Recent from talks
Waris Hussein
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Waris Hussein
Waris Hussein (né Habibullah; born 9 December 1938) is an Indian-born British television and film director. At the beginning of his career he was employed by the BBC as its youngest drama director. He directed early episodes of Doctor Who, including the first serial, An Unearthly Child (1963), and later directed the multiple-award-winning Thames Television serial Edward & Mrs. Simpson (1978).
Hussein was born Waris Habibullah in Lucknow, British India, into a family of the aristocratic Taluqdar class, and spent his early years mainly in Bombay. He came to the UK with his family in 1946, when his father, Ali Bahadur Habibullah, was appointed to the Indian High Commission. After the independence of India in 1947, his father returned to India, but his mother, Attia Hosain, chose to stay in England with her children, and worked as a writer and as broadcaster on the Indian Section of the BBC's Eastern Service from 1949.
He was educated at Clifton College, and then studied English literature at Queens' College, Cambridge, where he directed several plays. His contemporaries included Derek Jacobi, Margaret Drabble, Trevor Nunn, and Ian McKellen, whom he directed in several productions, including a Marlowe Society revival of Caesar and Cleopatra.
After graduating in 1960, he joined the BBC to train as a director. He also changed his name from Habibullah to Hussein:
"It sounded like the King of Jordan then, but [later] turned out to be more like Saddam – and that doesn't help in life".
Hussein directed the first Doctor Who serial, An Unearthly Child, in 1963, although he was unsure about the effect directing television science fiction would have on his career:
"[I was] a graduate from Cambridge with honours, and you're directing this piece about cavemen in skins [..] I thought, 'Where have I landed up in my life?'"
In 1964, Hussein returned to the series to direct most of the fourth serial, Marco Polo. He went on to direct many other productions such as a BBC television version of A Passage to India (Play of the Month, 1965); the BBC serial Notorious Woman (1974); the suffragette movement BBC drama Shoulder to Shoulder (1974); and the Thames Television serial Edward and Mrs Simpson (1978). During production of the latter two series, he worked once more with former Doctor Who producer Verity Lambert. He also directed for Thames the first story (a four-parter) in the Armchair Thriller series.
Hub AI
Waris Hussein AI simulator
(@Waris Hussein_simulator)
Waris Hussein
Waris Hussein (né Habibullah; born 9 December 1938) is an Indian-born British television and film director. At the beginning of his career he was employed by the BBC as its youngest drama director. He directed early episodes of Doctor Who, including the first serial, An Unearthly Child (1963), and later directed the multiple-award-winning Thames Television serial Edward & Mrs. Simpson (1978).
Hussein was born Waris Habibullah in Lucknow, British India, into a family of the aristocratic Taluqdar class, and spent his early years mainly in Bombay. He came to the UK with his family in 1946, when his father, Ali Bahadur Habibullah, was appointed to the Indian High Commission. After the independence of India in 1947, his father returned to India, but his mother, Attia Hosain, chose to stay in England with her children, and worked as a writer and as broadcaster on the Indian Section of the BBC's Eastern Service from 1949.
He was educated at Clifton College, and then studied English literature at Queens' College, Cambridge, where he directed several plays. His contemporaries included Derek Jacobi, Margaret Drabble, Trevor Nunn, and Ian McKellen, whom he directed in several productions, including a Marlowe Society revival of Caesar and Cleopatra.
After graduating in 1960, he joined the BBC to train as a director. He also changed his name from Habibullah to Hussein:
"It sounded like the King of Jordan then, but [later] turned out to be more like Saddam – and that doesn't help in life".
Hussein directed the first Doctor Who serial, An Unearthly Child, in 1963, although he was unsure about the effect directing television science fiction would have on his career:
"[I was] a graduate from Cambridge with honours, and you're directing this piece about cavemen in skins [..] I thought, 'Where have I landed up in my life?'"
In 1964, Hussein returned to the series to direct most of the fourth serial, Marco Polo. He went on to direct many other productions such as a BBC television version of A Passage to India (Play of the Month, 1965); the BBC serial Notorious Woman (1974); the suffragette movement BBC drama Shoulder to Shoulder (1974); and the Thames Television serial Edward and Mrs Simpson (1978). During production of the latter two series, he worked once more with former Doctor Who producer Verity Lambert. He also directed for Thames the first story (a four-parter) in the Armchair Thriller series.
Recent media