Tom Roberts

Tom Roberts began his multi-decade documentary-making career in the early 1980s, focusing on producing TV documentaries of all shapes and sizes. His debut was producing an episode of "Everyman" (BBC 1977-) in 1981, and slowly throughout the '80s, he worked with the BBC in a variety of roles, starting off as a film editor and working his way up to director. In the late '80s, he founded October Films, the company which he would spend nearly the next 20 years working on over 100 productions for a variety of British TV stations. With October Films, he got his first official director credit on an episode of "Secret History" (Channel 4 1991-) in 1991. He produced many other documentaries for television as well, and continued directing docs such as "In Search of Mother Russia's Children" (1997), "The Death Train" (1998), and "Kill 'em All" (2002). He also contributed to "Frontline" (PBS 1983-) in the mid-2000s, earning a BAFTA nomination for his work. In 2007, he left October Films. That led Roberts to direct his first drama, the British/Russian film "In Transit" (2008), based on the true story of Germans stuck in a Soviet work camp following World War II. "In Transit" was well received both for Roberts' direction and the performances from actors such as Thomas Kretschmann and Vera Farmiga. With his newfound freedom, Roberts worked on other documentaries of his choosing, including "Ghosts of the 7th Cavalry" (2009) and "Alfred and Jakobine" (2014). He also wrote and directed a made-for-TV movie called "Mandela: The Prison Years" (2013). His next film "Every Last Child" (2014) was a documentary that Roberts worked on in collaboration with a production company from the United Arab Emirates focused on how Pakistan tried to contain a modern day outbreak of polio.