Piers Haggard is dead: The British director behind “Pennies From Heaven” and industry activist was 83

British director Piers Haggard has died. He turned 83.

He died “peacefully on January 11, 2023,” according to a statement from his agents. “He will be greatly missed by his family, friends, colleagues and the entire industry.”

Haggard has worked in film, television and theater over a career spanning five decades.

His work includes credits on BBC TV programs such as Sherlock Holmes’s rivals (1971) and love for Lidia (1977) and movies like wedding night and influential folk horror feature The blood on Satan’s claw.

His most famous work was the BAFTA-winning 1979 series pennies from heavenwritten by Dennis Potter and starring Bob Hoskins and Cheryl Campbell.

Born in London to parents Morna Gillespie and the actor, poet and novelist Stephen Haggard, he began his career as an assistant director at the Royal Court in 1960 before moving to television in 1965.

His daughter is Daisy Haggard, the comic actress and writer who co-created and starred in the BBC comedy Back to life.

In addition to his directing work, he is known for his campaign work. He was instrumental in founding the Directors Guild of Great Britain and the Directors and Producers Rights Society, now Directors UK.

In 1973 he was among a small group of directors involved in the founding of the ADP (Association of Directors and Producers), an organization dedicated to promoting the creative and commercial rights of television directors. In 1982 he founded and was the first chairman of the DGGB (Directors Guild of Great Britain) and remained active in Directors UK until his death.

A few years later, he helped found and then headed the Directors’ and Producers’ Rights Society (DPRS) with the aim of collecting directors’ compensation, as guaranteed for the first time under European law at the time.

In the 1990s, Haggard was a leading voice in the campaign to secure recognition of directors’ copyright under European law, expanding the network of director fundraising countries in the UK and the rest of Europe. He also played a key role in the negotiations that established the partnership between the Directors and Producers’ Rights Society (DPRS), the DGGB and BECTU, the three separate organizations representing directors.

Haggard would serve several terms on the British council, resigning in 2017 after serving the maximum number of terms. In addition to his work at Directors UK, Haggard also served as Vice President and President of the Federation of European Film Directors (FERA) from 2009 to 2013.

Haggard received an OBE for services to film, television and theater at the 2016 New Year Awards.

He is survived by his four children Sarah, Claire, Rachel and Philip from his first marriage to Christiane Stokes, his second wife, the artist Anna Sklovsky, and their two children Daisy and William, and 13 grandchildren.