Dominic Leclerc is worth following for ensemble drama, particularly his work with young performers. The series he has helped make earn our affection, though predictable plotting and an appetite for noise keep our enthusiasm qualified.
Fi1m perspective
The teenagers in Skins are more sympathetic than the programme’s appetite for shock might suggest. We laughed, then found ourselves caring about them because the dialogue and performances gave us reasons to stay. Dominic Leclerc, who directed episodes seven and eight of its fifth series (2010), has a useful instinct for ensemble work, particularly with young casts. His youth-drama work has involved bringing new faces to the screen and taking risks. The predictable plotting remains a substantial reservation, but the actors make the programme worth an evening.
Shameless, where his recurring directing work includes episodes from 2009, offers a similarly qualified pleasure. David Threlfall makes Frank Gallagher funny without making him easy company, while the ensemble earns an affection the uneven writing does not always deserve. These are collaborative series, and we should not mistake their collective virtues for proof that every good scene belongs to Leclerc. They do, however, establish his experience of working with ensembles in dramas that can become noisy enough to try our patience.
Theatre and choreography preceded his television directing and inform his movement and staging. His collaborators include writer-producer Kay Mellor, while his television career has moved towards lead-director roles. On the fourth series of Sex Education (2023), he directed the opening three episodes and contributed to set design. That involvement in the sets is worth noting for a director whose background already involves arranging performers in physical space. It gives us a reason to look beyond the acting when considering what he brings to a programme.
Protect Me From What I Want (2009), which he wrote and directed, offers a different route into the work. The short explores queer themes in Bradford and West Yorkshire, settings and concerns that recur in his short films. The writing credit makes it a useful place to look for his own interests, away from the shared responsibilities of a continuing television series. Begin with Skins for the young performers, but be prepared to forgive the plotting.
Biography
Dominic Leclerc is an English television and film director. Originally from Bradford, he began his career as a theatre director and choreographer, working at venues including the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Court and West Yorkshire Playhouse. He won the Channel 4 Regional Theatre Director Scheme and other awards including the ITV David Fraser Bursary and the Oxford Samuel Beckett Award.
His early short films include Protect Me from What I Want (2009). He has directed episodes of Shameless (from 2009) and Skins (from 2010), as well as series including Sex Education, Call the Midwife, The A Word, The Syndicate and Silent Witness. His feature debut Flesh and Flamingos is in production.
