Philip Saville

Who is Philip Saville?

Philip Saville is a British television director and screenwriter whose career dates to the late 1950s. He began his working life as an actor.

During the 1960s he directed television plays, such as Harold Pinter's A Night Out for ABC's Armchair Theatre anthology series, and Madhouse on Castle Street for the BBC. The later production was the first acting appearance of the folk singer Bob Dylan, whom Saville had flown over specifically to take part in the play.

Other significant programmes on which Saville worked include Out of the Unknown and the Boys from the Blackstuff for which Saville received a BAFTA to add to his earlier BAFTA for Hamlet at Elsinore.

For the cinema, Saville directed The Fruit Machine, Metroland and The Gospel of John.

He also directed a masterclass studio in London specializing in dramatic improvisation. Saville's documentary on Harold Pinter Pinter's Progress for Sundance international television channels and UK's Sky Arts features numerous interviews with associates of the Nobel Prize winning playwright.