Leslie Megahey

Directing

Leslie Megahey

Born — Died

1944-12-22 — 2022-08-27

Place of birth

Belfast, Northern Ireland

Known for

Directing

Credits

17 titles

Leslie Megahey was a British television producer, director and writer. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the son of Thomas Megahey (a minister) and Beatrice (née Walton), Leslie Megahey was educated at King Edward VI School in Lichfield. Early works for the BBC included Canvas: 7: Sunflowers: Van Gogh (1971), and Omnibus File: Thrillers and Crime Fiction (1972). He was the editor of the BBC television documentary series Arena (1977–79; 1982–83); during his time on the series he divided it into Arena Theatre and Arena Art and Design, and Arena became less of a magazine-style programme and more a home for short, distinctive and stylish films about mainly British theatre and visual arts. Dur…

Known for

Omnibus poster
7.2

Omnibus was an arts-based BBC television documentary series, broadcast mainly on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. The programme was the successor to the long-running arts-based series 'Monitor'. It ran from 1967 until 2003, usually being transmitted on Sunday evenings. During its 35-year history, the programme won 12 Bafta awards. Among the series' best remembered documentaries are Cracked Actor, a profile of David Bowie, and Rene Magritte, a graduate film by David Wheatley, 'Madonna: Behind the American dream', a film produced by Nadia Hagger, and a profile of the British film director Ridley Scott. For a season in 1982, the series was in a magazine format presented by Barry Norman. The series was replaced by 'Imagine' hosted by Alan Yentob.

Omnibus

1967

Earth poster
7.7

An epic story of adventure, starring some of the most magnificent and courageous creatures alive, awaits you in EARTH. Disneynature brings you a remarkable story of three animal families on a journey across our planet – polar bears, elephants and humpback whales.

Earth

2007

Cariani and the Courtesans poster
7.0

When Cariani the painter falls in love with the beautiful girl who receives mysterious visitors in the rooms below, he is drawn into a web of danger and deceit.

Cariani and the Courtesans

1987

The Hour of the Pig poster
6.2

In medieval France, young lawyer Richard Courtois leaves Paris for the simpler life in the country. However, he is soon drawn into amorous and political intrigues. At the same time, he is pushed to defend a pig, owned by the mysterious gypsy Samira. The pig has been arrested for the murder of a young boy.

The Hour of the Pig

1993

Tolkien in Oxford poster
NR

John Izzard meets with J. R. R. Tolkien at his home, walking with him through the Oxford locations that he loves while hearing the author's own views about his wildly successful fantasy novels.

Tolkien in Oxford

1968

The Complete 'Citizen Kane' poster
NR

Documentary looking at Orson Welles and the production of the film CITIZEN KANE fifty years ago, considering the furore that accompanied it and the real life press baron William Randolph Hearst upon whom Kane is based, and his efforts to halt the film, destroy the negative and persecution of people involved with its production and showing. It includes BBC interviews with Welles made in 1960 and 1982, and film historian Robert Carringer looks at the scenes that never made it to the screen. American film critic Pauline Kael also analyses the film's enduring appeal. Extracts from "The RKO Story" (producer: Rosemary Wilton) and "Yesterday's Whitness" (producers: Christopher Cook and Stephen Peet).

The Complete 'Citizen Kane'

1991

Film credits

Series credits

Behind the camera

Earth poster
7.7

An epic story of adventure, starring some of the most magnificent and courageous creatures alive, awaits you in EARTH. Disneynature brings you a remarkable story of three animal families on a journey across our planet – polar bears, elephants and humpback whales.

Earth

2007

Cariani and the Courtesans poster
7.0

When Cariani the painter falls in love with the beautiful girl who receives mysterious visitors in the rooms below, he is drawn into a web of danger and deceit.

Cariani and the Courtesans

1987

Cariani and the Courtesans poster
7.0

When Cariani the painter falls in love with the beautiful girl who receives mysterious visitors in the rooms below, he is drawn into a web of danger and deceit.

Cariani and the Courtesans

1987

The Hour of the Pig poster
6.2

In medieval France, young lawyer Richard Courtois leaves Paris for the simpler life in the country. However, he is soon drawn into amorous and political intrigues. At the same time, he is pushed to defend a pig, owned by the mysterious gypsy Samira. The pig has been arrested for the murder of a young boy.

The Hour of the Pig

1993

The Hour of the Pig poster
6.2

In medieval France, young lawyer Richard Courtois leaves Paris for the simpler life in the country. However, he is soon drawn into amorous and political intrigues. At the same time, he is pushed to defend a pig, owned by the mysterious gypsy Samira. The pig has been arrested for the murder of a young boy.

The Hour of the Pig

1993

Tolkien in Oxford poster
NR

John Izzard meets with J. R. R. Tolkien at his home, walking with him through the Oxford locations that he loves while hearing the author's own views about his wildly successful fantasy novels.

Tolkien in Oxford

1968

The Orson Welles Story poster
8.5

Profile of Orson Welles, looking at his life and career in theatre, radio and particularly film.

The Orson Welles Story

1982

The Gentle Art of Making Enemies poster
NR

"Who else but Whistler made us see that fog was beautiful or love the night?" asked Oscar Wilde, sometime friend of the irascible artist who is the subject of this Omnibus episode. James McNeill Whistler was a turn-of-the-century Bohemian, who escaped from his New England background to discover the louche life in Paris and London. His later style, impressionistic to the point of abstraction, pre-empted modernism by nearly 20 years. In reply to an impertinent judge who suggested he was charging 200 guineas for two days' work, Whistler replied: "No - I ask it for the knowledge of a lifetime". James Runcie's film re-creates some of Whistler's most famous paintings, including the portrait of his mother, in studio tableaux. It also records many of the artist's celebrated run-ins with the critics of his day (he collected his attacks on the critics in a volume from which this film takes its title: The Gentle Art of Making Enemies).

The Gentle Art of Making Enemies

1968

Duke Bluebeard's Castle poster
7.2

Judith arrives at Bluebeard's dark castle hoping her love can convince him to reveal the secrets behind the locked interior doors.

Duke Bluebeard's Castle

1989

Schalcken the Painter poster
5.8

Can Schalcken save his love, Rose, from the clutches of a ghastly suitor before it is too late?

Schalcken the Painter

1979

Schalcken the Painter poster
5.8

Can Schalcken save his love, Rose, from the clutches of a ghastly suitor before it is too late?

Schalcken the Painter

1979

No artwork available
7.0

A two-and-a-half hour documentary retrospective on the career of Orson Welles.

With Orson Welles: Stories from a Life in Film

1990

No artwork available
7.0

A two-and-a-half hour documentary retrospective on the career of Orson Welles.

With Orson Welles: Stories from a Life in Film

1990

No artwork available
NR

Documentary profile of actor Anthony Quinn, following him on a journey he made from Italy to New york via London, in February 1980.

Quinn Running

1980