---
name: "Pedr James"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/pedr-james"
fi1m_id: "pedr-james"
tmdb_id: 199721
roles: ["Director"]
born: "27 July 1940"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_fi1m_score: 81
average_as: "director"
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-10-07T11:28:01.114212+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."
---

# Pedr James

## Identity

Pedr James

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/pedr-james
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** pedr-james
- **TMDB ID:** 199721
- **Same entity:** https://www.themoviedb.org/person/199721

Director. Born 27 July 1940.

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Born:** 27 July 1940
- **Active:** 1960–1996
- **Frequently works with:** [Alan Grint](https://film.one/person/alan-grint.md), [Baz Taylor](https://film.one/person/baz-taylor.md), [Bob Hird](https://film.one/person/bob-hird.md), [Charles Sturridge](https://film.one/person/charles-sturridge.md), [Claude Whatham](https://film.one/person/claude-whatham.md), [Derek Bennett](https://film.one/person/derek-bennett.md), [Gerald Blake](https://film.one/person/gerald-blake.md), [John Black](https://film.one/person/john-black.md)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 81, as director, over 2 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1960s 74 (1), 1990s 88 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://www.themoviedb.org/person/199721

## Streaming the US now

- **Apple TV:** [*Coronation Street*](https://film.one/tv/coronation-street.md) (74)

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

## Fi1m on Pedr James

> Pedr James’s strongest claim on our attention is the patient ensemble drama of *Our Friends in the North*. We rate that work highly, while keeping its shared directing credit firmly in view.

In *Our Friends in the North* (1996), an exchange is allowed to settle, and a difficult silence becomes something worth watching. That patience is what we value in Pedr James’s contribution, though the direction is shared with Simon Cellan Jones and Stuart Urban. We were moved by the domestic scenes because the performances make the characters’ disappointment painfully personal. Peter Flannery’s handling of public history can feel rushed, but there is enough warmth and interest in these people to keep us watching.

His route to that serial ran through *Brookside* (1982) and six episodes of *Coronation Street* in 1986–1987. He went on to direct all six episodes of the Dickens adaptation *Martin Chuzzlewit* (1994). We are wary of treating the move from soaps to literary adaptation as a promotion: the attention paid to ordinary domestic exchanges is what we prize in the later work. *Our Friends in the North* gives us the clearest evidence of his ability to handle a large cast across a story spanning 31 years.

The actors benefit from some unobtrusive work around them. Rob Hinds’s production design gives the rooms an everyday familiarity, while James Keast’s costumes mark the passing years without making each change of appearance a distraction. Both keep our attention on the performances, which suits the direction’s willingness to let an exchange settle. Colin Towns’s music is less consistently helpful: its emotional emphasis adds little to faces already telling us enough, although the quieter passages work well.

James directed four of the nine episodes of *Our Friends in the North*, taking over after earlier directors had departed. That makes the series an important measure of his work, but it does not entitle us to assign every successful scene to him. We rate his contribution highly without needing to invent a private signature for a programme whose pleasures are so clearly shared. Start there, provided a little haste in the public history will not spoil the long, patient business of getting to know these people.

## Biography

Pedr James is a British television director. He began working in the industry in the 1970s and directed episodes of the Channel 4 soap *Brookside* in the 1980s. He also directed six episodes of the ITV soap *Coronation Street* between 1986 and 1987.

In the 1990s James directed episodes of the BBC adaptation of *Martin Chuzzlewit* (1994) and four episodes of the award-winning drama serial *Our Friends in the North* (1996). He subsequently became Head of Drama at BBC Wales, a role he held from 1997 to 2000.

*Sources: imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org, coronationstreet.fandom.com.*

## On Fi1m (2)

- *Our Friends in the North* (1996), Fi1m 88, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/our-friends-in-the-north.md)
- *Coronation Street* (1960), Fi1m 74, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/coronation-street.md)

## Complete filmography (31)

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

- *Border Cafe* (2000), series, Executive Producer
- *Food for Ravens* (1997), Producer
- *Our Friends in the North* (1996), series, Director — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/our-friends-in-the-north.md)
- *Martin Chuzzlewit* (1994), series, Director
- *The Vision Thing* (1993), Director
- *Nice Town* (1992), series, Director
- *Aimée* (1991), Director
- *Shrinks* (1991), series, Director
- *A Master of the Marionettes* (1989), Director
- *The Play on One* (1988), series, Director
- *Day To Remember* (1986), Director
- *ScreenPlay* (1986), series, Director
- *Tandoori Nights* (1985), series, Director
- *Inside Out* (1985), series, Director
- *The Practice* (1985), series, Director
- *Screen Two* (1985), series, Director
- *Brookside* (1982), series, Director
- *The Daughters of Albion* (1979), Director
- *Pickersgill People* (1978), series, Director
- *Shall I See You Now?* (1978), Director
- *Our Day Out* (1977), Director
- *Our Flesh and Blood* (1977), Director
- *Love on a Gunboat* (1977), Script Editor
- *Jack Flea's Birthday Celebration* (1976), Script Editor
- *Do You Dig It?* (1976), Director
- *Thwum* (1975), Director
- *Second City Firsts* (1973), series, Director
- *Crown Court* (1972), series, Director
- *Play for Today* (1970), series, Director
- *ITV Playhouse* (1967), series, Director
- *Coronation Street* (1960), series, Director — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/tv/coronation-street.md)

---
© 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/pedr-james