Roy Battersby

Roy Battersby
Born(1936-04-20)20 April 1936
Willesden, London, England
Died10 January 2024(2024-01-10) (aged 87)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
OccupationTelevision director
Spouse
​
(m. 1997)​
Children5
RelativesKate Beckinsale (step-daughter)

Roy John Battersby (20 April 1936 – 10 January 2024) was a British television director, known for his work in drama productions such as Between The Lines, Inspector Morse, Cracker and A Touch of Frost.[1] Early in his career, he made documentary features for the BBC programmes Tomorrow's World and Towards Tomorrow. In 2005, his film Red Mercury was shown at the Montreal World Film Festival.[2]

Battersby was married to actress Judy Loe and was the stepfather of actress Kate Beckinsale.[3] Battersby was a Trotskyist for some years,[4] becoming a full-time organiser for the now defunct Workers Revolutionary Party.[5] The association had ended by 1981,[6] but the connection led to his being blacklisted by the BBC.[7]

Battersby died after a stroke on 10 January 2024, at the age of 87.[8][9]

  1. ^ "Roy Battersby". IMDb. Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  2. ^ "Festival nod for Muslim bomb film". BBC Online. 12 August 2005. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
  3. ^ "Literature Study Guides - By Popularity - eNotes.com". Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  4. ^ Sanjiv Bhattacharya "Kate Beckinsale", GQ Magazine, February 2006, as reproduced on Bhattacharya's website.
  5. ^ Stephen Lacey Tony Garnett, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2007, p.76
  6. ^ Roy Battersby Obituary: Nicholas Palmer, The Independent,
  7. ^ Mark Hollingsworth and Richard Norton-Taylor Blacklist: The Inside Story of Political Vetting, London: Hogarth Press, p.116-17 (Chapter 5 "MI5 and the BBC: Stamping the ‘Christmas Tree’ Files")
  8. ^ "Kate Beckinsale announces her stepfather has died". Yahoo! Movies. 16 January 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  9. ^ Hayward, Anthony (16 January 2024). "Roy Battersby obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 January 2024.