Piers Haggard Dies: British Director Behind ‘Pennies From Heaven’ And Industry Campaigner Was 83

British director Piers Haggard has died. He was 83.

He died “peacefully on January 11, 2023,” a statement from his agents said. “He is deeply missed by his family, friends, colleagues, and the industry at large.”

Haggard worked in film, TV, and theater in a career that spanned five decades.

His work included credits on BBC TV shows such as The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (1971) and Love for Lydia (1977) and films such as Wedding Night and influential folk horror feature The Blood on Satan’s Claw.

His best-known work was the BAFTA-winning 1979 series Pennies from Heaven, which was written by Dennis Potter and starring Bob Hoskins and Cheryl Campbell. 

Born in London to parents Morna Gillespie and the actor, poet, and novelist Stephen Haggard, he started his career as an assistant director at the Royal Court in 1960 before moving to television in 1965.

His daughter is Daisy Haggard, the comedy actor and writer who co-created and starred in BBC comedy Back to Life.

Besides his directing work, he is known for his campaigning work. He was instrumental in helping to create the Directors Guild of Great Britain and Directors and Producers Rights Society, which today form Directors UK.

In 1973, he was one of a small group of directors involved in the formation of the ADP (Association of Directors and Producers), an organization that campaigned for the creative and economic rights of TV directors. In 1982, he established and served as the first chairman of the DGGB (Directors Guild of Great Britain) and remained active in Directors UK until his passing.

A few years later he helped form and then chaired the Directors and Producers Rights Society (DPRS), for the purpose of collecting payments for directors, as guaranteed for the first time under then-recent European legislation.

Throughout the 1990s, Haggard was a leading voice in the campaign to secure the recognition of directors’ copyright in European law, expanding the network of countries collecting money on behalf of directors in the UK and the rest of Europe. He was also key to the negotiations that secured collaboration between the Directors and Producers Rights Society (DPRS), the DGGB, and BECTU, the three separate organizations that represent directors.

Haggard would go on to serve several terms on the Directors UK Board, stepping down in 2017 because he had served the maximum number of terms allowed. Alongside his work at Directors UK, Haggard also served as the vice president and chairman of the Federation of European Film Directors (FERA) from 2009 to 2013.

Haggard was awarded an OBE in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to film, television, and theatre.

He is survived by his four children, Sarah, Claire, Rachel, and Philip, from his first marriage to Christiane Stokes, his second wife artist Anna Sklovsky, and their two children, Daisy and William, as well as 13 grandchildren.