# Michael Croucher

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**Michael John Croucher** (17 January 1930 – 26 May 2006) was a British documentary film maker and television producer for the [BBC](/source/BBC).

## Life

Born in [Maidstone](/source/Maidstone), [Kent](/source/Kent), he was educated at [Cranbook school](/source/Cranbrook_School,_Kent). His education there was interrupted when he was [evacuated](/source/Emergency_evacuation) to [Saskatchewan](/source/Saskatchewan) in Canada during the [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War). In 1949, he undertook [National Service](/source/Conscription_in_the_United_Kingdom) in the [Royal Air Force](/source/Royal_Air_Force), before studying at the [Royal College of Music](/source/Royal_College_of_Music).[1]

He married the writer and actor Rosalind Gee in 1955, and had two sons and one daughter with her. After his divorce from Rosalind, he was married to the artist Anne Adamson from 1979 to his death in May 2006. They had two daughters.[2][3]

## Career

He started work in 1954 as a trainee sound technician at the BBC in [Plymouth](/source/Plymouth), where he made use of his experience in [wireless telegraphy](/source/Wireless_telegraphy). After moving to BBC [Bristol](/source/Bristol) in 1958, he was able to transfer his sound editing skills to television, and began to work on short documentary pieces on magazine programmes.[3][4]

He made short filmed documentary programmes, notably *The Bashers* about a boys' gang in the [Lawrence Hill](/source/Lawrence_Hill) area of Bristol, and then worked on programmes with [John Betjeman](/source/John_Betjeman). Croucher became assistant director to [John Boorman](/source/John_Boorman), and they worked together on the series *Citizen 63* and *The Newcomers*. With Boorman, he pioneered the approach of "filming ordinary people telling their extraordinary stories straight to camera."[4] After Boorman began working on cinema films, Croucher became head of documentaries at Bristol, and produced a series of films with largely rural settings, including *The Curious Character of Britain*, *Summer 67*, *The Way of the Warrior*, *Seven Ages of Man*, and *Leap in the Dark*. He produced the semi-fictionalised *[Diary of Anne Hughes](/source/The_Diary_of_a_Farmer's_Wife_1796%E2%80%931797)* (1978) of which it was said he was proud of.[3] He produced many one-off films, and the series *The French Way*, *The Italian Way*, *The Yugoslavian Way*, and *The Irish Way*. In technical work, he pioneered techniques of [colour separation](/source/Colour_separation).[3][4][5]

He left the BBC in 1989, and in later years was a visiting lecturer at [Bristol University](/source/Bristol_University) in the drama department. He died May 26, 2006, aged 76.[3][4]

## References

1. Smith, A. C. H. (2006-07-20). ["Michael Croucher"](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/jul/20/broadcasting.guardianobituaries). *The Guardian*. [ISSN 0261-3077](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0261-3077). Retrieved 2023-08-14.

1. ["Michael Croucher | Producer, Director, Writer"](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1622115/). *IMDb*. Retrieved 2023-08-14.

1. [ACH Smith, "Michael Croucher: Pioneering and patient BBC documentary film-maker", *The Guardian*, 20 July 2006](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/jul/20/broadcasting.guardianobituaries). Retrieved 27 December 2019

1. [Obituary: Michael Croucher, *The Times*, 10 June 2006](https://www.thetimes.com/article/michael-croucher-ndjmqpz0xbc). Retrieved 27 December 2019

1. ["Michael Croucher: Filmmaker", *BAFTA*](http://www.bafta.org/heritage/in-memory-of/michael-croucher). Retrieved 27 December 2019

## External links

- [Michael Croucher](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1622115/) at IMDb
- [Obituary in the Guardian 2006](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/jul/20/broadcasting.guardianobituaries)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Michael Croucher](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Croucher) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Croucher?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.