The Special Award 2018: Clive Juster

Clive Juster, British editor, director and producer and one of the driving forces behind Mr Benn, has received a BAFTA Special Award.

Mr Benn catapulted Juster into a remarkable career in children’s media. Along with Mr Benn creator David McKee and director Leo Nielsen, Juster established one of the UK’s first independent children’s animation production houses. Named after King Rollo, one of the company’s biggest hits, the trio created Spot the Dog, Victor & Maria, Towser, Maisy and Paz.

Juster also became an influential figure in a growing aspect of children’s media – the licensing of intellectual property.

Working at BBC Ealing Studios in the late 1960s, Juster’s career took an unexpected turn when he took on editing duties for Play School, Blue Peter then eventually Mr Benn. It was here he met McKee, a meeting of creative minds that would go on to help shape the landscape of British children’s TV.

Mr Benn was first broadcast in 1971. Only three and a half hours of the iconic series were ever made, but the character has continued to spark childhood imaginations over the generations.

“Even now people respond warmly; I get correspondence that makes me realise the impact it had,” says Juster.

Juster and McKee and Nielsen set up King Rollo Films in 1978. After years of hard work, the company’s creative flare was recognised when Spot was nominated for best Children’s Animation at the 1999 BAFTA Children’s Awards. A year later, Maisy, another King Rollo show, won the BAFTA for Children’s Pre-School Animation. Further accolades followed, with Paz earning Emmy nominations for Outstanding Children’s Pre-School Series over two consecutive years in 2006 and 2007.

“I’m honoured, but I’ve been lucky,” Juster says. “I’ve had some of the best people around me. In this business, it’s teamwork that gets results. But if I’ve learned anything, it’s to never give up.”

Accepting his award, Juster highlighted the importance of collective working in the creative industries. “The most important thing of all is teamwork,” he said. “These projects we’re all involved with is rarely the work of one person.

“In my case, I’ve been lucky enough to work with some fabulous people. Not only David and Leon, but the lovely Lucy Murphy, who built up and managed our international distribution business so successfully, and a great team of talented people who worked with us at King Rollo Films.

“Then there are all the fantastic people we’ve been lucky enough to work with either as talent, clients, co-producers, broadcasters, licensees and so on. I’ve been truly blessed.”

After many years working in production, Juster began overseeing character licenses at the company. The effort he made to champion the rights of creatives helped to influence the growing field of intellectual property licencing within the children’s media industry.

“That side of things always interested me,” he explains. “There’s a shop in Covent Garden selling Tintin  merchandise and it’s absolutely beautiful. David and I see it as the shining example of keeping an evergreen property alive.”

A BAFTA Special Award is one of the academy’s highest honours recognising an outstanding contribution to film, games or TV. You can see more recipients in our Awards database.

Juster was presented with his Special Award at the BAFTA Children’s Awards ceremony in London on 25 November 2018.

For more inspiring stories from the world of film, games and TV, explore our BAFTA Award Stories section.