Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Al Hunter Ashton 1957-2007

From the Guild's e-bulletin:
Former Guild member Al Hunter Ashton died on Friday 27th April.

He was previously an active member of the Guild and was well known for his many acting roles. During his long career as a writer Al won the prestigious Prix Europa and the Monte Carlo Golden Nymph for two of his films: The Firm starring Gary Oldman and Alive and Kicking starring Lenny Henry and Robbie Coltrane. There was also a BAFTA for his controversial film about homeless kids called Safe. He appeared in and wrote for Brokers Man for BBC 1 alongside Kevin Whately, a close friend.

As a regular writer for Doctors, EastEnders and Holby City, Al kept himself busy. In between all this work Al still managed to write and appear in his own children's TV series: See How They Run! [written with award winning TV Director Tim O'Mara] which won the Royal Television Society Award for Best Children's drama, and the Australian Film Institute award for the same category. The series was also BAFTA nominated as was Al for his first attempt at directing - a 30 minute drama called Alison for the BBC Scene strand which remains the most repeated Drama on BBC schools TV to this day.
There are obituaries in The Independent and The Stage.

An online book of condolences has been set up on Al Hunter Ashton's website.

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