Neville Smith was born in January 1940, in the Abercromby ward in Liverpool and after studying politics and history at Hull University he worked as a teacher. Subsequently, he became an announcer and, from 1965, wrote for BBC Radio and, all in all, took part in a total of 57 radio dramas. After an uncredited appearance as a youth in the film 'Billy Liar' (1963), he made his TV acting debut in the premiere episode of the Johnny Stamp comedy drama series made for Granada TV, 'Villains' (1964) and was in 2 episodes of 'The Plane Makers' (1963-64) and was also seen in an episode of the 'Doctor Who' story 'The Reign of Terror' (1964). More TV work followed in the 1960s including 4 episodes of 'Emergency Ward 10' (1966), 2 episodes of 'Softly Softly' (1967), 'Coronation Street' (1964-68) and 8 episodes of 'The Wednesday Play' (1965-69). Here he played his first lead role in Eric Coltart's 'Wear a Very Big Hat' (1965), winning praise for the truthfulness of his performance as an aggrieved working-class mod. The play was directed by Ken Loach who went on to cast Neville in three more dramas for 'The Wednesday Play', 'The End of Arthur's Marriage' (1965), 'In Two Minds' (1967) and 'The Big Flame' (1969). as well as later in BBC's Play For Today 'The Rank and File' (1971). It was in 1968 that Neville also wrote 'The Golden Vision' for the BBC series 'The Wednesday Play' on the subject of obsessive football fans. Ken Loach directed it, continuing their fruitful relationship. It combines behind-the-scenes documentary coverage of Everton FC with comedy-drama in which fictional supporters negotiate such inconveniences as births, marriages and deaths to follow their team. 'The Golden Vision' is family-centred, warm and humorous with moments of fantasy, and partly explores fans' affection for a real-life icon: centre-forward Alex Young, whose nickname provides the title. The play is partly drawn from Neville's life experiences of growing up in an Irish-Catholic working-class community, but as it was his television writing debut, producer Tony Garnett recommended an experienced collaborator. Ken Loach chose Gordon Honeycombe, a former fellow student actor at Oxford, later known as a newscaster, after reading in Private Eye about the BBC rejecting his football play only to then launch the identically-titled football serial 'United!' (1965-67). According to Loach's biographer, Anthony Hayward, Honeycombe's contribution was to bring structure, but he had minimal input after the writers fell out.
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| The Golden Vision |
As a regular collaborator of director Ken Loach, Neville is one of a number of working-class actors and writers to have transformed the subject-matter and tone of television drama in the 1960s and 1970s. He was responsible for another of Ken Loach's finest television films, 'After A Lifetime' (1971), which he wrote and appeared in. Inspired by the death of his father, the production lamented the death of an earlier era of political radicalism while retaining a strong element of Neville's Liverpudlian humour. He also developed a partnership with the director Stephen Frears, for whom he wrote the cult British detective film 'Gumshoe' (1971) about a Liverpool bingo caller who dreams of becoming a private-eye in the mould of Sam Spade. Directed by Frears, the film remains one of Neville's best-known works and led Frears to describe him as "the best writer I've ever come across". Neville also played a small role in the film, as Arthur, a character whom Eddie Ginley (played by Albert Finney) consults about the gun before entering Liverpool Docks.
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| Bill Dean and Albert Finney in Gumshoe |
One of the most striking aspects of Neville's working life was that he maintained twin careers as a writer and an actor. Often, he'd take a leading role in dramas he had written himself, but just as often he would star in other writers’ work, such as the protagonist in Alan Bennett's TV play 'Me, I'm Afraid of Virginia Woolf' (1978), again directed by Stephen Frears. Nor did he abandon acting once he'd got a break as a writer, as he wrote and starred in the episode of the BBC series 'Red Letter Day' (1976) where he played teacher Tony Scannell who decides he wants to be ordained as a Catholic Priest, his decision having wide ranging effects on his family and loved ones. Then he played the writer 'Neville', in pursuit of a director for a screenplay about the Aberdeen oil business, in the low-budget feature 'Long Shot' (1978). Having appeared as Robin in all 13 episodes of the drama serial 'World's End' (1981), written by Ted Whitehead centering around the "London village" which has its focus in the Mulberry pub he attempts to manage the hopeless metal band 'Bad News' in 'The Comic Strip Presents...' (1983). Over the years he had played various characters in the BBC series 'Z-Cars' (1963-78) but his last TV appearance was playing the shirty cinema manager in David Leland’s hit 1987 film 'Wish You Were Here'.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2023/12/a-history-of-liverpool-thespians-liz.html
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