Jim Clay's architectural background and painterly sensibility made him a perfect choice for Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001) but he has also designed a wide range of very different telefilms and movies. Two near the beginning of his career won him best design awards from BAFTA - Christabel, for which he re-created war-torn Berlin, and The Singing Detective - both written by Dennis Potter.
The Singing Detective, an esteemed production on both sides of the Atlantic, also won Clay an award from the Royal Television Society. It was the first of four features directed by Jon Amiel which he designed, the others being Queen of Hearts, Tune in Tomorrow starring Peter Falk (also called Aunt Julia & The Scriptwriter), Copy Cat and The Man Who Knew Too Little.
Clay designed one of the mid-90s most intriguing hits, Neil Jordan's Crying Game, The (1992). Other credits from that period include Kiss Before Dying, A (1991), War of the Buttons (1994) and Circle of Friends (1995). More recently: Clay designed Martha Fiennes' Onegin (1999), starring her brother Ralph; Atom Egoyan's Felicia's Journey (1999); and Ben Elton's Maybe Baby (2000) starring Emma Thompson.
Jim Clay was born in Yorkshire and studied architecture before beginning a design career at the BBC.
