Editing Film... (TV programme) (section)

===Barry Norman (1972–1998)===
[[Barry Norman]] became permanent host of the series in 1972.<ref name=Guardian29Mar2010/> For his first episode on ''Film 72'', his first film review was of ''[[The Last Picture Show]]'', while his first studio interviewees were [[Charlton Heston]] and [[James Stewart]].<ref name=Independent24Apr2001>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/barry-norman-films-aint-what-they-used-to-be-682353.html |title=Barry Norman: Films ain't what they used to be |work=[[The Independent]] |date=24 April 2001 |access-date=22 July 2010 | location=London | first=Brian | last=Viner}}{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> For much of his time on the show, "with Barry Norman" was appended to the show's title.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090125145507/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/593564 "Film 98 with Barry Norman (1998)"], [[British Film Institute|BFI]].</ref>

Norman remained as host until 1998, except for a few months in 1982, when he was busy with other projects and [[Iain Johnstone]] returned as temporary host. Norman eventually left the show after signing a contract with [[Sky UK|BSkyB]], with his last appearance being at the end of June 1998 hosting ''Film '98''.<ref name=BBC9Jun1998>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/106832.stm |title=Barry Norman defects to Sky |publisher=BBC News |date=9 June 1998 |access-date=22 July 2010}}</ref>

With the series now described as the [[BBC|BBC's]] flagship cinema review, [[Barry Norman|Norman's]] departure to Sky was said by ''[[The Guardian]]'' in 2002 to have been "seismic", and due to its nature and timing, his exit was described as being acrimonious. Norman said of the departure, "I honestly believe that if they had said to me, 'We would like you to work out your contract but then we don't want you any more,' they would have given me quite a big send off – at least they would have had a drinks party. But because I left at a time that was not convenient for them I became a non-person. Even on the last day, nobody called up to say, 'Good luck in your future life,' or even 'drop dead'." Of his reviewing style Norman said: "I always knew that nobody's right and nobody's wrong in criticism. The only thing I could do was to make sure that whatever I said was what I really believed."<ref name=Guardian29Aug2002>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2002/aug/29/biography.books |title=So I said to Liz Taylor... |work=The Guardian |date=29 August 2002 |access-date=22 July 2010 | location=London | first=Libby | last=Brooks}}</ref>