Piers Haggard

Who is Piers Haggard?

Piers Inigo Haggard is a British film and television director, although he has worked mostly in the latter medium.

Haggard was born in London. He is the great-great-nephew of H. Rider Haggard, and is the son of the actor Stephen Haggard and father of the actress Daisy Haggard.

Haggard began his career directing plays for the anthology drama series Thirty-Minute Theatre in the 1960s, later working on the more prestigious anthology shows Armchair Theatre and Play for Today. He directed for a variety of programmes throughout the 1970s, such as The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes and Love for Lydia. In 1971, he directed the feature film Satan's Skin, also known as Blood on Satan's Claw. He also directed the horror film Venom.

Probably his best-known work came later in the decade. In 1978 he was the director of Dennis Potter's landmark drama serial Pennies From Heaven for the BBC, and the following year he directed the expensive science-fiction serial Quatermass, a Euston Films production for Thames Television, shown on the ITV network. Both of these productions are available on DVD, and the Pennies From Heaven release includes an audio commentary from Haggard.