FYI...

Track Record: Barnaby Thompson likes a challenge. After cutting his teeth as a producer in Hollywood, where he worked on both Wayne's World movies, he returned to his native Britain and established Fragile Films. The critics may have slated Spice World and Kevin And Perry Go Large, but both were hits at the box office. He also enjoyed success with An Ideal Husband, High Heels And Low Lifes, Lucky Break, and Hope Springs. In March 2005 he was one of the brains behind one of the first CG animation features in the UK, Valiant.

His greatest challenge, however, comes in the shape of running Ealing Studios. The West London studio is forever associated with the Ealing Comedies of the 40s and 50s (Kind Hearts And Coronets, The Lavender Hill Mob, The Man In The White Suit, The Ladykillers), but lay dormant on the film stage for many decades. Thompson and his partners acquired the studios in 2000 and made the first Ealing Studio release for 47 years with The Importance Of Being Earnest in 2002. He's now trying to bring the glory days back to W5.
Go Figure: 1902 - the year in which movies started being made on the Ealing site. Ealing Studios itself was born in 1935.
UK OK? What could be more British than Ealing Studios? And despite his foray into production in the US, Thompson has produced almost ten movies in the UK.
Yes, Really: Thompson has worked on two - count 'em! - movies with David Spade and the late Chris Farley: Coneheads and Tommy Boy.

VIDEO...

  WATCH: Barnaby Thompson on the challenges of running Ealing Studios and what lies ahead

WEB WATCH...

Ealing Studios
Official site

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites