RTS History and Archive Group

Morley was one of the pioneers and innovators of the then nascent British television sector. The son of Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, in 1956 he joined Associated Rediffusion as a director. Over three years at the new ITV company he produced more than 80 plays.

As a programme maker working in the exciting new medium, from the beginning he was able to adopt his own approach.  “There was nobody to tell you what to do or how to do it,” he recalled. “Everything was live. The word video, let alone video-recording, hadn’t been invented.”

At its most basic casting involves finding actors to play roles in TV and film, however there is far more to it as it is one of the few television roles that seems to bridge the creative and the technical sides of television.

“It’s very much a taste-based role” Andy says. “What people don't see is the enormous amount of work that you put into casting a show – in terms of researching and trying to pull the whole thing together, getting the right people seen, managing expectations and then negotiating the artists contracts.”