George Carey (born 1943) is a British documentary filmmaker and television journalist.

Education[edit]

Carey was educated at Downside School, a boarding independent school for boys in the village of Stratton-on-the-Fosse in Somerset in South West England, followed by the University of Oxford.^[1]

Life and career[edit]

As a director/editor at BBC News, Carey is credited with the creation of the Newsnight current affairs programme in 1980,^[2][3] before going on to become Editor of BBC1’s Panorama during the Falklands War.^[4] In 1988, he left the BBC to co-found an independent production company with Jenny Barraclough.^[5] In 1997, Barraclough Carey Productions was acquired by Mentorn Films, and Carey became Creative Director of the new entity, now known as Mentorn Media.^[6] As well as producing a series of prize-winning documentaries (see below), he secured the contract to produce the BBC’s weekly political discussion programme Question Time, and originated Channel 4’s Unreported World strand.^[7] In 2005, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Royal Television Society.^[8] In 2007, he returned to filmmaking himself, with a five part BBC series on Russia presented by Jonathan Dimbleby,^[9] before shooting and directing several individual documentaries with producer Teresa Cherfas. These included Close Encounters in Siberia, A Long Weekend with the Son of God – both for Channel 4 – and Knocking on Heaven’s Door, Hitler, Stalin and Mr Jones, The Spy Who Went into the Cold and Masterspy of Moscow: George Blake,^[10] all for BBC Storyville.^[11]

He served for four years as a board member for Conciliation Resources, an international non-governmental organization,^[12] and for two years as Chairman of Trustees of the House of Illustration.

Filmography[edit]

Documentary Singles[edit]

• Terror in Moscow (Grierson prize)
• Babitsky's War (Amnesty International prize)
• The Valley (Prix Italia, Golden Nymph Monte Carlo)
• The Unforgiving (BAFTA)
• Hello Mr President (Peabody Award)
• Fall of Saigon
• The Killing of Kennedy
• Moonlanding
• Blood on their Hands
• Terror in the Mall

Documentary Series (General)[edit]

• Russia - A Journey with Jonathan Dimbleby
• Century Road
• Testing God (Best Religious programme)
• Soul Searching
• Redemption Song
• Queen and Country
• Do you Believe in Magic?
• Visions of Heaven and Hell (Golden Spire, San Francisco)
• The White House Tapes
• The New Jerusalem
• The Tunnel
• Clintons: A Marriage of Power (Broadcast Award)
• Rebellion
• Scare Stories
• The Crimean War
• From Beirut to Bosnia
• Planet Islam
• The Poisoned Chalice
• Mad Cows and Englishmen
• Gunpower USA
• Men in Battle

Documentary Series (Science)[edit]

• The Plague (Royal Television Society Best Series)
• Knife to the Heart
• Cancer Wars
• The Babymakers (BMI Best Medical Series)

BBC Documentary Singles[edit]

• Marilyn: Say Goodbye to the President
• M.I.A.: We'll Keep You Forever
• The Trial of Klaus Barbie
• The Search for the Missing Marcos Millions (Emmy Award)
• Masterspy of Moscow – George Blake
• Hitler, Stalin and Mr Jones

BBC Documentary Series[edit]

• An Ocean Apart
• Families at War (RTS Award)
• Comrades
• Frontiers (ACE Award)

References[edit]