TV Series and Programmes
Between 1982 and 2006, OJ was the producer, presenter or assistant producer of 9 documentary series and 7 individual programmes.
Men on Violence
ITV, 1988 – OJ interviews a variety of imprisoned violent men, showing how almost all have been severely maltreated by parents.
New Britain on the Couch
Channel 4, 1999 – 2-part series. OJ wrote and presented this televisation of his book.
Under Fives
Granada television, ITV, 1982 – OJ was the Series Consultant and Associate Producer of Under Fives, which makes the case for the vital importance of the first five years for our subsequent emotional health.
Room 113
Channel 4, 1987-1988 – OJ was the producer-presenter of Room 113 (1987/8, C4, 22 episodes in each series.
The Chair
BBC2, 1997 – Peter Mandelson shed a tear which was splashed over all the broadsheet front pages. David Icke proved completely normal until he said the world is controlled by giant lizards. The others were Vanessa Feltz, Julian Clary, George Graham and Paul Mckenna.
Crime and Punishment
OJ made three programmes for BBC2’s Crime and Punishment series. He also made numerous appearances on Newsnight and other programmes explaining violence.
Between 1982 and 2006, OJ was the producer, presenter or assistant producer of 9 documentary series and 7 individual programmes. He was the Series Consultant and Associate Producer of Under Fives (1982, Granada television, ITV), about parenting. Following a research trip to New York where he obtained audiotapes of the murderer explaining his motives, he was Assistant Producer of The Man Who Shot John Lennon (1988, First Tuesday, Yorkshire Television, ITV). He was the producer-presenter of Room 113 (1987/8, C4, 22 episodes in each series, part of the BAFTA award winning Network 7). This interview series was described by Chris Dunkley in the Financial Times as the best interviews since Face To Face. It received extensive newspaper coverage, including the programme in which Stephen Fry first announced that he was gay. Also in 1988, OJ was the Assistant Producer and interviewer in a 6-part series on the causes of violence, Men On Violence (LWT, ITV).
In 1990, OJ produced The Last Day, an episode of the Channel 4 documentary short TV series Short Stories. It documented The Mail on Sunday on their final day working at Fleet Street. In 1993, OJ produced three programmes as part of the BBC2 Crime and Punishment season. Wot U Lookin At was a science programme in the Horizon series. It examined the causes of violence, and why it was on the increase. Two BBC2 40 Minutes were also produced by him as part of the season, one about a psychopathic prisoner undergoing therapy (Prisoner HC2870), the other in which a rapist meets a survivor of rape. In 1995, OJ produced and presented Prozac Diary for The Late Show, part of the States of Mind season. It followed the creative artists Michael Bracewell, Alice Thomas Ellis, Alan Jenkins, and Bernard Sumner, over 4 weeks to see how the antidepressant Prozac might affect their creativity.
In 1997, OJ produced and presented the 7 episode talk show The Chair for BBC Two with Vanessa Feltz as the first guest, then Paul McKenna, Peter Mandelson, Patsy Palmer, Julian Clary, David Icke, and George Graham. A picture of Mandelson shedding a tear during the interview appeared on 3 out 4 of the covers of the broadsheet newspapers on the day the programme was transmitted.
In 1998, OJ presented a 2-part series, New Britain on the Couch (C4) explaining the rise in depression since 1950.
In 1999, OJ presented Affairs of the Heart (C4), about infidelity, including an interview with Jonothan Ross. OJ’ final television series were called Through The Eyes of the Child (2003-2006, ITV), a segment in the This Morning series. In each episode he would visit a problem child and offer advice on solving it, returning two weeks later to see if it had worked. It was where his Love Bombing technique originated.