Mike Batt

Michael Philip Batt is an English singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, record producer, director, and conductor. He served as the Deputy Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry. Batt created the novelty pop band The Wombles, after recording the theme song for the animated BBC series of the same name. He also composed the song "Bright Eyes" for the 1978 animated film Watership Down. Batt promoted the early career of singer Katie Melua after signing her to his label, Dramatico. He wrote, arranged and produced her debut album Call Off the Search and her following two albums. Batt has conducted the London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony and Stuttgart Philharmonic.

Works

Zero Zero

This intriguing audio-visual piece was created by Mike Batt in 1982. It was the first thing Batt ever directed (co-directing with John Eastway). The designs and "animations" were all part of the original concept, conceived and designed and by MB during his 1981 Pacific crossing from Los Angeles to Sydney aboard his boat, Braemar. The story is about a young man called Number 17 (Ralph to his friends) - played by Batt. Set in the distant future, or past, - the World in which Number 17 lives is one devoid of Love, which has being deliberately, genetically eradicated. Number 17, however, is a genetic throwback and falls in unrequited love with Number 36, a surgeon at the local correction centre for those afflicted with the disease of Love.

Release Date1983-11-21

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Charactersd Number 17

Vote Count1

The Wombles

The Wombles is a CGI animated series which is normally aired on Channel 5's programming block Milkshake!.

Release Date2016-10-24

DepartmentSound

JobTheme Song Performance

Charactersd

Episode Count6

The Hunting of the Snark

This is a musical by Mike Batt based on Lewis Carroll's nonsense poem. Mike Batt conducts the London Symphony Orchestra.

Release Date1987-04-01

DepartmentSound

JobOriginal Music Composer

Charactersd The Boots

Vote Count2

The A-Z of Eurovision

Rylan Clark-Neal narrates a guide to all things Eurovision and takes a sideways look at the greatest singing contest on the planet. The A-Z of Eurovision features all the disasters, the costume changes and memorable musical moments from 65 years of Eurovision.

Release Date2020-05-16

Charactersd Self - Presenter (archive footage)

Vote Count2

Eurovision Secrets & Scandals

A revelatory documentary uncovering amazing stories about what really goes on behind the scenes at Eurovision. With contributions from former winner Cheryl Baker, former loser Andy Abraham and former host Jan Leeming.

Release Date2022-05-13

Charactersd Self

The Dreamstone

The Dreamstone is a British animated television series that ran for 4 series of 13 episodes each between 1990 and 1995. The original concept and artwork were created by Michael Jupp who would later create another cartoon show Bimble's Bucket. The series was produced by FilmFair as a Central production for ITV. In 1996 Filmfair was bought from the Caspian Group by the Canadian company Cinar, then it became Cookie Jar Entertainment, but then it became part of DHX Media. This resulted in DHX's ownership of the first two series, while a company called Dreamstone Productions Ltd. retain the ownership of the third and fourth series. The Dreamstone is set in an alternative world called the 'Sleeping World,' and concerns itself principally with the struggle between good, and evil.

Release Date1990-09-25

DepartmentSound

JobOriginal Music Composer

Episode Count52

Vote Count11

The Wombles

The misadventures of a small community dedicated to cleaning up litter and putting it to their own use.

Release Date1973-02-05

DepartmentSound

JobOriginal Music Composer

Episode Count60

Vote Count16

Watership Down

Follows the lives of a group of rabbits as they leave their endangered warren in search of a safe new home. They travel across the English countryside, braving perilous danger, until they find a hill called Watership Down, where they begin a new warren. However, they face various threats and are soon forced to defend their home and lives.

Release Date1999-09-28

DepartmentSound

JobMusic

Episode Count39

Vote Count16

Watership Down

When the warren belonging to a community of rabbits is threatened, a brave group led by Fiver, Bigwig, Blackberry and Hazel leave their homeland in a search of a safe new haven.

Release Date1978-10-14

DepartmentSound

JobSongs

Vote Count716

Keep the Aspidistra Flying

Gordon Comstock is a copywriter at an ad agency, and his girlfriend Rosemary is a designer. Gordon believes he is a genius, a marvelous poet and quits the ad agency, trying to live on his poems, but poverty soon comes to him.

Release Date1997-11-20

DepartmentSound

JobOriginal Music Composer

Vote Count19

Faintheart

A romantic comedy set in the world of battle re-enactments, about an irresponsible guy who has to shape up in order to win back his wife.

Release Date2009-01-27

DepartmentSound

JobOriginal Music Composer

Vote Count24

Caravans

This epic adventure-drama based on James Michener's best-selling novel concerns a young American embassy official who is sent into the Middle-Eastern desert to find the missing daughter of a US Senator. The young woman has left her husband, a Colonel in the Shadom - she was his number two wife - and has opted for the lifestyle of a nomadic tribe. When the diplomat locates the girl he joins the caravan and attempts to persuade the girl to return.

Release Date1978-11-02

DepartmentSound

JobOriginal Music Composer

Vote Count19

Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings

Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings is a British children's animated series about the adventures of a young boy named Simon, who has a magic blackboard. Things that Simon draws on the chalkboard become real in the Land of Chalk Drawings, which Simon can enter by climbing over a fence near his home with a ladder. The stories often revolve around the unintended effects that Simon's drawings have on the Land of Chalk Drawings, such as when an upset Simon draws a picture of his angry self, which goes on a rampage.

Release Date1976-03-29

DepartmentSound

JobMusic

Episode Count24

Vote Count2

Digital Dreams

An amalgam of documentary and cinema verité, this movie outlines the life, loves and music of Rolling Stones bass guitarist Bill Wyman. After leaving the Stones in 1981, Wyman tried to establish his own separate musical identity, conveyed here through a stream of hallucinatory images and animated sequences.

Release Date1983-10-01

DepartmentSound

JobOriginal Music Composer

Vote Count1

The Upchat Line

Mike Upchat is an unsuccessful novelist who lives out of a railway station locker - he has the gift of the Gab and changes his life story every episode to impress different women - basically he reinvents himself to score.

Release Date1977-09-26

DepartmentSound

JobOriginal Music Composer

Episode Count7

Vote Count3

Wombling Free

The adventures of The Wombles, strange creatures who live on Wimbledon Common and pick up the litter left by the humans. There's always time for a nice song and dance as well. This was a film version of the popular childrens TV show.

Release Date1977-12-31

DepartmentSound

JobOriginal Music Composer

Vote Count3

Katie Melua - With the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra

Recorded at the Jazz Open Stuttgart in 2009 to a sold-out audience of nine thousand people, this movie features a unique performance by Katie, her band and the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra. Conducted by Mike Batt, the set includes highlights from Katie’s first three chart topping albums ‘Call Off The Search’, ‘Piece By Piece’ and ‘Pictures’ including ‘The Closest Thing To Crazy’, ‘Nine Million Bicycles’ and ‘If You Were A Sailboat’. Katie remembers the concert as being a very special night explaining “This was the first full concert I have performed with an orchestra and I consider it one of my favourite musical experiences. I am used to performing with the band but singing and playing with an orchestra and all the depth and richness that brings was amazing.”

Release Date2011-03-28

DepartmentSound

JobMusic

Friday Night, Saturday Morning

Friday Night, Saturday Morning was a television chat show with a revolving guest host. It ran on BBC2 from 28 September 1979 to 2 April 1982, broadcast live from the Greenwood Theatre, a part of Guy's Hospital. It was most notable for being the only television show to be hosted by a former British Prime Minister and for an argument about the blasphemy claims surrounding the movie Monty Python's Life of Brian. The programme was the idea of Iain Johnstone and Will Wyatt, who insisted on a changing presenter every fortnight. Another innovation was that the presenters chose the guests they were to interview.

Release Date1979-09-28

Episode Count1

Vote Count2