{{Short description|British television and film producer (born 1949)}} {{EngvarB|date=October 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}
'''Esta Malka Charkham''' (born 29 March 1949) is a British television and film producer and casting director known for the films ''Chariots of Fire'' (1981) and ''Supergirl'' (1984) and the television series ''Robin of Sherwood'' (1984), among others.
She is a director of the talent agency Esta Charkham Associates;<ref name=Esta>[https://www.charkham.net/aboutus Charkham on Esta Charkham Associates website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170420234447/https://www.charkham.net/aboutus |date=20 April 2017 }}, charkham.net; accessed 22 March 2018.</ref><ref>[https://actors.mandy.com/uk/agent/profile/esta-charkham-associates Esta Charkham Associates], actors.mandy.com; accessed 22 March 2018.</ref> the Founder and Principal of West London Drama Training, an independent theatre school for young people between the ages of 7 and 18; and a former director of the National Youth Theatre.<ref>[http://www.directorstats.co.uk/director/esta-charkham Charkham profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170420144849/http://www.directorstats.co.uk/director/esta-charkham/ |date=20 April 2017 }}, directorstats.co.uk; accessed 22 March 2018.</ref><ref>[https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk Directors of The National Youth Theatre], CompaniesHouse.gov.uk; accessed 22 March 2018.</ref>
==Early life== Born in London in 1949, the daughter of Montague Charkham (1924–2015) and Regina (née Stockman, 1925–2004), her grandfather was an immigrant tailor from Ukraine who on arriving in the UK set up the family tailoring and menswear business in London. Charkham the tailors had 5 shops and bought Hawkes at Number 1 Savile Row and then amalgamated with Gieves to become Gieves & Hawkes with Monty Charkham running the shop and becoming the first generation son of a Ukrainian tailor to run the number one establishment in Savile Row.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1977/07/19/archives/savile-rows-style-fit-now-for-women.html?_r=0 Savile Row's Style, Fit Now for Women], ''The New York Times'', 19 July 1977.</ref>
Esta Charkham was educated at Malorees Primary School, Brondesbury and Kilburn High School (1960–65) and the National Youth Theatre (1965) for whom she appeared in a small role in ''Bartholomew Fair'' at the Royal Court Theatre in 1966 with David Calder and David Suchet.
The following year she was cast in the leading role of Mrs Philton in the National Youth Theatre's original production of Peter Terson's ''Zigger Zagger'' which opened at the Jeanetta Cochrane Theatre in August 1967 and which was filmed and broadcast as a ''Play for Today'' by the BBC in the same year.<ref>[http://bufvc.ac.uk/screenplays/index.php/prog/2180 ''Zigger Zagger'' (1967)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190925114831/http://bufvc.ac.uk/screenplays/index.php/prog/2180 |date=25 September 2019 }}, bufvc.ac.uk; accessed 22 March 2018.</ref>
When the play opened in the West End in March 1968 with a professional cast Charkham was in the production and, wanting to be a professional actress, she left school against her parents' wishes. However, the play closed after two weeks and Charkham was now an out of work teenage actress with no qualifications. Shortly after in 1968 she was cast in her first television role as an art student in a play called ''The Life Class'' for ''Theatre 625'', in the same year appearing in the series ''B-And-B'' with Bernard Braden and Barbara Kelly for the BBC.<ref name=GAC>Information supplied by Esta Charkham to researcher Jack1956</ref>
==Career== Charkham played the unmarriageable Jewish daughter Romaine Swartz in the play ''Enter Solly Gold'' by Bernard Kops at the Mermaid Theatre in 1970 and in 1971 she appeared as the Dean's daughter in ''Doctor at Large'' and was a Bar mitzvah guest in ''Sunday Bloody Sunday'' (1971)<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20170420145353/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba136c2fe Charkham profile], bfi.org.uk; accessed 22 March 2018.</ref> followed by appearances in ''Everybody Say Cheese'' (1971) – the latter another ''Play for Today'' and directed by Alan Clarke followed by ''The Fenn Street Gang'' (1972) among others before leaving acting to become a Casting Director for various television series including ''The Professionals'', moving on to casting for films such as ''Quadrophenia'' (1979), ''Scum'' (1979), the Oscar-winning ''Chariots of Fire'' (1981) and ''Supergirl'' (1984).<ref name=Esta/>
Following this Charkham became a television producer, first working on two series of ''Robin of Sherwood'' for HTV and for which she was nominated for a BAFTA in 1987<ref>[http://awards.bafta.org/keyword-search?keywords=Children%27s%20Programme%20Entertainment/Drama BAFTA Awards and Nominations (1987)]</ref> before moving on to Central Television where she reformatted and produced ''Boon'' for ITV.<ref name=Esta/><ref name=Age>[http://www.thewirelessradio.com/presenters/esta-charkham Esta Charkham biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170420234525/http://www.thewirelessradio.com/presenters/esta-charkham/ |date=20 April 2017 }}, thewirelessradio.com; accessed 22 March 2018.</ref>
On leaving Central Television in 1988 Charkham joined Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran in their independent production company ALOMO as managing director. For ALOMO Charkham developed and produced ''Birds of a Feather'' for the BBC, worked on ''Grown Ups'' and developed the long running series ''Love Hurts'' for the BBC; while for Channel 4 she worked on ''Nightingales''.<ref name=GAC/>
For the BBC she produced ''Crown Prosecutor'' and the children's series ''No Sweat'' as well as ''One Foot in the Grave'' – winning a British Comedy Award and being nominated for a BAFTA (1998), both for the latter.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098882/awards Awards for ''One Foot in the Grave'' (1990–2001)], Internet Movie Database; accessed 22 March 2018.</ref> On leaving ALOMO she was a producer on ''Medics'' for ITV and ''Life After Life'' for LWT.<ref name=GAC/>
In the early 1990s she formed her own production company ETC (Esta's Television Company) with Michael Hobbs and made ''Shall We Gather at the River'' for Channel 4, starring Beryl Reid and Rosemary Leach. She played Mrs P.C. Harold in the low-budget comedy horror film ''I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle'' (1990)<ref>''I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle'' on [http://www.britishhorrorfilms.co.uk/vampiremotorcycle.shtml the British Horror Films website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170620080255/http://britishhorrorfilms.co.uk/vampiremotorcycle.shtml |date=20 June 2017 }}</ref> and had a cameo role opposite Michael Elphick in the series ''Harry''. In 1996 she played The Best Casting Director in the World in the CBBC series ''Julia Jekyll and Harriet Hyde''. Also in the 1990s she presented ''Jewish London'' for BBC Radio London, standing in for Vanessa Feltz for a few episodes and then became Show Business Gossip Reporter for Simon Bates on his Breakfast Show at Talk Radio.<ref name=GAC/>
Since 1980 she has worked with most of the leading drama schools including the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama as a director of plays and showcases, as a teacher of contextual studies and Restoration comedy and professional practice. For several years she served on the National Council for Drama Training and was a Director of the National Youth Theatre from 1986 to 2012. Charkham was awarded an honorary degree from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in recognition of her work with students.<ref name=Esta/><ref name=Age/>
She was the presenter for the radio series ''Showtunes'' on The Wireless for Age UK from 2012 to 2016 and was one of the first Lady Barkers of the Variety Club of Great Britain.<ref name=Esta/><ref name=Age/> In 2020 Charkham played the casting director Georgina in an episode of ''I Hate Suzie''.
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==External links== *[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0152927/ Charkham profile], imdb.com; accessed 22 March 2018.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Charkham, Esta}} Category:1949 births Category:Living people Category:National Youth Theatre members Category:20th-century English actresses Category:Jewish English actresses Category:English television actresses Category:English stage actresses Category:Television producers from London Category:BBC television producers Category:Film producers from London Category:English women television producers Category:Actresses from London