Graeme Harper

For other individuals named Harper, see Harper (disambiguation).

Graeme Harper (born 11th March 1945 in London) directed several Doctor Who stories and is unique in being the only director to have directed episodes from the original run of Doctor Who and the revived run. Prior to becoming a director, he was Assistant Floor Manager for Colony in Space, Planet of the Daleks (with John Cook and Sue Hedden), and Planet of the Spiders. He was then Production Assistant for The Seeds of Doom and Warriors' Gate.

Harper, discussing his role in filming The Unicorn and the Wasp on Confidential

He also has an uncredited onscreen appearance in The Brain of Morbius as one of the faces of the Doctor during the mindbending contest.

He has written about his experiences in directing Doctor Who in his book, Calling the Shots, co-written with Adrian Rigelsford.

The "Harper treatment"

Graeme Harper has penchant for including a distorted image of a main character in most (but not all) of the stories he's directed for BBC Wales, often enough for it to be considered something of a directorial "signature". Characters are seen through magnifying glasses in Army of Ghosts, The Unicorn and the Wasp, and Utopia, reflected in a series of mirrors in Turn Left, and through a curved window that gives a fish-eye effect in Journey's End.