived in 2005, she wanted to work on the show. Talalay directed all three of Peter Capaldi's series finales: series 8's "Dark Water" and "Death in Heaven", series 9's "Heaven Sent" and "Hell Bent"—the former considered by many to be one of the best episodes in the show's history—and series 10's "World Enough and Time" and "The Doctor Falls", as well as the Doctor Who 2017 Christmas special, "Twice Upon a Time". She returned to Doctor Who in 2023 for "The Star Beast" with David Tennant & Catherine Tate returning as the Fourteenth Doctor and Donna Noble as part of the show's 60th anniversary. In 2019, she directed a film adaption of Joe Ballarini's A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting for Netflix.

Personal life

Talalay met British film producer Rupert Harvey while working on Android in 1982. They began a relationship soon after, and were married in 1990, with John Waters officiating the wedding. Talalay and Harvey have a daughter named Lucy.

Filmography

Films

Director
  • Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
  • Ghost in the Machine
  • Tank Girl
  • A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting
Producer
TV movies
TV series
YearTitleEpisodes
1997Band of Gold
  • "Tainted Love "
  • "Tainted Love "
1998To Have & to Hold
  • "Turkey Day Blues"
  • "Who's Sorry Next?"
    • 1998 Touching Evil
  • "War Relief: Part 1"
  • "War Relief: Part 2"
    • 1999–2002Ally McBeal
  • "Saving Santa"
  • "Prime Suspect"
  • "Two's a Crowd"
  • "Blowin' in the Wind"
    • 2000Boston Public
  • "Chapter Five"
    • 2000Randall & Hopkirk
  • "Mental Apparition Disorder"
  • "A Blast From the Past"
    • 2001That's Life
  • "Miracle at the Cucina"
    • 2001State of Grace
  • "Eve of Discussion"
    • 2001Wolf Lake
  • "Tastes Like Chicken"
    • 2001Dice
  • "Episode #1.1"
  • "Episode #1.2"
  • "Episode #1.3"
  • "Episode #1.4"
  • "Episode #1.5"
  • "Episode #1.6"
    • 2002Without a Trace
  • "He Saw, She Saw"
    • 2002Crossing Jordan
  • "Four Fathers"
    • 2002–2007The Dead Zone
  • "Shaman"
  • "Symmetry"
  • "Ego"
    • 2002–2003The Division
  • "A Priori"
  • "Castaways"
    • 2003Cold Case
  • "Sherry Darlin"
    • 2004Touching Evil
  • "Y Me"
    • 2004Life as We Know It
  • "Natural Disasters"
    • 2004Unfabulous
  • "The Perfect Couple"
    • 2005Sex, Love & Secrets
  • "Protection"
    • 2005Terminal City
  • "Episode #1.1"
  • "Episode #1.2"
  • "Episode #1.7"
  • "Episode #1.8"
    • 2006Whistler
  • "In The Air"
  • "After The Fall"
  • "Scratching The Surface"
  • "Meltdown"
    • 2007Supernatural
  • "Hunted"
    • 2007Greek
  • "Separation Anxiety"
    • 2007Kyle XY
  • "Hands on a Hybrid"
  • "Leap of Faith"
    • 2008Flash Gordon
  • "Blame"
    • 2009Da Kink in My Hair
  • "Of Papers and Patois"
  • "Playing Social"
  • "Honesty the Best Policy?"
    • 2009Durham County
  • "Boys Do Things"
  • "Consumed"
    • 2010Cra$h & Burn
  • "Lawyers, Guns & Money"
  • "Bond Blame Baptize"
    • 2010Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures
  • "How to Get Ahead in Medical School"
  • "Family Practice"
  • "Unhappy Endings"
    • 2010Haven
  • "Harmony"
  • "Surviving the Fall"
    • 2011Endgame
  • "Gorillas in Our Midst"
    • 2011Hiccups
  • "Sexual Healing"
    • 2012Continuum
  • "Time's Up"
    • 2012XIII: The Series
  • "Breakout"
  • "Mousetrap"
    • 2013Bomb Girls
  • "Party Line"
  • "Fifth Column"
    • 2013Played
  • "Cars"
  • "Revenge"
    • 2014Reign
  • "Sacrifice"
    • 2014–2015, 2017,2022–2023Doctor Who
    • "Deep Breath"
    • "Into the Dalek"
    • "Dark Water"
    • "Death in Heaven"
    • "Heaven Sent"
    • "Hell Bent"
    • "World Enough and Time"
    • "The Doctor Falls"
    • "Twice Upon a Time"
    • "The Power of the Doctor"
    • "The Star Beast"
    2015South of Hell
  • "Judge and Fury"
  • "White Noise"
    • 2016–2023The Flash
  • "Fast Lane"
  • "The Present"
  • "Fury Rogue"
  • "Cause and XS"
  • "Masquerade"
  • "The Mask of the Red Death, Part 2"
    • 2016–2021Legends of Tomorrow
  • "Last Refuge"
  • "Meat the Legends"
    • 2016–2019Supergirl
  • "Welcome to Earth"
  • "Suspicious Minds"
    • 2017Sherlock
  • "The Six Thatchers"
    • 2018–2021Riverdale
  • "Chapter Twenty-Five: The Wicked and the Divine"
  • "Chapter Forty-One: Manhunter"
  • "Chapter Fifty-Seven: Survive the Night"
  • "Chapter Eighty-Four: Lock & Key"
    • 2018Iron Fist
  • "The City's Not for Burning"
    • 2018Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
  • "Chapter Six: An Exorcism in Greendale"
    • 2019Doom Patrol
  • "Puppet Patrol"
    • 2019American Gods
  • "Donar the Great"
    • 2021Superman & Lois
  • "The Best of Smallville"
    • 2022Quantum Leap
  • "A Decent Proposal"

    • Partial Accolades

    [Leo Awards]

    • Best Direction Dramatic Series - Winner - Terminal City - For Episode 8