Derek Wax

Derek Wax is a British television producer, best known for his award-winning production work on Sex Traffic, Occupation, The Hour and Humans. Wax started his career working in London-based theatres before moving to the BBC to work in television production. He is currently an Executive Producer at Kudos.

Wax's first major work came as producer of the BAFTA nominated single drama Flesh and Blood for BBC2 in 2002. This was then followed by the Channel 4 series Sex Traffic, which went on to win a number of BAFTA's. His first role as Executive Producer came on the BBC and HBO mini-series, Tsunami: The Aftermath. In 2009, he produced the BAFTA winning BBC mini-series, Occupation. Since then he has been Executive Producer on the Emmy winning and Golden Globe nominated, The Hour.

He is currently Executive Producer of the AMC and Channel 4 series, Humans and the BBC mini-series Capital.

Early life & education

Wax was born in Manchester, England. He graduated from Balliol College, Oxford University with a degree in English Language and English Literature.^[1]

Directing career

Theatre

His career began in theatre, starting as an Assistant Director at the Greenwich Theatre and Albery Theatre on a production of Chekhov's Three Sisters. He was a Staff Director at the Royal National Theatre in 1989 and 1990, before working at a number of London-based theatres where he directed numerous plays, including Ivan Klíma's Games at the Gate Theatre, Patrick's Day at the Battersea Arts Centre, No Remission at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith and The Life of the World to Come at the Almeida Theatre.^[1]

Television

His TV career began in 1995 when he moved to BBC Drama Series and Serials as a script editor. He script edited the two-part Minette Walters serial The Ice House^[2] and the Stella Tillyard BBC/WGBH mini-series, Aristocrats.^[3]

His debut as a TV producer came on the BBC series, Waiting for the Whistle, which aired on BBC Choice. For the series he directed the TV film The King and Us, which was written by Peter Bowker and starred Christopher Eccleston. The film covered the story of Denis Law's goal that relegated Manchester United from the First Division in 1974.^[4]

Shortly after working on The King and Us, Wax left the BBC to join Granada television as a producer, while also working with Red Production Company in Manchester. In 2001, he worked on a collaborative project for Red Productions and BBC Serials, which aired on BBC2. The single film, Flesh and Blood, was written by Peter Bowker, directed by Julian Farino and starred Christopher Eccleston. It went on to receive a number of awards including a BAFTA nomination for Best Single Drama.^[5] Within the 12 months of its release, it also won the Prix Europa for European Fiction Film of the year. Domestically, it also received Royal Television Society awards, with Best Writer and Best Actor awards going to Peter Bowker and Christopher Eccleston respectively.^[5]

In 2002, he also produced Sally Wainwright's 3-part mini-series Sparkhouse for Red Productions and BBC One.^[6] While at Granada, Wax worked as a Script Executive on Hornblower and also Poirot. The third season of Hornblower also received an Emmy nomination.^[1]

Wax developed and produced for Granada the 2004 Channel 4 and CBC mini-series, Sex Traffic.^[7] The two-part thriller, written by Abi Morgan, directed by David Yates and starring Anamaria Marinca and John Simm, told the story of two girls trafficked from Romania to Britain and explored both the social and political aspects of trafficking.^[8] The show went on to win the 2005 BAFTA award for Best Drama Serial. The show swept the board at the 2005 British BAFTA TV awards, winning 8 of the 15 production awards on offer, including the BAFTA for Best Drama Serial. It also won 4 RTS Awards.^[9]

He joined the British production company Kudos in 2005. His first role as Executive Producer was on the mini-series, Tsunami: The Aftermath. The show starred Tim Roth, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Toni Collette, and was directed by Bharat Nalluri. It aired on both the BBC and HBO.^[10]

Wax was the Executive Producer on the single drama West 10 LDN, written by Noel Clarke and directed by Menhaj Huda for BBC Three in 2008. He also worked as Executive Producer on the Channel 4 sitcom, Plus One, in 2009.

Also broadcast on BBC One in 2009, Wax executive produced the 3-part drama series, Occupation, working with writer Peter Bowker.^[11][12] The drama traced the fraught interwoven journeys of three British soldiers who take part in the invasion of Iraq and then return to Manchester, before being drawn back to Basra.^[13][14] The drama featured James Nesbitt, Stephen Graham and Warren Brown and was directed by Nick Murphy.^[15] A year later, Occupation won the 2010 BAFTA award for Best Drama Serial,^[16] a Prix Europa award for Best European Series^[17] and a Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Serial.^[18][19]

Later in 2010, Wax executive produced two seasons of the Harriet Braun created, Glasgow-based TV show, Lip Service, which aired on BBC Three.^[20] In 2011, Wax executive produced the Abi Morgan written drama series, The Hour, set in a BBC newsroom during the 1956 Suez crisis. It was broadcast on BBC2 and BBC America.

It was commissioned for a second series but cancelled after the second series was transmitted. The Hour was also nominated for Best Mini-Series at the 70th Golden Globe Awards.^[21] Abi Morgan later won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Mini-Series.^[22]

Wax teamed up with Peter Bowker in 2014 for the 3-part mini-series about the IRA bombing in Manchester, which was titled From There to Here.^[23] Shortly after, Wax worked as Executive Producer for the Channel 4 and AMC sci-fi series, Humans.^[24] The first series of the show, written by Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley and set in a parallel present, explored the impact of a suburban family who buy a humanoid robot.^[25] The show quickly received acclaim in both the United States and Britain, with the Guardian calling the show the "biggest drama hit in 20 years" for Channel 4.^[26] Due to the shows popularity, it was renewed for a second season.^[27]

In 2015, he was announced as the Executive Producer on the drama, Capital. It is based on John Lanchester’s novel of the same name. The three-part serial was adapted by Peter Bowker for BBC One, airing in November 2015.^[28] Later that year, he was announced as the Executive Producer for the 2016 BBC series, Troy - Fall Of A City.^[29]

Credits

• The Ice House - Script Editor (1997)
• Aristocrats - Script Writer (1999)
• Waiting for the Whistle - Producer (2001)
• The King and Us - Producer - (2002)
• Sparkhouse - Producer (2002)
• Flesh and Blood - Producer (2002)
• Sex Traffic - Producer (2004)
• Tsunami: The Aftermath - Executive Producer (2005)
• West 10 LDN - Executive Producer (2009)
• Plus One – Executive Producer (2009)
• Occupation - Executive Producer (2009)
• Lip Service - Executive Producer (2010 - 2012)
• The Hour - Executive Producer (2012-2013)
• From There to Here - Executive Producer (2014)
• Humans - Executive Producer (2015–present)
• Capital – Executive Producer (2015)
• Troy - Fall Of A City - Executive Producer (2016)

References