Leslie Halliwell - Television Career

Television Career

Halliwell joined the Rank Organisation in 1956 on a three-year trainee course, after which he became a film publicist for the company. In 1958, he joined Southern Television and was seconded to Granada Television a year later, where he remained for the next thirty years at their offices in London's Golden Square. He married Ruth Porter in 1959 and they had one son.

Initially appointed Cecil Bernstein's assistant, Halliwell's reputation for vast cinema knowledge led to him gaining the role of Film Adviser to Granada's show Cinema, which was the most popular arts programme on television during the 1960s. He was given responsibility for buying TV shows and in 1968 became the chief film buyer for the whole ITV network, a role he maintained throughout the 1970s and most of the 1980s.

Travelling to Hollywood twice a year to view the latest TV pilots and film offerings, and to trade fairs in Cannes and Monte Carlo, Halliwell became a major player in the television industry. TV mogul Sir Paul Fox said of him:

'I cannot praise Leslie enough for his ethics, for his negotiating skills, and for his knowledge of the industry. The studios appreciated him as a fellow professional and had great, great respect for him at all levels.'

In 1982, at the personal invitiation of Jeremy Isaacs, he became buyer and scheduler of U.S. films for Channel 4. In keeping with the channel's intention to appeal to specialist audiences, Halliwell focused primarily on the 1930s and 40s. Over the next few years the channel showed hundreds of vintage movies in dedicated seasons, with many titles introduced by film-makers such as Samuel Goldwyn Jnr, Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat. Cinema fans and critics alike greatly appreciated Halliwell's efforts, with Jeremy Isaacs saying he had made an 'unsurpassed contribution' to the channel's success. The British Film Institute gave Halliwell an award in 1985 'for the selection and acquisition of films with a view to creative scheduling.' Author and film historian Jeffrey Richards wrote:

'For lovers of the golden age of the cinema like myself, Channel 4 became a source of unalloyed delight as time and again one encountered films one had only ever read about and never expected to see.'

In addition, Halliwell presented two television series celebrating the British wartime documentary movement: Home Front, for Granada in 1982, and The British at War for Channel 4 two years later. Both featured classic Ministry of Information productions such as Listen to Britain, Desert Victory and The True Glory.