Tim Sullivan (British filmmaker)
| Tim Sullivan | |
|---|---|
| Born |
21 February 1958 Germany |
| Occupation | Film and television director, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1981–present |
Tim Sullivan (born 21 February 1958) is a British film and television director and screenwriter, known for his work with Granada Television and his feature film Jack and Sarah (1995).
Tim Sullivan was born in Germany, where his father was stationed with the Royal Air Force. He attended Clifton College in Bristol, England before gaining an exhibition scholarship to read English and Law at the University of Cambridge. While at Cambridge, Sullivan was a member of the Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club, and partnered with writer Richard Maher on the play Klev, which ran at the Crown Theatre, Hill Place in 1978. He also supplied extras to Chariots of Fire (1981) and became acquainted with director Hugh Hudson, hoping to find a way into the film industry. It came to nothing, and after leaving Cambridge Sullivan began claiming unemployment benefits, before taking a summer job as a chauffeur to Anthony Andrews on the production of Brideshead Revisited. The producer Derek Granger learned that Sullivan was writing a screenplay with Derek Jarman, and encouraged him to get a job as a researcher with Granada Television.
After working as a researcher on the first series of Alfresco, Sullivan and Richard Maher partnered to write their first television series, a sitcom entitled The Train Now Leaving, set in the dining carriage of an InterCity train running between London and Manchester. Granada commissioned seven 30-minute scripts for development.
Sullivan stayed at Granada for several more years, directing episodes of series such as Busman's Holiday, Stop That Laughing at the Back, Coronation Street and The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes, as well as adapting A Handful of Dust for television (1988) and directing Thatcher: The Final Days (1991). In 1995, Sullivan wrote and directed his first feature film, Jack and Sarah, starring Richard E. Grant and Samantha Mathis. The film, which took Sullivan four years to develop, was inspired by the attention a male colleague at Granada received when his childcare arrangements broke down and he had to bring his child into work.
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