Richard Wortley is a BBC radio drama producer with approximately 3,000 plays to his credit[1]. He was a staff producer at the BBC from the 1960's until his official "retirement" in 1994.
Biography[]
He graduated from Oxford University with a degree in modern history.
Work in Radio[]
In the 1960's, after a year of teaching, Wortley came to work for the BBC in the Educational Radio department, where he stayed for ten years[2]. In those years, broadcasts were still often "live".
By 1970, Wortley had moved on to the Drama Department. With larger budgets, Wortley and fellow producer Jane Morgan were able to pioneer the use of location recording, now an important part of many radio productions[3].
At the BBC, Wortley built long-lasting relationships with many writers, becoming closely associated with their radio work. Such writers include Don Haworth, Susan Hill, and especially Howard Barker, ("the most absorbing playwright of my career")[4]. Wortley produced many of Barker's radio plays, including 1984's Scenes from an Execution, which won a Prix Italia award, and the controversial, profanity-laced Victory - Choices in Reaction.
Several plays produced by Wortley have won Giles Cooper Awards:
- Episode on a Thursday Evening by Don Haworth
- Halt! Who Goes There? by Tom Mallin
- Daughters of Men by Jennifer Phillips
- Swimmer by Christopher Russell
- Talk of Love and War by Don Haworth
- Stalin Sonata by David Zaine Mairowitz
- Menocchio by James Saunders
After retiring from the BBC in 1994, Wortley returned to the world of radio drama as a producer for Pier Productions.
Productions[]
Plays produced/directed by Richard Wortley
Plays written by Richard Wortley