Women’s Work in British Film and Television

Marcia Wheeler
Assistant Floor Manager, Production Manager, Production Associate, Manager of Series and Serials, Drama Training Co-ordinator

Marcia Wheeler (Assistant Floor Manager, Production Manager, Production Associate, Manager of Series and Serials, Drama Training Co-ordinator)

Marcia Wheeler was born in Derby in 1945. Her first professional job was doing props aged 13 at Derby Playhouse. At aged 16 she studied Stage Management at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. She subsequently worked as a floor manager at Salisbury Arts Theatre before entering BBC Television as an Assistant Floor Manager (AFM) in 1965. After several temporary contracts she secured a permanent position as an AFM in serials working on program such as Dr Who (BBC 1963-1989; 1996; 2005-) and Z Cars (BBC 1962-1978). Between 1971 and 1982 she rose through the ranks of the BBC to become Manager of Series and Serials, Drama Group. Along the way she managed the production of dramas such as The Duchess of Duke Street (BBC 1976-1977), The Mayor of Casterbridge (BBC 1978), Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (BBC 1979), Testament of Youth (BBC 1979), The Borgias (BBC 1981), Smiley’s People (BBC 1982) and Casualty (BBC 1986). She subsequently became Training Manager for the drama group between 1989 and 1991. She continued as the Drama Training Co-ordinator as well as a Drama launch producer on a freelance basis between 1991-1994.

In this interview Marcia describes her pleasure at learning different skills of stage production at Bristol and how these skills were useful to her as a production manager in television.

She describes the difficulties of securing a permanent position and the various ways in which gender politics informed her career at the BBC. She recalls how she was the only woman amongst 16 people on the production management training course in the late 1960s/early 1970s. She recalls being a sensation as an Assistant Floor Manager buying her own flat in 1969. She outlines the intricate nature of the job of Production Manager and moving in to the ‘business side’ of production management as Associate Producer as television expanded in the mid 1970s.

She recalls managing the production of several dramas simultaneously as well as the intricacies of shooting particular texts such as The Mayor of Casterbridge and The Borgias. She discusses how she navigated working with other key production personnel and the pressures involved in annual planning in the ‘killer role’ as Manager of Series and Serials.

She reflects on her subsequent decision to move in to training and her fight to retain the Director’s Training Course. She reflects on certain shifts to the BBC production culture in the 1990s and her decision to freelance for the BBC before her eventual retirement from television in 1994 aged 49.

Interview

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How to cite this page

Women’s Work Oral Histories/Oral Histories/Vicky Ball, Women’s Work in British Film and Television, https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/bectu/Oral Histories,Thursday 28th March 2024.
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