George Carey (filmmaker)


George Carey is a British documentary filmmaker and television journalist.

Education

Carey was educated at Downside School, a boarding independent school for boys in the village of Stratton-on-the-Fosse in Somerset in South West England, followed by the University of Oxford.

Life and career

As a director/editor at BBC News, Carey is credited with the creation of the Newsnight current affairs programme in 1980, before going on to become Editor of BBC1’s Panorama during the Falklands War. In 1988, he left the BBC to co-found an independent production company with Jenny Barraclough. In 1997, Barraclough Carey Productions was acquired by Mentorn Films, and Carey became Creative Director of the new entity, now known as Mentorn Media. As well as producing a series of prize-winning documentaries, he secured the contract to produce the BBC’s weekly political discussion programme Question Time, and originated Channel 4’s Unreported World strand. In 2005, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Royal Television Society. In 2007, he returned to filmmaking himself, with a five part BBC series on Russia presented by Jonathan Dimbleby, before shooting and directing several individual documentaries with producer Teresa Cherfas. These included Close Encounters in Siberia, A Long Weekend with the Son of God – both for Channel 4 – and Knocking on Heaven’s Door, The Spy Who Went into the Cold and Masterspy of Moscow: George Blake, all for BBC Storyville.
He served for four years as a board member for Conciliation Resources, an international non-governmental organization, and for two years as Chairman of Trustees of the House of Illustration.

Filmography

Documentary Singles