Mary Ridge | |
|---|---|
 Ridge, from a 1968 newspaper | |
| Born | Eileen Mary Ridge (1925-06-23)23 June 1925 Preston, Lancashire, England |
| Died | 20 September 2000(2000-09-20) (aged 75) Fulham, London, England |
| Occupation | Television director |
Eileen Mary Ridge (23 June 1925 – 20 September 2000) was a British television director, best known for directing episodes ofBlake's 7 andDoctor Who in the early 1980s.
Ridge was born inPreston, Lancashire, and raised inColwyn Bay, Wales, the daughter of William W. Ridge and Eileen Dorothy Phillips Hackett Ridge. She had an older brother, Alan, who she was very close to. Her father was a bank manager.[1] Ridge attended the Lyndon School in Colwyn Bay.[2]
Ridge acted and directed in theatrical productions in Colwyn Bay as a young woman.[3][4][5] She directed a play,To Kill a Cat byRoland Pertwee andHarold Dearden, in 1955.[6] In a 1999 interview, Ridge said that she worked inrepertory theatre and briefly taughtstage management at theCentral School. She stated that she had wanted to "have a go" at directing television from 1956, but in that era around a decade of theatrical experience was expected to break into television work, and then she was required to enter at the bottom as an Assistant Floor Manager.[7] She had intended to return to theatrical direction but described herself as having become "somewhat hooked" on directing for television.[7]
Her television work began in 1964.[8] She directedThe Bond (1965), a play about the gulf between generations, underThe Wednesday Play umbrella.[9][10][11][12] In 1968, she directed the Christmas Day episode ofThe Newcomers.[13] In 1976, she directed an adaptation ofBuchi Emecheta'sNigeria A Kind of Marriage.[14][15] In the early 1980s she directed multiple episodes of two science-fiction series for the BBC:Blake's 7 (1980–81)[16][17] and the serialTerminus ofDoctor Who (1983).[18] Her other television work includes episodes ofThe Brothers,Thirty-Minute Theatre,The Long Street (1971),The Runaway Summer,Angels (1979–80, 1982–83),The District Nurse (1984),Dixon of Dock Green andZ-Cars.[12][19][20][21] She served as Associate Producer onThe Duchess of Duke Street.[12][19]
Ridge was "renowned for a tight sense of planning, total precision in the studio, especially from her camera teams, and an ability to produce drama with a good sense of pace," noted onefanzine profile in 1996.[18]
Her work onBlake's 7 began with directing the third-season finale ("Terminal"; 1980), which was originally intended to be the show's finale.[22][23] TheLiberator, a "series icon", was destroyed, involving work with explosives and an unusual reliance on special effects.[19] Ridge later commented that she had "felt quite guilty" about theLiberator's demise, adding that "Battles and explosions are a director's heaven, and they're terribly exciting when they work."[19]Alan Stevens andFiona Moore describe the episode as among "most postmodern and allegorical" of the series; the scenes on the planet with Avon (Paul Darrow's character) are accompanied by an "ominous heartbeat-like sound", which Stevens and Moore compare with "The Tell-Tale Heart" byEdgar Allan Poe.[22] "Terminal" had viewing figures of 10 million,[22] and Stevens and Moore credit the show's renewal for a fourth season to the enthusiasm ofBill Cotton, then the head of BBC Television, for this episode.[24]
Ridge became a regular director for season 4,[24] and had input into the design of the set ofScorpio, the crew's new ship, suggesting, for example, the insertion of trap doors to allow more variety in camera angles.[19] She directed five episodes of season 4,[25] including the season opener "Rescue".[26] Her direction of "Headhunter" gained praise from Stevens and Moore;[27] the criticJohn Kenneth Muir writes that the android's attack sequence is directed "with aplomb, never allowing the pace to slow down once the attack has begun."[16] Her most notable contribution, however, is the final episode, "Blake", in whichGareth Thomas returns as Blake, only to be shot dead by Avon, and then almost the entire cast apparently die. Ridge stated in an interview that she had been given considerable leeway over the way in which the final shootout played out; she made Avon killing Blake the focus, and decided to film the final scene in slow motion to give it a "slightly unreal feeling", to allow for a subsequent season, which was not commissioned.[19] Stevens and Moore consider "Blake" to be perhaps the show's strongest episode; they compare the shootout sequence to the classic western,The Wild Bunch, and the final freeze-frame with Avon still standing and shots sounding over the credits toButch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.[28] The journalist Joe Nazzaro describes the episode as a "stunning cliffhanger" that guaranteed the show "a place in SF television history".[19] Muir considers much of the show's reputation to derive from "Blake", with its "stunning and ultraviolent conclusion"; he adds that the decision to kill the cast members "infuriated legions of fans, but also cementedBlake's 7's reputation as a go-for-the-throat vision."[29] Ridge recounted receiving hate mail from fans over the episode.[19]
Ridge coined the nickname "Blint" for Darrow, referring toBurt Lancaster andClint Eastwood.[30]
After the end ofBlake's 7, Ridge went on to direct theDoctor Who 4-part serialTerminus (1983), a plague ship story from thePeter Davison era that focuses on the Doctor's companionNyssa, played bySarah Sutton. Muir describes it as a "well-presented story", describing Ridge as a "skilled technician".[31]
Ridge had previously worked withJohn Nathan-Turner, the producer, and considered him a friend.[32] Production did not run smoothly, marred by an electricians' strike as well as problems with costumes and the set; this resulted in recording overrunning.[32] Ridge's relationship with Nathan-Turner suffered, and she never directed for the show again.[32][33]
Mary Ridge lived her later years in Strand on the Green, London. She was close to her family, including her brother, and the families of her two nephews and her niece. Mary Ridge died inFulham, London,[34] in 2000, aged 75 years.[19]
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