---
name: "David Tucker"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/david-tucker"
roles: ["Director"]
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_fi1m_score: 81
average_as: "director"
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-09-17T15:53:11.757386+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# David Tucker

Director.

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Active:** 1981–2012
- **Also known as:** Дэвид Такер
- **Average Fi1m score:** 81, as director, over 2 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 82 (1), 2010s 80 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002903/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/159235

## Streaming the US now

- **Netflix:** [*Call the Midwife*](https://film.one/tv/call-the-midwife.md) (80)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on David Tucker

> David Tucker gives strong comic personalities room without insisting that we notice the direction. *A Very Peculiar Practice* makes a persuasive case for that restraint, though its eccentricity sometimes keeps the characters at a distance.

John Bird’s Vice-Chancellor Ernest Hemmingway gives *A Very Peculiar Practice* (1986) something to question beyond the competence of its doctors. Andrew Davies’s campus medical comedy needs the university around them to remain credible, and David Tucker gives its competing personalities room without announcing every oddity. We laughed, then felt uneasy, because the professional setting remained recognisable beneath the absurd behaviour. That restraint is the chief reason we rate his direction here: the writing is peculiar enough without someone insisting that we notice.

Tucker directed all 14 episodes and the sequel film, working closely with Davies on the series’ ensemble and tone. He has described a first script for the second series in which the characters repeated what they had done before. It is a sensible worry for a comedy with so many distinctive personalities. Our reservation about the finished series is related: its taste for eccentricity sometimes stops us caring as much as we would like.

His early television work included episodes of *Tenko* (1981), followed by the sustained work on *A Very Peculiar Practice*. *The Gravy Train* (1990) and *Behaving Badly* (1992) continued the serial drama, before a longer career within continuing programmes. That later work includes more than 80 episodes of *EastEnders* and several series of *Call the Midwife*. These credits cover different demands, from establishing a serial’s tone to taking responsibility for individual episodes within an existing programme.

We would not pretend that this makes every programme bearing his name equally worth seeking out. The stronger reason to pay attention is his work with Davies, where the handling of a crowded ensemble gives us something more useful to judge than the length of a credit list. He lets the writer and actors do plenty, and occasionally perhaps too much. Start with *A Very Peculiar Practice*, provided cultivated eccentricity is not an immediate disqualification.

## Biography

David Tucker is a British director of television, film and theatre. He directed all 14 episodes of the BBC series *A Very Peculiar Practice* (1986–1988) and episodes of *Tenko* (1981).

His television credits include the miniseries *The Gravy Train* (1990) and *A Year in Provence* (1993), as well as episodes of *Midsomer Murders*, *Call the Midwife*, *EastEnders*, *Casualty*, *Holby City* and *Miss Marple: Nemesis* (1987). He has also directed short films including *Burn the Clock* (2013).

Tucker began his career in theatre, serving as an assistant director at the RSC and associate director at the Bristol Old Vic, Liverpool Playhouse and Manchester Library Theatre, where he directed more than 40 professional productions. He has taught at the National Film and Television School and other institutions. He received a BAFTA nomination for *A Very Peculiar Practice* and an International Emmy nomination for *The Gravy Train*.

*Sources: imdb.com, unitedagents.co.uk.*

## On Fi1m (2)

- *Call the Midwife* (2012), Fi1m 80, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/call-the-midwife.md)
- *A Very Peculiar Practice* (1986), Fi1m 82, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/a-very-peculiar-practice.md)

## Complete filmography (33)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Call the Midwife* (2012), series, Director — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/tv/call-the-midwife.md)
- *Lark Rise to Candleford* (2008), series, Director
- *Dangerous Liaisons* (2007), Director
- *Towpaths of Glory* (2005), Director
- *Dangerous and the Lonely Hearts* (2004), Director
- *The Last Detective* (2003), series, Director
- *Born and Bred* (2002), series, Director
- *Always and Everyone* (1999), series, Director
- *Holby City* (1999), series, Director
- *Grafters* (1998), series, Director
- *Where the Heart Is* (1997), series, Director
- *Midsomer Murders* (1997), series, Director
- *McCallum* (1997), series, Director
- *Dalziel and Pascoe* (1996), series, Director
- *Bramwell* (1995), series, Director
- *Under the Hammer* (1994), series, Director
- *A Year in Provence* (1993), series, Director
- *A Very Polish Practice* (1992), Director
- *Stanley and the Women* (1991), series, Director
- *Coasting* (1990), series, Director
- *The Gravy Train* (1990), series, Director
- *Screen One* (1989), series, Director
- *Saracen* (1989), series, Director
- *Behaving Badly* (1989), series, Director
- *A Fine Romance* (1989), series, Director
- *Miss Marple: Nemesis* (1987), series, Director
- *Casualty* (1986), series, Director
- *A Very Peculiar Practice* (1986), series, Director — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/a-very-peculiar-practice.md)
- *EastEnders* (1985), series, Director
- *Weekend Playhouse* (1984), series, Director
- *Diana* (1984), series, Director
- *Tenko* (1981), series, Director
- *Nanny* (1981), series, Director

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© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/david-tucker