Difference between revisions of "Obituary of Verity Lambert"
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Despite being launched at a moment of global anguish, Doctor Who rapidly became a hit, not least because of the popularity of the Daleks. Such was the cachet accruing to Lambert that in 1964 one newspaper ran a feature in praise of this "remarkably attractive young woman... Tall, dark and shapely, she became positively forbidding when I suggested that the Daleks might one day take over Doctor Who." | Despite being launched at a moment of global anguish, Doctor Who rapidly became a hit, not least because of the popularity of the Daleks. Such was the cachet accruing to Lambert that in 1964 one newspaper ran a feature in praise of this "remarkably attractive young woman... Tall, dark and shapely, she became positively forbidding when I suggested that the Daleks might one day take over Doctor Who." | ||
| − | A lifelong populist, Lambert's single flop was her expensive "Eurosoap" Eldorado (1992-93). Although lavishly equipped with on-location production facilities and despite striving for a genuinely contemporary flavour, the series failed to appeal, and it was pulled after a year. One critic scorned it as "a | + | A lifelong populist, Lambert's single flop was her expensive "Eurosoap" Eldorado (1992-93). Although lavishly equipped with on-location production facilities and despite striving for a genuinely contemporary flavour, the series failed to appeal, and it was pulled after a year. One critic scorned it as "a £10 million farce that left the BBC with egg all over its entire body and put an awful lot of Equity members back on the dole... it will always be remembered as the most expensive flop of all time." |
Verity Ann Lambert was born on November 27 1935, the only child of a Jewish accountant, and educated at Roedean, where she frightened herself watching Great Expectations on the school projector. After a year at the Sorbonne, her first job was typing menus at a hotel in Kensington which took her on because she had been to France and could speak French. | Verity Ann Lambert was born on November 27 1935, the only child of a Jewish accountant, and educated at Roedean, where she frightened herself watching Great Expectations on the school projector. After a year at the Sorbonne, her first job was typing menus at a hotel in Kensington which took her on because she had been to France and could speak French. | ||
| − | In 1956 she landed her first job in television, as a | + | In 1956 she landed her first job in television, as a £7-a-week secretary in Granada's press office. Sacked after six months, she moved to ABC Television where she became production assistant to the drama director Ted Kotcheff and worked on the production of the Armchair Theatre series, overseen by the company's new head of drama, Sydney Newman. |
As production assistant in a "live" gallery, Lambert had to take over as studio director in November 1958 when one of the actors died on the set of the play Underground, just before a scene in which he was supposed to appear. Meanwhile Kotcheff used a commercial break to reorganise the cast and cover the loss. | As production assistant in a "live" gallery, Lambert had to take over as studio director in November 1958 when one of the actors died on the set of the play Underground, just before a scene in which he was supposed to appear. Meanwhile Kotcheff used a commercial break to reorganise the cast and cover the loss. | ||
