Coky Giedroyc

Mary Rose Helen "Coky" Giedroyc (; born 6 February 1963) is an English director known for her work on Women Talking Dirty, The Virgin Queen, The Nativity, and Penny Dreadful.

Early life Giedroyc was born in Kowloon on 6 February 1963. She grew up in Leatherhead, Surrey. Her father was Michal Giedroyc, a historian of Polish-Lithuanian descent from the aristocratic Giedroyć family, who came to England in 1947. Her mother, Rosy, is of English descent. Her younger sister, Mel Giedroyc, is a television presenter. Her other sister, Kasia, is a children's writer who later married diplomat Philip Parham. She attended Bristol University, where she first began to make films.

Career Giedroyc has directed several films, including Women Talking Dirty and Stella Does Tricks; she is best known for her work directing television dramas, which have included Wuthering Heights, The Virgin Queen, Oliver Twist, Fear of Fanny, Carrie's War, and three episodes of Blackpool.

In 2007, she was nominated, with Paula Milne and Paul Rutman, for a Best Drama Serial BAFTA Award for The Virgin Queen. In 2010, her directing work for the BBC television series The Nativity was praised by critics, although the story portrayed some controversial elements that caused debate between Christians due to its modern dramatisations of the birth of Christ.

Giedroyc directed A Study in Pink, originally filmed as a 60-minute pilot for the television series Sherlock, which was written by Steven Moffat. The BBC decided not to broadcast the episode because they wished to change the broadcast length to 90 minutes. However, the pilot was released on the DVD of the first series, and it proved to be slightly different from the final version. She has also directed BBC's The Hour and What Remains. Giedroyc directed two episodes of the 2014 Showtime horror television series Penny Dreadful.

On 20 December 2015, Giedroyc directed the live television production of The Sound of Music, starring Kara Tointon as Maria, and her sister Mel Giedroyc as Frau Schmidt. The two-and-a-half-hour ITV transmission was the first musical to be broadcast live on national television in the UK, and had a cast and crew of more than 400 and 177 costumes.

In 2018, it was announced Giedroyc would direct How to Build a Girl, based upon the novel of the same name by Caitlin Moran, who also wrote the film's screenplay alongside John Niven. Beanie Feldstein, Alfie Allen, Paddy Considine, Sarah Solemani, Joanna Scanlan, Arinze Kene and Frank Dillane will star in the film.

In June 2021, Giedroyc won her second BAFTA for Best Series for her work on Channel 4's Save Me Too, written and starring Lennie James.

In 2022, it was announced that Giedroyc would direct the film Greatest Days, which was released in the summer of 2023. The film is a feature adaptation of The Band musical featuring the songs of Take That.

Personal life Giedroyc married her first husband at 21, and they had a son together before divorcing. In 1998, she married production designer Sir Thomas Weyland Bowyer-Smyth, 15th Baronet, with whom she has two children.

Filmography

Film Year Title Notes 1996 Stella Does Tricks 1999 Women Talking Dirty 2019 How to Build a Girl 2023 Greatest Days

Television Year Title Notes 1990 The Media Show Episode: "DIY Media" 1992 TV Hell TV special 1992 Rock Bottom TV film 1995 Aristophanes: The Gods Are Laughing TV film 1996–99 Murder Most Horrid 3 episodes 2000–02 Silent Witness 3 episodes 2001–03 Murder in Mind 2 episodes 2002 Helen West Episode: "Shadow Play" 2004 Carrie's War TV film 2004 William and Mary 2 episodes 2004 Blackpool 3 episodes 2006 The Virgin Queen 2 episodes 2006 Fear of Fanny TV film 2007 Oliver Twist 5 episodes 2009 Wuthering Heights 2 episodes 2010 Sherlock Episode: "Unaired Pilot" 2010 The Nativity 4 episodes 2011 The Hour 2 episodes 2013 Spies of Warsaw 4 episodes 2013 What Remains 4 episodes 2014 Penny Dreadful 2 episodes 2014 The Killing Episode: "Truth Asunder" 2014 Reckless Episode: "Fifty-One Percent" 2017 Harlots 3 episodes 2017 Gypsy 2 episodes 2018 Seven Seconds 1 episode