Dirk Maggs

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dirk Maggs
Born
David George Dirk Maggs

February 1955 (age 66)
Bristol, England
NationalityBritish
Occupation
  • Radio producer
  • Writer
Known forRadio plays
WebsiteOfficial website Edit this at Wikidata

David George Dirk Maggs (born February 1955) is a British freelance writer and director. He is principally known for his work in radio, where he evolved radio drama into "Audio Movies," a near-visual approach combining scripts, layered sound effects, cinematic music and technology. He pioneered the use of Dolby Surround in BBC Radio. He was among the first nominees for the Directors Guild of Great Britain Outstanding Achievement in Radio Award, and in 2005 he was invited to become one of the first Honorary Fellows of the University of Winchester for his work in the dramatic arts.

From 2003 to 2005, Maggs produced new episodes of Douglas Adams' science fiction comedy series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, adapted from the novels based on the original radio series that Adams wrote. The books that Maggs adapted were written after the radio series ended its original run.

Maggs directed many well-known actors in productions, including Tom Hollander, Benedict Cumberbatch, James McAvoy, Rowan Atkinson, Leslie Nielsen, Christian Slater, Stephen Fry, Jonathan Pryce, Hugh Laurie, Juliet Stevenson, Jim Broadbent, Patricia Hodge, Alison Steadman, Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan.

Comedy productions[]

As well as producing episodes of standard radio comedy series such as The News Huddlines, It's Been a Bad Week and The Russ Abbot Show, Maggs has also been involved in some more unusual comedy projects.

Between 1990 and 1992 he produced three series of Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel, an updated version of a 1932 Marx Brothers radio show of the same name. The actors were specifically chosen for their ability to impersonate the Marx Brothers, so that an accurate recreation could be achieved. One of the episodes won the Gold Medal at the New York International Festival.

A similar effort needed to be undertaken for in 2001. Produced for the 50th anniversary of The Goon Show, and with the blessing of Spike Milligan, it was a project Maggs had been planning since he recorded , a documentary for the 40th anniversary of the Goons. Early on, Maggs realised that would not work without Sir Harry Secombe's very distinctive voice. But Sir Harry declined to take part due to his failing health. Fortunately, his son Andrew Secombe was willing give it a go, and so the cast was arranged around him, with the sons of several other cast members getting involved too, creating, in the words of Maggs, "a genetically-engineered tribute band" to the Goons. The show won the 2002 Best Comedy Award from the (now the Audio Publishers Association).

Maggs directed the Johnny Vegas radio series in 2002. It was a somewhat darker comedy than Maggs's usual output. This show won the Bronze award in the Comedy category of the 2003 Sony Radio Academy Awards.

Science fiction productions[]

Early in his career Maggs became known for directing adaptations of comic book storylines. He started in 1988 with the 50th Anniversary Man Of Steel docudrama Superman on Trial, carried on with a 50th birthday tribute to the Dark Knight: Batman: The Lazarus Syndrome. This was followed by The Adventures Of Superman, Batman: Knightfall, The Amazing Spider-Man and his final BBC Radio superhero series, Judge Dredd in 1995. Along the way his production of Superman: Doomsday and Beyond ("Superman Lives" in the US) won the 1994 Audie Award for Best Dramatisation from the American Booksellers Association and Spoken Word Audio of The Year from Publishers Weekly.

In 2005 Time Warner audiobooks re-released Maggs's Batman: Knightfall and Superman Lives in the US, prompting a UK re-release by BBC Audiobooks.

In 1996, Maggs was contacted by 20th Century Fox and asked to create a British-based "parallel-quel" to their summer science fiction blockbuster Independence Day. The resulting programme, Independence Day UK, took place in the same world, and at the same time as the film, but showed a British perspective on the alien invasion. This also won the 1996 Talkie Award for Best Production. The next year, with the blessing of director John Landis, Maggs produced and directed his own adaptation of An American Werewolf in London for BBC Radio One. For this he won the 1997 Talkie Award for Best TV/Film Adaptation.

In 1999 he produced a five-part adaptation of Stephen Baxter's alternative history novel Voyage. The premise is simple. When Apollo 11 reached the moon, JFK (having survived that day in Dallas) set a new target for the space programme: Mars. Voyage is the story of a space-race that never was but so easily might have been. Maggs's adaptation was presented on BBC Radio 4, and received 1999 Talkie Award for Best Use of Music as well as the 2000 Sony Radio Academy Bronze Award for Best Drama.

Other productions[]

Maggs directed adaptations of several Agatha Christie short stories for Radio Four, and a production of Bill Naughton's Alfie for the BBC World Service.

He has directed the sound mix on three short 3D films that are played in motion simulator capsules. Maggs has also worked on audiotape adaptations of Terry Deary's Horrible Histories books and is audio director for the Animated Mr Bean television series, which means that everything heard in the show has gone through Maggs's hands at some point.

For the feature-length computer animated version of The Magic Roundabout, Maggs voice-directed principal character sessions with actors including Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue, Jim Broadbent, Ray Winstone and Joanna Lumley.

Maggs's influence has spread to computer games. He is credited as Voice Director on the highly acclaimed adventure game, Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon featuring Rolf Saxon and Sarah Crook.

In 2013 Maggs wrote, directed and dramatised the radio play Neverwhere, based on the television series Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.

Alphabetical list of Dirk Maggs radio productions[]

Detailed list of Radio Plays[]

Radio Plays Directed or Produced by Dirk Maggs
Date first broadcast Play Author Cast Synopsis
Awards 		Station
Series
29 December 2004
{Recorded on 22 October 2004) 		All Fingers and Thumbs[1] Bill Nighy, Susannah Doyle, Jenny Eclair, Felicity Montagu, Steve Day, and Sign language interpreter Marie wants more deaf people to enjoy the theatre. So does director Tom – but not if it involves a bothersome spot-lit woman waving her arms about on his stage. BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play
15 May 2007 Henry's Girls[2] Robert Glenister, Chloë Annett, Robert Duncan, Nichola McAuliffe, Naoko Mori, Catherine Shepherd, and Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas received its premiere at a girls' boarding school in Chelsea in 1689. So why did one of England's most popular composers choose to write his greatest masterpiece for a gaggle of unruly schoolgirls rather than the professional theatre? BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play
16 December 2011 Beyond Borders[3][Note 1] Mike Walker Timothy West, Lesley Manville, Daniel Weyman, Philip Jackson, Simon Jones and William Hope 1950, Jean Monnet is charged with planning the reconstruction of France after the Second World War. Monnet's vision is for a radical realignment of Europe, not by one nation asserting itself over another, but by negotiation, integration and ultimately, through political and economic unification. BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play

Notes:

  1. ^ Director: Dirk Maggs; Producer:


References[]

  1. ^ "All Fingers and Thumbs". Afternoon Play. BBC Radio 4. BBC. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  2. ^ "Henry's Girls". Afternoon Play. BBC Radio 4. BBC. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  3. ^ "Beyond Borders". Afternoon Play. BBC Radio 4. BBC. Retrieved 14 February 2020.

External links[]


Retrieved from ""