Bruce Goodison

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Bruce Goodison (born 1964) is a British TV drama and film director who is known for his work on gritty documentary dramas including Born to Kill, Leave to Remain and Murder in the Car Park. Goodison's most recent directing acclaim includes the celebrated BBC/Netflix single drama Then Barbara Met Alan and ITV series Anne, both included within the Guardian's list: The Best TV of 2022 so Far.

Goodison is part of the Speakers for Schools organisation which is was set up to inspire young people from hard to reach communities to pursue their ambitions. Speakers for Schools give the children the opportunity to hear from notable professionals across a diverse range of fields.

After working closely with the refugee community through his work on award winning feature film Leave to Remain, Goodison became a trustee of the Compass Collective, a non-profit theatre company working with people seeking sanctuary.

In 2013 Goodison set up Production Company Indefinite Films with Producer Kate Cook.

Early life and education

Goodison was born in Lutterworth Cottage Hospital in the Midlands in 1964 to Pamela and Derrick Goodison. Goodison is the youngest of three, his sisters, Lisa and Rachel born before him. Rachel was adopted by the Goodison’s in 1963 and is of East African heritage. Goodison's mother was also adopted.

Goodison’s father was a Nuclear Installations Inspector for the government and his mother worked at various inner-city community centres and championed race relations. Goodison was initially brought up in the rural Leicestershire countryside. When he was thirteen his whole family moved to the city of Leicester and he transferred to Lancaster Academy, formerly called Lancaster School for Boys.

Goodison's parents divorced when he was fourteen and he stayed with his father and sisters until he completed his O-levels. He left home before his sixteenth birthday and stayed with friends until accommodation was provided by the local authorities. After school he had a variety of jobs including painting and decorating, butchery and retail work. His father bought him a Pentax camera for his seventieth birthday and photography then became his real passion. Goodison enrolled in a Youth Opportunities Programme designed to train young unemployed people and help them find work. Through this scheme he was introduced to the Leicester Picture House and he was given a position working in the darkroom.

Goodison started taking pictures of local Rastafarians and the colourful street life in Highfields, the multi-racial community where he lived. His work brought him to the notice of Roger Bradley, the local photographer and gallery curator who ran the Picture House. Bradley offered him an exhibition and with the help of a West Midlands Arts grant Goodison had his first show in 1984, entitled Street Life and String Vests.

After the exhibition Goodison decided to focus his attention on filmography as he wanted to communicate to a broader audience. He enrolled in an Art Foundation course at De Montfort University, formally called Leicester Polytechnic where he earned a distinction in 1984. He then went on to study Media Production at Newcastle University and graduated in 1988 with a First Class Bachelor Honours.

Career

Goodison won his first award from the Royal Television Society for Best Emerging Director for a piece he produced whilst at University in the late 80's. The piece was commissioned by the BBC and explored the tragic cot death of Goodison's first baby daughter, Camilla.

After University Goodison won a competition to work in the documentary department of London Weekend Television after which he moved to Manchester to work with Janet Street Porter on a variety of shows including Reportage and Rough Guides. He then moved to London to work at the then emerging MTV as a director.

In the 90's Goodison worked on an array of prime time TV productions mainly for the BBC and Channel 4 including The Good Sex Guide, comedy series Tottenham Two, Have a Go Heroes, The Players Club with Eminem, Puff Daddy and Mary J Blige and Witness.

In the early 00's Goodison continued to work on a range of documentary dramas for Channel 4 and the BBC, as well as comedies and satire. From the mid 00's onwards he furthered his focus on gritty documentary dramas and in 2013 he directed his first film about a young asylum seeker. The creation of this film led to the creation of Indefinite Films.

Indefinite Films

Indefinite Films was set up in Bristol by Goodison and producer Kate Cook in 2013. The first project was the original feature film Leave to Remain which was broadcast in 2014.

In 2020 Indefinite Films was selected as one of the independent film companies to benefit from the newly created Channel 4 Emerging Indie Fund which was established to help small, new or emerging independent companies based outside of London.

Accolades

– Goodison directed the SAS: Iranian Embassy Siege feature-length drama documentary about the Iranian Embassy siege for the BBC. Broadcast in July 2003, it was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Documentary, and won a Grierson Award for Best Historical Documentary.

– Brinks Mat: The Greatest Heist a two part documentary drama about the Brinks Mat robbery was nominated for various awards.

– In 2005/2006 Goodison wrote and directed a feature length documentary drama for Brook Lapping and Discovery Channel about Flight 93: The Flight That Fought Back which was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Made for TV Movie.

– In 2008 Goodison directed five of eight BBC2 short films exploring the run-up to the Iraq War in 10 Days To War. Cast included [[[Kenneth_Branagh|Kenneth Branagh]]], Juliet Stevenson and Toby Jones. The series was written by Ronan Bennet and Won Best Production and Best TV Movie, Rome Fiction Fest 2008. It also a runner up for a Grierson Award for Best Documentary Drama and a Royal Television Society award for Innovation of the Year.

– 2011 saw Goodison win his first BAFTA with Our War: Ambushed: He was the Producer/Director of the first in this series for the BBC. It won BAFTA for Best Factual Series in 2012, plus it was a nominated for two Broadcast awards, a Royal Television Society award and a Grierson Award.

– The 2012 BBC drama My Murder directed by Goodison about a ‘honey trap’ killing and starring John Boyega, won Best Single Drama at the Broadcast Awards and Best Black TV Drama Award. It was also a nominee for Prix Europa 2012 and a nominee for the Royal Television Society Best Single Drama award.

– In 2012 Goodison was voted Broadcast magazine’s top 10 Mover and Shaker as one of the United Kingdom’s most exciting and successful documentary and drama Directors.

– Goodison’s first movie was about a boy lying to get his British status in the topical Leave to Remain, broadcast in 2013 it won awards globally including a One World Media Award and premiered at the London Film Festival.

– In 2014 Goodison was the Lead Director for the BBC drama serial entitled Our World War, about troops in [World War I]. It was scripted by Joe Barton and the series producers were Sue Horth and Colin Barr. It won a Royal Television Society Best History Drama.

– Goodison also directed one of the most talked about series BBC1’s Doctor Foster, Season 1 for which Suranne Jones won a BAFTA TV award for Best Female Lead.

– Murdered By My Father, a single drama for BBC3 in 2016, won Goodison a Royal Television Society award for Best Drama Director. It was also BAFTA nominated for Best Single Drama and Adeel Akhtar was the first non-white actor to win in the Best Male Lead BAFTA category.

– In 2017 Goodison directed Born To Kill, a four-part drama for Channel 4 and World Productions. Starring Jack Rowan, Romala Garai and Lara Peake, it earned a BAFTA nomination for Rowan for Best Male Lead

Television

Caption text

Year	Title	Notes
1988	Camilla	BBC
1998	Studio 54	Channel 4
1999 - 2000	Tottenham Two	Channel 4
1999	Fish	BBC Choice / Pilgrim Films
2000	This is Pop	BBC
2001	The Players Club	BBC
2001	Ruby Wax meets Lil’ Kim in New York	BBC1
2002	Have a Go Heroes	BBC1
2002	Witness: Is This It?	Channel4
2002	Eminem’s Mum	BBC Choice
2002	Our Sam	Channel 4
2003	SAS: Iranian Embassy Siege	BBC
2003	Brinks Mat: The Greatest Heist	Channel 4
2004	Sex, Footballers and Videotape	Granada / Channel 4
2006	Tony Blair Rock Star	Be Good Films
2007	Silent Witness	BBC1
2008	10 Days To War	BBC2, Cast included Kenneth Branagh, Juliet Stevenson, Toby Jones
2011	Our War: Ambushed	BBC3
2011	Bin Laden: Shoot to Kill	Channel 4
2012	My Murder	BBC, starring John Boyega
2013	Siege in The Sahara	Channel 4
2014	Our World War	BBC
2014	Home Fires	ITV
2015	Dr. Foster	BBC1
2016	Murdered By My Father	BBC3
2017	Born To Kill	Channel 4 / World Productions, starring Jack Rowan, Romala Garai and Lara Peake
2019	Anne	ITV, starring Maxine Peake
2019	The Cure	Channel 4, starring Sian Brooke
2020	Murder In The Car Park	Channel 4

Film

Caption text

Year	Title	Notes
2013	Leave to Remain	Starring Toby Jones
2013	Nightshift	Sky Arts Playhouse
In development	The White Widow

External links

https://www.indefinitefilms.co.uk

https://www.business-live.co.uk/enterprise/small-and-medium-enterprises/channel-4-chooses-16-small-19434572

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