Stephen Frears started out at the BBC, directing Alan Bennett plays.
Moving into movies, he worked in various genres with fluctuating
success. After hit My Beautiful Laundrette, and superb biopic Prick Up
Your Ears, he left queer/indie cinema for the (Hollywood) heights of
Dangerous Liaisons and The Grifters. Not that they share many
similarities, except a reliance on actors, designers and
cinematographers to make the movie. Frears has an eye for material (OK,
forget Mary Reilly) and beautiful casting. Inheritor of Masterpiece
Theatre? Liam shows his (high) fidelity to the BBC - and keeps us asking,
where next?
