Writing

Tony Harrison

Born — Died

1937-04-30 — 2025-09-26

Place of birth

Leeds, England, UK

Known for

Writing

Credits

10 titles

Tony Harrison was an English poet and playwright.

Known for

The South Bank Show poster
5.6

The South Bank Show is a television arts magazine show produced by ITV between 1978 and 2010. A new series began on Sky Arts from 27 May 2012. Presented by Melvyn Bragg, the show aims to bring both high art and popular culture to a mass audience.

The South Bank Show

1978

Prometheus poster
5.8

Tony Harrison's poetic essay on the working class - in particular the British miners -, its struggles, its dreams and its icononography - at the very end of the 20th century, as interpreted through the myth of Prometheus.

Prometheus

1999

The Blasphemers' Banquet poster
NR

A film-poem written in response to the controversy surrounding Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses

The Blasphemers' Banquet

1989

V. poster
7.5

Visualisation of Tony Harrison's poem "v.". v. is about the multiple meanings of the letter - victory, versus, verses, etc. Starting from an incident in a Leeds' graveyard where the poet's parents' headstone has been defaced with graffiti,v. rises to a view of the divisions, antagonisms and aspirations within British society, and the poets own self.

V.

1987

Black Daisies For The Bride poster
10.0

A play written by Tony Harrison as a tribute to sufferers of Alzheimer's disease. Filmed in High Royds Hospital, Menston, Yorkshire, the play combines drama, documentary, song, verse and music to unravel the lives of the residents.

Black Daisies For The Bride

1993

The Gaze of the Gorgon poster
NR

Film poem by Tony Harrison which takes the figure of the Gorgon as a metaphor for the "freedom-fixing politics" which have been responsible for so much conflict this century. It starts in 1992 Frankfurt where Harrison speaks through the mouth of the statue of the German Jewish poet Heinrich Heine. At Corfu in Greece he tells of the link between Heine, the Greek Gorgon and Kaiser Wilhelm II.

The Gaze of the Gorgon

1992

Film credits

Series credits

Behind the camera

Prometheus poster
5.8

Tony Harrison's poetic essay on the working class - in particular the British miners -, its struggles, its dreams and its icononography - at the very end of the 20th century, as interpreted through the myth of Prometheus.

Prometheus

1999

Prometheus poster
5.8

Tony Harrison's poetic essay on the working class - in particular the British miners -, its struggles, its dreams and its icononography - at the very end of the 20th century, as interpreted through the myth of Prometheus.

Prometheus

1999

The Blasphemers' Banquet poster
NR

A film-poem written in response to the controversy surrounding Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses

The Blasphemers' Banquet

1989

V. poster
7.5

Visualisation of Tony Harrison's poem "v.". v. is about the multiple meanings of the letter - victory, versus, verses, etc. Starting from an incident in a Leeds' graveyard where the poet's parents' headstone has been defaced with graffiti,v. rises to a view of the divisions, antagonisms and aspirations within British society, and the poets own self.

V.

1987

Black Daisies For The Bride poster
10.0

A play written by Tony Harrison as a tribute to sufferers of Alzheimer's disease. Filmed in High Royds Hospital, Menston, Yorkshire, the play combines drama, documentary, song, verse and music to unravel the lives of the residents.

Black Daisies For The Bride

1993

The Gaze of the Gorgon poster
NR

Film poem by Tony Harrison which takes the figure of the Gorgon as a metaphor for the "freedom-fixing politics" which have been responsible for so much conflict this century. It starts in 1992 Frankfurt where Harrison speaks through the mouth of the statue of the German Jewish poet Heinrich Heine. At Corfu in Greece he tells of the link between Heine, the Greek Gorgon and Kaiser Wilhelm II.

The Gaze of the Gorgon

1992

The Oresteia poster
10.0

Agamemnon returns home from the Trojan war and is murdered by his wife, setting off a chain of revenge that stretches across this trilogy of play. Directed by Peter Brook for the National Theatre, this is an all-male performance with masks.

The Oresteia

1983