John Bridcut is an award-winning film maker, with dozens of varied productions to his name, ranging from politics to history to the arts – in particular, a number of portraits of musicians and composers.
His most recent music film is Michael Tippett, The Shadow and the Light is the latest in his portraits of British composers, which have been widely acclaimed.
His acclaimed three-part series about the first 50 years of the BBC, How The BBC Began, featured the vivid testimony of some of the pioneers. These films will be available on BBC iPlayer for several years to come.
Previous music films have included Winter Journey, an imaginative re-creation of Schubert's song cycle, Winterreise, filmed in the Swiss Alps with the baritone Benjamin Appl and the pianist James Baillieu.
Other music documentaries in the past few years have included Bernard Haitink, The Enigmatic Maestro, as well as Janet Baker In Her Own Words and Jonas Kaufmann, Tenor for the Ages.
He has also made a number of films about the British royal family, including his portrait of Charles III, Born To Be The King. This followed Prince, Son and Heir: Charles at 70 and Elizabeth at 90: A Family Tribute, both of which have been shown around the world.
Most of Bridcut's work is produced by his own company, Crux Productions. He broadcasts on BBC Radio from time to time, and has published two books on Benjamin Britten. He also gives lectures on music, contemporary history, broadcasting and current affairs. His report for the BBC Trust on the knotty subject of impartiality at the BBC, From Seesaw to Wagon Wheel, was published in 2007.
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Full series of "How the BBC Began" now on iPlayer
The acclaimed series How The BBC Began is back with a third episode.Through the candid and revealing memories of producers and presenters at the sharp end of the BBC's first 50 years, "Shooting The Rapids" tells the story of how the BBC struggled to be impartial at critical moments in British history – from the General Strike in 1926, to the Suez crisis of 1956 and the politics of Northern Ireland in the 1960s. It also explores the role of the BBC in handling social changes in Britain after the second world war. This feature-length third film was on BBC Four in March and the whole series is now on BBC iPlayer.
You can see a trailer for the film here.