Editing Bob Spiers

{{Short description|Scottish film and television director (1945–2008)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| name         = Bob Spiers
| birth_name = Robert Alexander Spiers
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1945|9|27|df=yes}}
| birth_place =  [[Glasgow]], [[Scotland]], [[United Kingdom|UK]]<ref name="Independent"/>
| death_date=  {{Death date and age|2008|12|8|1945|9|27|df=yes}}<ref name="Independent"/>
| death_place=[[Devon]], [[England]], UK
| notable_works = ''[[Fawlty Towers]]''<br>''[[Press Gang]]''<br>''[[Absolutely Fabulous]]''<br>''[[Spice World (film)|Spice World]]''
| occupation   = [[Television director]] and [[television producer|producer]]
}}
'''Robert Alexander Spiers''' (27 September 1945 – 8 December 2008) was a Scottish television director and producer. He worked on many sitcoms, including ''[[Dad's Army]]'' and ''[[Are You Being Served?]]'', and won two [[British Academy Television Awards]] for ''[[Fawlty Towers]]'' and ''[[Absolutely Fabulous]]''. Spiers also directed the films ''[[That Darn Cat (1997 film)|That Darn Cat]]'' and ''[[Spice World (film)|Spice World]]'' (both 1997), and ''[[Kevin of the North]]'' (2001).

==Life and career==
Born in [[Glasgow]], [[Scotland]], he attended [[Southgate College]] in the 1960s. "Jock", as he was affectionately known at the time, organised several student trips from the college to mainland Europe, including Brussels and Cologne, during this period. He was also already an accomplished tennis player, having achieved a very high national standard during the time he lived in Scotland.

Spiers joined the staff of the [[BBC]] in 1970,<ref name="Independent">Anthony Hayward, Jon Plowman [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/bob-spiers-director-of-absolutely-fabulous-fawlty-towers-and-dads-army-1058046.html "Bob Spiers: Director of 'Absolutely Fabulous', 'Fawlty Towers' and 'Dad's Army'"], ''The Independent'', 9 December 2008</ref> working as an assistant floor manager and later a [[production assistant]], before eventually working his way up to become a director and producer. As a director he worked on several high-profile programmes, such as ''[[Dad's Army]]'', ''[[Are You Being Served?]]'' (also producing) and ''[[It Ain't Half Hot Mum]]'', all [[sitcom]]s, a genre with which he became particularly associated. During the 1970s he met his wife, Annie.<ref>Carl Oprey [https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/aug/21/obituaries.mainsection "Other Lives Obituary: Annie Spiers"], ''[[The Guardian]]'', 21 August 2007</ref>

It was because of his talent for directing comedy that he was chosen to handle the second series of ''[[Fawlty Towers]]'' in 1979, which already had an enormous reputation on the basis of its initial six episodes in 1975, and it won him his first BAFTA award. Spiers subsequently provided a commentary for all the episodes he directed of ''Fawlty Towers'' when the series was released on DVD. Shortly after he directed the series and the unbroadcast pilot of ''[[Not the Nine O'Clock News]]'', Spiers left the staff of the BBC to work as a freelance director.

Throughout the 1980s, he worked on a number of programmes, of particular note being [[Channel 4]]'s anthology comedy series ''[[The Comic Strip Presents...]]'' and the BBC sketch shows ''[[French and Saunders]]'' and ''[[A Bit of Fry and Laurie]]''. He began his association with writer [[Steven Moffat]] in 1989, directing over half of the episodes of the teen comedy drama series ''[[Press Gang]]'' (1989–1993) for the [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] network.<ref>[[Paul Cornell]] (1993) "Press Gang" In: {{cite book |last=Cornell |first= Paul |author2=Day, Martin |author2-link=Martin Day (writer) |author3=Topping, Keith |author3-link=Keith Topping |title=The Guinness Book of Classic British TV |publisher=Guinness |year=1993 |pages=218 |isbn=0-85112-543-3}}</ref> According to Moffat, Spiers was the "principal director" taking an interest in the other episodes and setting the visual style of the show. Spiers particularly used [[tracking shot]]s, sometimes requiring more dialogue to be written to accommodate the length of the shot. The other directors would come in and "do a Spiers".<ref name="Moffcomm">Steven Moffat & Julia Sawalha, ''Press Gang: Series 2'' DVD [[audio commentary]]</ref> Spiers then directed all twelve episodes of Moffat's sitcom ''[[Joking Apart]]'' (1993, 1995).<ref name="inlay">Gallagher, William. "Joking Apart", Inlay booklet, Series 2 DVD, ReplayDVD.</ref> The show won the [[Rose d'Or|Bronze Rose of Montreux]]<ref name="ott">{{cite web |first=Graham |last=Kibble-White |title=Fool If You Think It's Over |work=Off the Telly |url=http://www.offthetelly.co.uk/comedy/jokingapart.htm |date=May 2006 |accessdate=2006-12-22 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20061209070115/http://www.offthetelly.co.uk/comedy/jokingapart.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate = 2006-12-09}}</ref> and was entered for the [[Emmys]].<ref name="telegraph">{{cite news |first=Shane |last=Jarvis |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2006/05/08/bvjoke08.xml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060611000658/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2006/05/08/bvjoke08.xml |url-status=dead |archive-date=2006-06-11 |newspaper=The Telegraph |title=Farce that rose from the grave |date=2006-05-08 |accessdate=2007-03-01}}</ref>

His association with comedians [[Dawn French]] and [[Jennifer Saunders]] from directing their sketch show led to him working on individual projects from each of them during the 1990s. With French he worked on the macabre comedy anthology series ''[[Murder Most Horrid]]'', with some episodes written by Moffat (such as "Overkill"). He helmed Saunders' ''[[Absolutely Fabulous]]'' throughout the decade, the show having originated in a sketch from an episode of ''[[French and Saunders]]'' which had also been directed by Spiers. ''Absolutely Fabulous'' won Spiers his second BAFTA award.

Spiers directed the pop group the [[Spice Girls]] in their film ''[[Spiceworld (film)|Spiceworld]]'' (1997). He had been working in America on the [[Walt Disney Pictures|Disney]] film ''[[That Darn Cat (1997 film)|That Darn Cat]]'' at the peak of the Spice Girls' popularity, and was unaware of the group when first offered the job of directing ''Spiceworld'' until friend [[Jennifer Saunders]] advised that he take it. He arrived at a meeting with them in a New York hotel unaware of what they looked like.<ref>Bob Spiers and Stacey Adair, ''Joking Apart'', Series 2 Episode 2, DVD audio commentary, replaydvd.co.uk</ref> He also directed two episodes of the Australian [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC]] series ''[[The Adventures of Lano and Woodley]]''.

He died of cancer in December 2008 in [[Widecombe]], [[Devon]] at a family home after a long illness.<ref name="guardian">{{cite news |first=Bob |last=Chaundy |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2008/dec/18/obituary-bob-spiers-tv-comedy |newspaper=The Guardian |title=Bob Spiers obituary |date=2008-12-18 |accessdate=2021-01-11}}</ref>

==Filmography==
===Television===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Title !! Year(s) !! Notes
|-
|''[[Dad's Army]]''||1974, 1977||Production assistant on season 7, directed 1 episode ("The Miser's Hoard")
|-
|''[[It Ain't Half Hot Mum]]''||1975, 1976||Production assistant on season 2, directed 6 episodes
|-
|''[[Come Back Mrs. Noah]]''||1977-1978||6 episodes
|-
|''[[Are You Being Served?]]''||1977-1983||UK version, 13 episodes, also producer
|-
|''[[Sykes (TV series)|Sykes]]''||rowspan="4"|1978||1 episode ("Television Film")
|-
|''Christmas Snowtime Special''||Assistant producer
|-
|''[[Seaside Special]]''||Assistant producer on season 4
|-
|''Snowtime Special''||Assistant producer on 2 episodes
|-
|''[[Fawlty Towers]]''||rowspan="2"|1979||Season 2
|-
|''[[Not the Nine O'Clock News]]''||Unaired pilot only
|-
|''[[The Goodies (TV series)|The Goodies]]''||1977–82||10 episodes
|-
|''[[Are You Being Served? (Australian TV series)|Are You Being Served?]]''||1980-1981||Australian version, also producer
|-
|''Both Ends Meet''||1981||
|-
|''[[The Comic Strip Presents...]]''||1982-1988||8 episodes, also played the Vicar in "Queen of the Wild Frontier"
|-
|''[[Little Armadillos]]''||1984||
|-
|''What a Way to Run a Revolution''||1986||rowspan="2"|TV movie
|-
|''Up Line''||rowspan="2"|1987
|-
|''Familie Oudenrijn''||
|-
|''[[French and Saunders]]''||1988-1995||18 episodes
|-
|''[[Press Gang]]''||1989-1993||rowspan="5"|
|-
|''Tygo Road''||1990
|-
|''[[Lazarus and Dingwall]]''||1991
|-
|''[[Murder Most Horrid]]''||1991-1994
|-
|''[[Joking Apart]]''||1993-1995
|-
|''[[Absolutely Fabulous]]''||1992-1995, 2001||All episodes of seasons 1-3, and three of season 4
|-
|''[[Bottom (TV series)|Bottom]]''||rowspan="3"|1995||Season 3
|-
|''[[A Bit of Fry and Laurie]]''||Season 4
|-
|''[[Agony Again]]''||All episodes
|-
|''[[The Adventures of Lano and Woodley]]''||rowspan="2"|1997||2 episodes ("The Girlfriend", "Starquest")
|-
|''[[The Ruby Wax Show]]''||rowspan="2"|
|-
|''[[Days Like These (TV series)|Days Like These]]''||rowspan="2"|1999
|-
|''Privates''||Pilot
|-
|''A Tribute to the Likely Lads''||2002||TV short
|}

===Film===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Title !! Year !! Notes
|-
|''[[That Darn Cat (1997 film)|That Darn Cat]]''||rowspan="2"|1997||rowspan="2"|
|-
|''[[Spice World (film)|Spice World]]''
|-
|''[[Kevin of the North]]''||2001||Also known as ''Chilly Dogs''
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb name|id=0818639|name=Bob Spiers}}
*[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/975645/ Entry on the British Film Institute's ''Screenonline'' website]

{{Films directed by Bob Spiers|state=collapsed}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spiers, Bob}}
[[Category:1945 births]]
[[Category:2008 deaths]]
[[Category:BAFTA winners (people)]]
[[Category:BBC television producers]]
[[Category:British comedy film directors]]
[[Category:Mass media people from Glasgow]]
[[Category:Scottish film directors]]
[[Category:Scottish television directors]]
[[Category:Scottish television producers]]