I have always been in awe of the talented Peter Kosminsky with a career spanning almost four decades and an enviable haul of accolades including BAFTA's and Golden Globes, there seems to be no end to this man's talent.
Peter Kosminsky has enormous depths to his talent
Peter Kosminsky's first independent film was the powerful drama-documentary No Child of Mind in 1997, the series starred former EastEnders actress Brooke Kinsella. It centred around the true case of a girl named Kerry who was sexually abused throughout her childhood and netted him a string of awards including the BAFTA Award for Best Single Drama and the FIPA d'Or in Biarritz.
But this was just the beginning for the Oxford graduate. Peter recently admitted during a Q & A with Channel 4 journalist Fatima Manji that it's always difficult making such hard hitting dramas, " When I started out all those years with No Child of Mine, I had to read a lot of stuff about child abuse and you can’t get it out of your head, it goes in and doesn’t come out."
The 61-year-old who hails from London has also directed two very successful feature films, Wuthering Heights in 1992 with Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche followed by White Oleander in 2002 with Michelle Pfeiffer and Renee Zellweger, but despite his success in the movie world, it never distracted him from the television dramas he does so well.
Peter has turned his attention to dramas about the Iraqi War and exploring why a second generation Muslim could become a jihadi. Kosminsky refers his three dramas The Government Inspector, Britz and his latest drama The State as his 'trilogy of programmes' and he confesses to Fatima Manji that making them wasn't easy. He said "The State is the hardest thing I have ever had to do in 27 years, It was really interesting though to watch the shape of the reaction from viewers about The State because we had to be faithful to the research.
I knew it wasn’t going to be easy when I took it on and I am now very happy to say goodbye. I have no plans to return to this subject matter again. My next project is a nice long holiday." We don't blame you.
Peter is an East Ender
Peter is a blue-collar East Ender: his father was a machinist in the rag trade who was paid for piece work, his mother a secretary.As a father, he often reflects on how the world has changed in recent years.
He told Fatima Manji and the audience during a recent Q & A organised by the Royal Television Society." The world has got so much worse with Brexit and Trump in the White House, I’ve got young kids and this is a hell of a time to talk to them about good values and tolerant values and the dangers of racism. I don’t condone any violence and I don’t believe it is the answer to anything but I can see why people are moving to the fringes in what I call a vacuum of charisma in the middle. Apart from Jeremy Corbyn, it’s the older people who seem to have emerged in this wonderful way."
With thanks to the RTS.