While much had been written by the late 1970s about Oppenheimer, who died of throat cancer in 1967, Goodchild and screenwriter Peter Prince spent a month in America researching the scientist. Atomic Energy Commission hearing that stripped him of his security clearance, effectively severing his ties to U.S. The final two episodes focused on Oppenheimer’s post-war troubles, and the U.S. A masterful depiction of the Trinity test in Episode 5 used archival material to convey the actual blast, but also relied on a huge, arid Colorado Springs set. ![]() The bulk of its seven hours focused on the formation of the Manhattan Project and the Los Alamos settlement in New Mexico, with special attention paid to Oppenheimer’s tumultuous relationship with General Leslie Groves and other scientists such as Edward Teller (played by “Poirot” star David Suchet). “Oppenheimer” introduces the nuclear physicist during his time with the University of Berkeley physics department - a halcyon period for the listless scientist, who surrounded himself with card-carrying Communists (though never fully subscribed himself) and carried on with the troubled Jean Tatlock while falling for Kitty Puening, a married woman. The BBC’s “Oppenheimer” production in Colorado Springs. “I think they trusted that Peter would come up with something pretty special.” “When Peter put up ‘Oppenheimer’ as an idea, it was clearly an important subject matter, because it’s not just about the country we live in, but about the world that we live in,” says Caleb, who is still producing films and scripted series under her own banner. “But for different reasons that are often commercial reasons. pays £159 ($204) a year to fund its content - means that most original dramas on the Beeb have a distinctly British flavor.īut back then, “the sheer volume of drama that was happening was extraordinary,” explains Ruth Caleb, then a plucky line producer on “Oppenheimer.” “It went beyond the insular it was much more outward-looking.” BBC drama still is, in some ways, she hastens to add. The broadcaster’s ongoing fight to justify its license fee-based funding model - in which every BBC-watching household in the U.K. A BBC-produced series telling an American story, featuring a predominantly American cast? It simply would never happen now. Viewed through a contemporary lens, “Oppenheimer” is astonishing. ![]() The show, which was co-produced with WGBH Boston (which contributed just $100,000), also picked up a Golden Globe nod for Waterston along with two Primetime Emmy nominations. Goodchild’s seven-part 1980 BBC series “Oppenheimer” - with the physicist played by 40-year-old Sam Waterston, just years away from his Oscar-nominated performance for “The Killing Fields” - received seven BAFTA nominations and took home three golden masks, including best drama series. I said, ‘I’d love to take it further.’ And we did.” “Someone suddenly presented me with a book about Oppenheimer and his relationship with one of his other scientific colleagues, which was an excellent story. “It was an amazing story, and I’d always wanted to do it,” Goodchild continues.
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