Mike Hodges - Life and Work

Life and Work

After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant and serving out his two years’ National Service on the lower deck of a Royal Navy minesweeper, Hodges got a job in British television as a Teleprompter operator. This allowed him to observe the workings of the studios and time to start writing scripts. One of these was Some Will Cry Murder, written for ABC’s Armchair Theatre series. Although never performed, it served to get him enough writing commissions to quit his job as a technician.

After that, he quickly gravitated to producer/director status, with series such as Sunday Break for ABC Television, World In Action for Granada Television and the arts programmes Tempo and New Tempo for Thames Television. Again for Thames Television he wrote, directed and produced two filmed thrillers, Rumour (1969) and Suspect (1970). These films formed the basis for the creation of Euston Films, the influential television production company that continued into the 1980s. These two films also led to Hodges' being asked to write and direct Get Carter, which has been described as "one of the great British gangster films of all time", and Flash Gordon which has enjoyed cult status ever since.

Interspersed with his cinema work are some interesting and critically successful television films, including The Manipulators (1973), Squaring The Circle (1984; scripted by Tom Stoppard), Dandelion Dead (1993; scripted by Michael Chaplin), and The Healer (1994; scripted by GF Newman).