Simon Channing Williams

Producer

June 10, 1945 (63 years)

† April 12, 2009

Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, UK

Biography

Simon Channing Williams (10 June 1945 – 11 April 2009) was a British film producer. After having worked as a production assistant and producer of TV films and TV series in the 1970s and early 1980s, he and Mike Leigh formed the film production company Thin Man Films in 1988. This company has produced all of Mike Leigh's films since then, among them the double Oscar-winning Topsy-Turvy, the Oscar-nominated Vera Drake and the Palme d'Or-winning Secrets & Lies. In addition to his collaborations wi…

Filmography

7.0

The Constant Gardener

Justin Quayle is a low-level British diplomat who has always gone about his work very quietly, not causing any problems. But after his radical wife Tessa is killed he becomes determined to find out why, thrusting himself into the middle of a very dangerous conspiracy.

7.3

Naked

An unemployed Brit vents his rage on unsuspecting strangers as he embarks on a nocturnal London odyssey.

6.5

Blindness

When a sudden plague of blindness devastates a city, a small group of the afflicted band together to triumphantly overcome the horrific conditions of their imposed quarantine.

7.6

Secrets & Lies

After her adoptive mother dies, Hortense, a successful black optometrist, seeks out her birth mother. She's shocked when her research leads her to Cynthia, a working class white woman.

6.6

Topsy-Turvy

For nearly a decade, Gilbert and Sullivan’s collaborations have delighted the English people. But in 1884, as a London heat wave cuts into the theater trade, their latest work, "Princess Ida", receives lukewarm press. In an effort to reconcile their creative differences and drawing inspiration from Japanese culture, they went on to create the hit opera "The Mikado", one of the duo's greatest successes.

7.1

All or Nothing

Penny works at a supermarket and Phil is a gentle taxi-driver. Penny’s love for Phil has run dry and they lead joyless lives with their two children, Rachel, a cleaner, and Rory, who is unemployed and aggressive.

6.9

Nicholas Nickleby

Nicholas Nickleby, a young boy in search of a better life, struggles to save his family and friends from the abusive exploitation of his coldheartedly grasping uncle.

6.6

Happy-Go-Lucky

A look at a few chapters in the life of Poppy, a cheery, colorful, North London schoolteacher whose optimism tends to exasperate those around her.

7.2

Vera Drake

Abortionist Vera Drake finds her beliefs and practices clash with the mores of 1950s Britain – a conflict that leads to tragedy for her family.

6.7

Jack & Sarah

Jack always lands on his feet. He lands on his feet when he marries the beautiful Sarah. He lands on his feet when he buys a luxurious new home. However, when Sarah goes into labour, he takes a tumble down the stairs and lands on his head. When he comes around he discovers he is the proud father of a baby girl, but deficient in the spouse department to the tune of 1.

7.0

Life Is Sweet

Just north of London live Wendy, Andy, and their twenty-something twins, Natalie and Nicola. Wendy clerks in a shop, Andy is a cook who forever puts off home remodeling projects, Natalie is a plumber and Nicola is jobless. This film is about how they interact and play out family, conflict and love.

6.6

Career Girls

A young college student in London moves into a flat and becomes best friends with a flatmate; the former moves into her own flat 4 years later but 6 years after their parting, the former returns to London to pay the latter a visit.

7.1

High Hopes

Working-class couple Shirley and Cyril are in conflict over whether they should have children, their problems with 'yuppies' moving into the neighbourhood and outpricing them, and the advent of Cyril's ageing mother's seventieth birthday.

6.4

Man About Dog

Three pedigree chumps learn that every underdog has its day in this freewheeling Irish comedy. In hock to the tune of £50,000 to a Belfast bookie and saddled with a dopey greyhound that wouldn't run if its backside was on fire, the likely lads head south on a road trip in the hope of seeing a man about a dog. Foul-mouthed and funny, Man About Dog is full of great craic.

6.4

When the Whales Came

A pair of children befriend an eccentric old man, who lives isolated on the far shore of their island home. But it turns out that the old man knows a terrible secret about the island and the whales who sometimes come. Meanwhile WWI is making life hard in the village.

6.1

Lecture 21

A student takes a bizarre trip through the Italian Alps after being inspired by a professor's lecture on Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" from his Ninth Symphony.

5.9

Goodbye Charlie Bright

Following Charlie Bright and his friends over one hot summer on the South London housing estate where they live. With Tommy about to join the army and Francis having fallen in love, friendships and loyalties are tested as the friends drift in their own directions.

5.4

Flannel Pajamas

A mismatched couple meet on a blind date in Manhattan... as Stuart and Nicole progress from love to marriage to discussions about starting a family, their relationship faces the challenges of critical friends, emotionally-demanding relatives, time-consuming careers, different religions and the stresses caused by the endless negotiations all couples wage daily.

5.5

Brothers of the Head

In the 1970s a music promoter plucks Siamese twins from obscurity and grooms them into a freakish rock'n'roll act. A dark tale of sex, strangeness and rock music.

6.4

The Short & Curlies

A short comedy by Mike Leigh about the romance between a young woman and a man who communicates only through jokes and humor...