Top of the TV tree
- Publication: Daily Express
- Date: 1980-07-21
- Author: Janice Morley
- Page: 15
- Language: English
AS THE BATTLE OF THE SEXES CONTINUES TO RAGE ABOUT EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES, ONE WOMAN IN MEDIA TELLS HOW SHE GOT TO THE HEAD OF HER PROFESSION (And how she stays there)
Express woman
VERITY LAMBERT TALKING TO JANICE MORLEY
VERITY LAMBERT works from a high-backed, swing chair, in an office with black suede walls, perched above the Euston Road, in London.
There's a bright pink casting couch, and an enormous smoked grey glass desk covered in scripts and phones.
Under her direct control a budget of millions, the destinies of hundreds of actors, producers and writers, the minds of millions of viewers.
At the top of the television tree. Verity, rated by some as the most high-powered woman in her profession, is Chief Executive of Euston Films, the Thames TV subsidiary which gives us such features as The Sweeney," Out and "Fox." When the new "Minder" series begins in the autumn, this too, will come under Verity's aegis.
The job she does matches her capability. For 18 months she was Chief Executive of Euston Films AND head of Thames Drama. She says modestly that she thought she was spreading herself a bit thin. She chose to concentrate on Euston.
SHE is the only daughter of a North London accountant. She went to Roedean where I always felt out of place," to Paris "which I loved"returned to tackle secretarial college "it took me nine months to do a three month course, and entered television at 20.
Her first job as a secretary with Granada was a resounding failure. She got the sack and thus started her rise to fame and fortune. Good secretaries. she says, always stay good secretaries,
Twenty-five years later she is a tall, slim, youthful confident woman of 44, married seven years to cameraman turned director. Colin Bucksey -10 years her junior and living in an art deco furnished house in Hammersmith.
I've never thought about moving out of London. Moving from north to south London was bad enough. I felt I was falling off the edge of the world.
A bit of grime, a lot of noise, no routine and lots of neurotic media people, these things keep Verity happy.
She gets up every morning reluctantly. It drives Colin mad: I can Just lie there for hours, not moving"), selects from an expensive wardrobe with a liking for silk and fine wool, drives to work in her Triumph Stag. arrives by 8.30 a.m. and leaves when she's satisfied.
"I don't look for things to worry about. I'm perfectly capable of going home at the end of the day with a clear mind. If I have a problem I stay and sort it out. There is no routine."
THERE is no cut off point. Her personal and public lives are one easily interchangeable unit.
She's a voracious reader, and is quite content to curl up in bed with a couple of scripts.
Her career is a total commitment, and that's the way she wanted it. "I couldn't ever see myself not working. I wouldn't want to.
"My parents thought it would be lovely for me to settle down with a nice Jewish doctor. If I'd wanted, I would have.
"I believe to a large extent you get from life what you expect from it.
If you look at it optimistically, you find the good things. In the same way you can believe it is all bad.
"Even when I've been in the blackest tunnels, and there have been some. I've always known there would be an end to them."
MANY & faint-hearted actor, producer, playwright, has benefited by the support they gain from a basic ability of hers to instil strength and confidence.
There have also been those who've felt the sharp edge of her infamous temper and tongue. She's bright, and admits she has a short fuse for the stupid. But as her secretary says: "She tries to contain it, and take it out on me after the person has left."
The interview is broken by a suitably urgent meeting. When she returns, the slightly uncertain smile that greeted me has gone, She comes to the sofa, lights one of the 40 cigarettes she smokes a day. and pours a glass of wine.
Being suspicious must be second nature to someone who has had to storm male bastions in pre-Lib days.
"It's true there weren't many women producers then, but I was trying for the job because I hated being a secretary. She became a PA or production assistant, knowing little about television liking the environment.
And by 27 she was the youngest by 10 years of any producer at the BBC.
"In those days you moved much faster, because everything and was new the opportunities were there.
"It is so much harder for young people with desires today, because television isn't an expanding industry. I really look forward to the fourth channel to give more people a chance."
Her first big break came when BBC head. Sydney Newman, gave her the production of Dr Who."
"It was tremendous fun. There was no pressure on us because no one ever took it seriously." It was also a starting success.
After seven years at the BBC, she left. She felt quite frightened: "It was like leaving the womb," she says now.
She had to leave because they didn't renew her contract. "They said wasn't any work around suitable for me."
She joined the newly formed London Weekend TV company 10 years ago. Today, all her decisions are personal, and intuitive.
They've produced award winning successes, such as a series of Somerset Maughan short stories, Edward and Mrs Simpson," and one painful failure, Adam Adamant." "I knew I wasn't getting it right, and afterwards went through this terrible crisis of confidence. It was a good idea, and I'd thrown it away."
She's paid for her error with successes. At 37 she convinced the controller of programmes at Thames that she would be their best bet for Head of Drama. In that role she came up with "Rock Follies," and her particular pride and joy, "The Naked Civil Servant."
"I enjoy gambles, risk taking prevents me being bored. But I knew I wasn't taking a risk putting on The Naked Civil Servant. I knew it would not fail."
It didn't: "I believe in television comforting people. and illuminating life for others, so they don't feel so alone and exposed.
"This programme was about a homosexual who was prepared to stand up and be counted. Judging by the audience reaction people were made more aware, and glad of the experience."
SHE is aware of her responsibility to her audience, and goes on her inbuilt self-censoring mechanism: "I like a mixed bag of programmes, and I think I have fairly average tastes.
"I don't think people like to see violence and I don't like it very much.
"I try not to entertain with violence. Hazell fur example was non-violent characters in a violent world. You cannot wipe it out completely when it's in context."
Sex amuses her: "An audience sees one naked tit on the screen and the letters pour in. The sexual act is private to me but nakedness is natural. I can see families getting upset, but only because of the way they've brought their children up."
There is no room for family in this life. "When we married I knew I'd have to have children then or not at all. Colin wasn't keen, and I knew I'd have to take time off and I couldn't bear to be at home the whole time so ..."
The question resolves itself naturally. Greater difficulty would be their career directions.
As a director, Colin has worked in America a lot. "I know I wouldn't be happy if he went to America for a long period and I stayed here. My marriage is more important than that.
"It would be common sense to go. I could do my job there, but he couldn't do his job here.
"It would never mean me not working. This way we lead a very good, life, very good."
Disclaimer: These citations are created on-the-fly using primitive parsing techniques. You should double-check all citations. Send feedback to whovian@cuttingsarchive.org
- APA 6th ed.: Morley, Janice (1980-07-21). Top of the TV tree. Daily Express p. 15.
- MLA 7th ed.: Morley, Janice. "Top of the TV tree." Daily Express [add city] 1980-07-21, 15. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Morley, Janice. "Top of the TV tree." Daily Express, edition, sec., 1980-07-21
- Turabian: Morley, Janice. "Top of the TV tree." Daily Express, 1980-07-21, section, 15 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Top of the TV tree | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Top_of_the_TV_tree | work=Daily Express | pages=15 | date=1980-07-21 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=24 March 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Top of the TV tree | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Top_of_the_TV_tree | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=24 March 2025}}</ref>
