Peter Duguid’s work on Callan gives actors time to make one another uncomfortable. We rate that patience highly, though the programme’s occasional moodiness shows the risk of letting a scene linger.
Fi1m perspective
Callan (1967) lets a conversation become uncomfortable and then stays with it. Edward Woodward plays a killer who questions his orders, and Duguid is among the directors who give those doubts time to matter. We felt uneasy watching these exchanges because the programme does not hurry us away towards the next piece of action. The monochrome material lends a severity that suits Woodward’s performance. Here, taking time over people talking is a sound dramatic decision, and Duguid’s contribution is worth seeking out.
Duguid moved from theatre acting into television direction, bringing an interest in performance and the tension between actors. His early television work included Z-Cars (1962), followed by substantial work in ITV drama on series including Public Eye (1965) and Callan. He directed more episodes of Callan than anyone else, though that does not make every strength of the programme his personal achievement. Piers Haggard was another of its directors; Woodward, Russell Hunter’s Lonely and the dialogue are essential to its effect. Duguid’s virtue is giving that combination time to work.
The reservation is the moodiness, which occasionally wears thin in Callan. Hunter and the dialogue keep the gloom from becoming oppressive, but a sour temper cannot keep every scene interesting on its own. We would not defend a slow passage simply because the director is willing to give the actors time. Nor would we ask for the whole thing to move faster: the uncomfortable conversations are a large part of why this remains such an absorbing thriller.
His later television work included the four-episode The Hound of the Baskervilles (1982), with Tom Baker as Sherlock Holmes, and the police series The Bill (1984). Crime stories continued to occupy him well beyond the early police and espionage programmes. For a first encounter, we would choose Callan and watch how much interest its directors find in an exchange that another thriller might have hurried through. Stay for Woodward and Hunter; allow for the occasional bout of excessive gloom.
Biography
Peter Duguid was a British television director and producer. Born in Felling, Durham, he trained as an actor at the Old Vic Theatre School and began his career on stage with the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre. He later trained as a director with the BBC.
As a director, Duguid worked on series including Z-Cars (1962), Public Eye (1965) and Callan (1967), directing multiple episodes of the latter between 1967 and 1972. He also directed episodes of The Wednesday Play, Armchair Theatre and later series such as The Bill (1984).
Duguid died in London on 3 March 2009.
