Dennis Vance

{{Short description|British TV producer and director (1924–1983)}} thumb {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Dennis Vance''' (18 March 1924 – 6 October 1983) was a British television producer, director, and occasional actor. ==Career== Born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, he signed up as a Fleet Air Arm pilot during the Second World War. Post-war he began his career as an actor in the late 1940s, appearing in small film parts, such as Poet's Pub, in 1949, before switching to become a producer with BBC Television in the early 1950s.<ref name=bfi>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f67d4a9|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190731223352/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f67d4a9|url-status=dead|archive-date=31 July 2019|title=Dennis Vance|website=BFI}}</ref> Later, in 1955 he became the first Head of Drama at the ITV contractor ABC Weekend TV, who went on air in 1956, serving the Midlands and the North of England at weekends.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://abcatlarge.co.uk/school-for-stars/|title=School for stars|date=December 14, 2017}}</ref> He also produced episodes of ''The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel'' (1956), also directing a couple of episodes.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6e8a526a|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210805124051/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6e8a526a|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 August 2021|title=Sir Percy's Wager (1955)|website=BFI}}</ref>

At ABC, Vance oversaw the creation of the anthology drama series ''Armchair Theatre'', which was networked nationally across the ITV regions on Sunday evenings. It became an important long running landmark in British television drama series. Vance, however, left the Head of Drama role in 1958 for a promotion within ABC, being replaced by Sydney Newman.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/534786/index.html|title=BFI Screenonline: Armchair Theatre (1956-74)|website=www.screenonline.org.uk}}</ref> He soon returned to producing and directing work, helming episodes of programmes such as ABC's ''The Avengers'' (1961).<ref name=Hayes-McGinlay>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N2FUCwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Janice+Willett%22+%22ABC%22&pg=PA253 |title=Two Against the Underworld: The Collected Unauthorised Guide to The Avengers Series 1 |first1=Alan |last1=Hayes |first2=Richard |last2=McGinlay |first3=Alys |last3=Hayes |publisher=lulu.com |date=26 January 2017 |isbn=978-1326466268 |pages=253–254}}</ref>

On 11 April 1961 Vance stabbed his colleague Janice Willett in the shoulder during filming for the Avengers episode Dance with Death at ABC's Teddington Studios.<ref>'Girl stabbed in TV studio', ''Daily Express'', 12 April 1961</ref> Vance, who had experienced a mental breakdown the previous year, was charged with grievous bodily harm later the same day after giving himself up to police.<ref name=Hayes-McGinlay/><ref>''The Glasgow Herald'', 12 April 1961</ref> At his subsequent trial, held at the Old Bailey on 27 April, Vance was found guilty due to diminished responsibility and sentenced to three years' probation, after a psychiatrist successfully argued in his defence. He was ordered to spend twelve months of this sentence as a patient at London's St Luke's Hospital.<ref name=Hayes-McGinlay/>

Vance was dismissed by ABC, but later worked for Associated Television and others.<ref name=Hayes-McGinlay/> He produced and directed Thames' ''The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes'' (1971).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/dennis-vance-p72950/other_appearances|title=Dennis Vance | TV, Documentary and Other Appearances|website=AllMovie}}</ref> He produced and directed ''The Misfit'' and ''The Bass Player and the Blonde'' for ATV,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6b080943|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227222335/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6b080943|url-status=dead|archive-date=27 December 2022|title=On Being British (1970)|website=BFI}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6f22f321|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190515092512/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6f22f321|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 May 2019|title=The Bass Player and the Blonde (1977)|website=BFI}}</ref> and directed episodes of ''Public Eye'' and ''Van der Valk'' for Thames.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/550868/credits.html|title=BFI Screenonline: Public Eye (1965-75) Credits|website=www.screenonline.org.uk}}</ref> He also became involved with the Thomson Organization, helping to set up radio and television operations for developing countries.<ref>[https://www.google.com/books/edition/Two_Against_the_Underworld_the_Collected/N2FUCwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Two+Against+the+Underworld%22+%22Thomson+Organisation%22&pg=PA236&printsec=frontcover Hayes and McGinlay, p. 236]</ref> ==Marriages and death== Vance was married six times, with one child from each of his first three marriages. He died in Wimbledon, London in 1983, at the age of fifty-nine.<ref name=bfi/>

==Filmography== * ''Scott of the Antarctic'' (1948) * ''Trouble in the Air'' (1948) * ''Warning to Wantons'' (1949) * ''Poet's Pub'' (1949) * ''Shadow of the Eagle'' (1950)

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{IMDb name|0888505}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vance, Dennis}} Category:1924 births Category:1983 deaths Category:20th-century British male actors Category:20th-century British businesspeople Category:Male actors from Cheshire Category:Businesspeople from Cheshire Category:British television directors Category:British television producers Category:People from Birkenhead Category:Fleet Air Arm personnel of World War II Category:Fleet Air Arm aviators