Pete Atkin, Radio Producer

Born in Cambridge in 1945, Atkin attended Romsey County Primary School and The Perse School, where he learnt to play the violin. In 1959 he formed a church youth club band called The Chevrons for whom he played piano with four schoolfriends. He studied Classics and English at Cambridge University where he was a member of St John's College. In 1966 he joined Cambridge Footlights, for whom he became the musical director of the revues.

MUSIC
Pete Atkin is a musician of note. See Wikipedia and www.peteatkin.com for detailed listings of works and for reviews. The peteatkin website also has a busy forum.

RADIO WORK
In 1981 Atkin succeeded Griff Rhys Jones as BBC Radio Light Entertainment Producer. He subsequently became a Script Editor in 1983 and Chief Producer, Radio 4 in 1986. His productions included Just a Minute, My Word!, My Music, Week Ending, Legal, Decent, Honest and Truthful (written by Guy Jenkin and Jon Canter, and starring Martin Jarvis), After Henry (by Simon Brett with Prunella Scales, Joan Sanderson, Ben Whitrow, and Gerry Cowper), Second Thoughts, Christopher Lee's The House, Flying The Flag, Peter Tinniswood's Uncle Mort's North Country, Jarvis's Frayn, My Grandfather, Martin Jarvis reading Richmal Crompton's Just William stories, and Yes Minister.

Atkin moved to Bristol in 1989 to be Head of BBC Network Radio there. After four years in post, he became a freelance producer in 1993. His most notable freelance production is This Sceptr'd Isle — a 216-part specially commissioned history of Britain, written by historian Christopher Lee and read by Anna Massey, Paul Eddington, Peter Jeffrey, and others (including Atkin himself under a pseudonym), recorded and broadcast over 14 months in 1995 and 1996. It was re-edited for release on ten BBC double cassettes and won the 1996 Talkie Award for best non-fiction, best design, and Talkie of the Year. Atkin also worked as script editor for Hat Trick Productions, as part of their sitcom and drama development team.

In 2005 Atkin provided the voice of Mr. Crock in the animated movie "Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit". He also received a "special consultant" credit for the movie "Chicken Run" (2000), which was created and produced by the same studios, Aardman Animations. Both Aardman and Pete Atkin are based in Bristol.

Atkin also worked as a voice director on the twelfth season/C.G.I. version of Thomas the Tank Engine and the C.G.I. version of Fireman Sam.

.......the bulk of the information above is taken from 'Wikipedia', so I cannot vouch for its accuracy- N.D.


NOTES ON SOME OF THE RADIO WORK

THE MAN IN THE WOODEN HAT....2009
21 Sep 09; multi-episode dramatisation by Pete Atkin of the new novel by Jane Gardam. Barrister Edward Feathers and his wife Elizabeth's lives are intertwined with that of his hated rival; Terry Veneering; as their relationships play out from 1950s Hong Kong to present-day Dorset. Eddie ...... Michael York Betty ...... Olivia Williams Terry ...... Lloyd Owen Amy ...... Moira Quirk Delilah ...... Carolyn Seymour Albert Ross ...... Jon David Yu Young Harry ...... Oliver Dillon Expat ...... Kenneth Danziger Older Harry ...... Matthew Wolf Narrator ...... Martin Jarvis Directed by Rosalind Ayres and Martin Jarvis A Jarvis and Ayres production for BBC Radio 4. Directed by Pete Atkin.

KICKING THE HABIT....2008
13 Aug 08; 11.30am series. Comedy drama by Christopher Lee; set in a Carmelite monastery where the brown habit is no protection against the problems and temptations of the modern world. BBC blurb from episode 1 of 6: As I Was Braying. Brother Luke has returned from his sojourn in Dublin and irritatingly can't stop talking about it. Someone has asked to have his ass blessed. Father Bertie ...... Alfred Molina, Brother Martin ...... Roy Dotrice, Father Michael ...... Martin Jarvis, Brother Luke ...... Darren Richardson, Mave ...... Rosalind Ayres, Father Lawrence ...... Kenneth Danziger, Gwynneth ...... Moira Quirk, Friars and pilgrims played by Matthew Wolf and Alan Shearman. Producer Pete Atkin.

THE McKINNON EXTRADITION....2007
12 Dec 07. John Fletcher's play tells the true story of Gary McKinnon, a British citizen suffering from Asperger's who is fighting extradition to the US on suspicion of hacking into government computers. Directed by Pete Atkin.

Update, Nov 09....it appears that McKinnon is to be extradited. Note that this could not happen in reverse; in England we cannot extradite American citizens from the USA no matter what their crime. Write to your M.P.

compiled by Nigel Deacon / Diversity website

Back to top



Sitemap