In the history of British television drama few notable creative figures are as forgotten as the actor, film director and pioneer producer, Fred O'Donovan. After a distinguished career on the stage and after directing Ireland's first feature film, O'Donovan joined BBC Television in 1938. As one of the first directors of studio drama, he was a key agent in the fledgling form's development. With his background in theatre and the cinema, he also exemplified the medium's intermedial engagement with the stage and other media of the day. He also worked with a highly distinctive studio style involving lengthy shots without cuts that was known as the 'one camera technique'. But to date, no moving image trace has been discovered of his work, and Fred O'Donovan has received little attention in the literature on early television. Drawing on a range of written sources, and in particular the records of the BBC's Written Archives Centre, this article begins the process of recovering O'Donovan's work by offering a critical introduction to his career, an exploration of the production context in which he was operating, and a consideration of the significance of his 'one-camera technique' and its resonances in moving image culture since his death.
