Oliver Bayldon FRSA, FCSD (12 September 1938 – 23 December 2019) was a London-based, award-winning British production designer who worked with the Northampton Repertory Theatre, the BBC, and the Royal Academy of Music.
He is best known for designing sets for TV shows such as: Meet the Wife (1966), Till Death Us Do Part (1968), The Railway Children (1968), Dad's Army (1968), Z-Cars (1970–1971), The Onedin Line (1971–1972), Poldark (1975–1976), When the Boat Comes In (1976–1977), Happy Ever After (1978), Shakespeare's first tetralogy (the Henry VI plays and Richard III) directed by Jane Howell (1983), Strangers and Brothers (1984), On the Up (1990), Memento Mori (1992), and Wokenwell (1997).
[7] At the end of 1954, the school produced Nikolai Gogol's The Government Inspector, for which Bayldon designed and painted the Victorian décor, as well as acting in the leading female part "with fine control of voice and features.
"[8] In the spring of 1955, Bayldon designed the costumes for the school's production of Christopher Fry's The Boy with a Cart,[9] a story of St. Cuthman, written as a legend of miracles and faith in the style of the mystery plays.
In December 1955, the boys presented the first part of Shakespeare's Henry IV to a limited number of parents and friends; in addition to designing and painting the scenery, Bayldon played the role of the Archbishop of York.
[10] In November 1956, a group of masters from the school, aided by wives and friends, produced an amusing version of Brandon Thomas's Charley's Aunt to raise money for new stage equipment; Bayldon was responsible for designing the scenery.
"[13] In July, he was awarded the Sir Jonathan North Endowment Scheme gold medal for his designs of costumes and set for the musical My Fair Lady, which he created specially for this art competition.
"[15][16] The Vice-Chancellor of the University, Dr. C. H. Wilson, who had been on the awards committee for six years, said: "In presenting Mr. Richard O. M. Bayldon, of the Leicester College of Art, with the gold medal, we found he had remarkable sympathy with the Edwardian era".
[22] The Leicester Evening Mail reviewer wrote: "Oliver Bayldon, an articulate and perceptive writer, whose work has found favour with the BBC, tries to define art and says society must come to terms with it.
After unearthing a medieval wall, bones, and pieces of ancient pottery, they alerted officials of Leicester Museum who became interested, and Bayldon decided to call off the hoax and continue with serious excavations.
[30][31][32][33] Shortly after returning from his US study tour in November 1961, 22-year-old Bayldon began a one-year apprenticeship[34] on an Arts Council Scholarship at the Northampton Repertory Theatre, as an assistant to the long-serving regular designer Thomas Osborne Robinson.
[58] The filming in Exeter and Dartmouth involved many dramatic incidents at sea, for one of which he created a specially constructed steam pinnace, a period steamship complete with a 13-foot high funnel and a large boiler.
[58] In March and April 1975, BBC2 aired The Fight Against Slavery, a six-part dramatised documentary co-produced with Time Life, written by Evan Jones and directed by Christopher Ralling,[74] with sets designed by Bayldon.
[note 6][3] Between October 1975 and January 1976,[58] BBC1 showed the first series of Poldark, based on the novels by Winston Graham and starring Angharad Rees and Robin Ellis, for which Bayldon designed all sixteen episodes.
[79] These three pieces were: Henry Purcell's The Fairy Queen Act IV: The Masque of the Seasons,[80] Gavin Ewart & John Gardner's Tobermory,[81] and Gilbert & Sullivan's Trial by Jury,[82] the latter after an interval.
[58] In 1978, Bayldon made designs for "The Legion Hall Bombing", which aired in August for Play for Today, and worked on three episodes of Happy Ever After, starring Terry Scott and June Whitfield, shown in September and October.
[58] He designed The Dancing Princesses, broadcast in December, as a significantly modified television adaptation of the Brothers Grimm's fairy tale, directed by Ben Rea and featuring Jim Dale, Freddie Jones, and Gloria Grahame.
[58] During the latter part of 1978, Bayldon designed sets for the serialised TV adaptation of George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss, directed by Ronald Wilson and starring Christopher Blake, Pippa Guard, Judy Cornwell, Ray Smith and Anton Lesser; these eight episodes were broadcast from December 1978 to February 1979.
The quality of design (Oliver Bayldon) and costume (Caroline Maxwell) is sound and a little quickening of pace in future episodes will ensure that the traditions of the BBC Classic Serial are maintained.
[58] The same year, Bayldon contributed elaborate sets[note 8] for Shakespeare's first tetralogy (the Henry VI plays and Richard III) directed by Jane Howell and produced by Jonathan Miller, with costumes by John Peacock.
[58] In January 1989, BBC2 aired The Dark Angel, a three-part television adaptation of J. Sheridan Le Fanu's Uncle Silas, starring Peter O'Toole, Beatie Edney, Simon Shepherd, and Jane Lapotaire.
"[95] In 1990, Bayldon designed sets for Never Come Back, a three-part crime drama created by David Pirie and starring Nathaniel Parker, James Fox, Jonathan Coy, Suzanna Hamilton, and Ingrid Lacey, aired on BBC2 over three successive Wednesdays from 21 March 1990.
[99] Also in 1990, Bayldon produced sets for all seven episodes of the first series of On the Up, a situation comedy written by Bob Larbey and starring Dennis Waterman, Sam Kelly, Joan Sims, Jenna Russell, and Judy Buxton.
[100] In 1991, Bayldon created designs for "Do Not Disturb", an episode aired on 17 March 1991 in series seven of the BBC2 programme Screen Two, produced by Simon Passmore and directed by Nicholas Renton, and starring Frances Barber, Peter Capaldi, and Éva Darlan.
[106][107] In 1993, Bayldon created sets for two episodes of BBC2's Scene series for teenagers; the first, Dear Life, written by Sue Glover and directed by Jane Howell, was broadcast on 19 March;[108] the second was a play by Tom Stoppard, A Separate Peace, which aired a week later.
It was directed by Lindsay Posner and produced by Simon Curtis, and aired on 13 November 1993, starring Eileen Atkins, Jennifer Ehle, Bill Nighy, Edward Fox, and Samuel West.
[112][113] In January 1995, Bayldon was credited as production designer on The Plant,[114][115] a science fiction film shown on BBC1, about an alien visitor to a London suburb; it was written and directed by Jonathan Lewis, and starred Joanna Roth, Valentine Pelka, and Eoin McCarthy.
[117][118] After going freelance when the BBC downsized,[note 10] Bayldon returned as production designer for Into the Fire, a three-part television thriller drama mini-series first shown on BBC1 on 14 February 1996 for three consecutive nights; it was written by Tony Marchant, directed by Jane Howell, and starred Donal McCann, David Morrissey, Sharon Duce, and Sue Johnston.
The series was created by screenwriter Bill Gallagher and produced by LWT, starring Ian McElhinney, Celia Imrie, Nicholas Gleaves, Lesley Dunlop, Jason Done and Nicola Stephenson.
[130] He also wrote three articles in Prospero: Memories: Ealing Studios remembered (2015),[131] as well as obituaries for his colleagues Peter Hammond, actor and director (2011),[132] and John Hurst, Senior TV production designer (2016).