Biography

 

Writer / Director

 

Ross directed the eight-part adaptation of BLEAK HOUSE which won three BAFTAs.  NOW THAT THE BUFFALO'S GONE won a Blue Riband Award.  He was one of the two directors engaged on GOAL! about the World Cup Competition being held in England in 1966.  GOAL! received the Robert Flaherty Award from BAFTA. Now writing as well, he has adapted Zakes Mda's WAYS OF LIVING as a modest budget South African film.

 

Ross Devenish studied film-making in London.  He started his career with documentaries, filming behind the Royalist lines in the Civil War in the Yemen, secretly entering and filming the mercenaries trapped in the besieged town of Bukava in the Congo after a failed coup, and the next year filming in Vietnam during the 1968 Tet Offensive.  He then spent the best part of a year in the United States making a film about the native Americans, called NOW THAT THE BUFFALO'S GONE.

 

Deciding to concentrate on his interest in drama, he began working with the dramatist Athol Fugard.  He directed three films with scripts by Fugard, including THE GUEST and MARIGOLDS IN AUGUST, in his native South Africa.  THE GUEST won a Bronze Leopard at Locarno and MARIGOLDS IN AUGUST a Silver Bear in Berlin.

 

 

Full Credits:

 

In Development:

 

2006  

WAYS OF LIVING:

Feature film based on adaptation of Zakes Mda's novel WAYS OF DYING: Ross to direct

 

NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH

Feature adaptation of John Kani's play of the same name: Filming finished in December 2006

 

2005  

SHADES: based on the novel by Marguerite Poland, script by Ross Devenish

 

2000 / 1         

DALZIEL & PASCOE

A feature length film for BBC TV: Producer Annie Tricklebank: 8.2m viewers: Highest rating for Dalziel & Pascoe

 

1997-8                        

A CERTAIN JUSTICE:

From the novel by P D James: Anglia / United: three-part thriller: Producer Martin Auty

 

1997  

DALZIEL AND PASCOE: EXIT LINES

BBC: feature length film for television: Producer Paddy Higson

 

1996  

TRUE TILDA

BBC: 6 episodes: Producers: Eric Abraham and Brenda Reid

 

1995  

DALZIEL AND PASCOE: A CLUBBABLE WOMAN

BBC: feature length film for television: Producers Eric Abraham and Chris Parr

 

1995  

A TOUCH OF FROST

YTV: feature length film for television: Starring David Jason

 

1994  

BETWEEN THE LINES

BBC: two episodes

 

1993  

CALLING THE SHOTS

BBC: three-part thriller: Starring Lynn Redgrave

 

1991  

ONE TWO BUCKLE MY SHOE

LWT: feature length film for television: Starring David Suchet as Poirot: Producer Brian Eastman

 

1990  

THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES

LWT: feature length film for television: Starring David Suchet: Producer: Brian Eastman

 

1989  

MADLY IN LOVE

Channel 4: Starring Penelope Wilton

 

1987  

DEATH OF A SON

BBC: feature length film: Starring Lynn Redgrave

 

1986  

HAPPY VALLEY

BBC: 90-minute film shot on location in Kenya: Starring Denholm Elliot

 

1986  

ASINAMALI

BBC: adaptation of Mbongoni Ngema's stage play about the State of Emergency in apartheid South Africa

 

1985  

BLEAK HOUSE

BBC's epic adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel: Starring Diana Rigg and Denholm Elliot

 

1978  

MARIGOLDS IN AUGUST

Independent feature: with Athol Fugard, John Kani and Winston Ntshona: South African / British co-production

 

1977  

THE GUEST

Independent feature: with Athol Fugard: South African / British co-production

 

1974  

BOESMAN AND LENA

Independent feature: with Athol Fugard and Yvonne Bryceland

 

In America:

 

1968

NOW THAT THE BUFFALO'S GONE

Thames

 

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