David stays cool amid the Bafta razzmatazz

Feb 20 2010 by David Whetstone, The Journal

IT’S a big weekend for Bafta. DAVID WHETSTONE talks to its chairman, former child star David Parfitt.

IN JUST one line, Sunderland-born film producer David Parfitt reveals why he is the ideal person to be chairman of Bafta – that’s the British Academy of Film and Television Arts – on this biggest of big weekends.

No, he replies, he isn’t going to get terribly stressed. "It’s certainly busy but you wouldn’t survive long as a producer if you got very stressed."

Good point. A producer’s role is to make sure things happen as they should – that deadlines are met, budgets adhered to and artistic temperaments focused on the task to hand.

"But," says David, "this is the biggest event of the year for us and there is a lot happening."

There are parties, including a launch event for British Airways, the principal sponsor, and then there are the intricacies of tomorrow’s awards ceremony at the Royal Opera House in London.

David explains that the chairmanship of Bafta changes every two years, passing from a film person – which he is – to a TV person. This is his second year in charge so it is his last year of keeping cool in the hot seat.

He has been a Bafta member, he says, since the early 1990s and has sat on various committees over the last 10 or 11 years.

So what has he gained from the chairmanship?

"It’s been a hugely beneficial experience for me because I’ve worked with many small companies as a producer running my own show but working in a larger environment I’ve had to chair quite large groups of very influential people.

"I’ve never been a politician but I certainly feel I’ve come close."

David was born to theatre-mad parents. His mother, Maureen Parfitt, had been a professional actress until he was born and he got bitten by the bug too.

After a year at Bede Grammar School, when the family were living in Sunderland’s Belford Road, young David was sent to a theatre school in London and duly appeared in TV commercials for products including Cadbury’s Fudge, Kellogg’s Frosties and Irn Bru.

But in 1971, when he was 12, he made headlines for the first time when he landed the part of Wendy Craig’s son in an ITV sitcom called And Mother Makes Three.

The Parfitts subsequently moved down south to be near their son.

In 1982, on the set of a film called Another Country, David met Kenneth Branagh.

The pair set up Renaissance Theatre Company, David as managing director and Branagh, hailed as one of the best actors of his generation, as artistic director. Several of their productions came to Newcastle.