Charles St John Wallace Furneaux (born 1957) is a retired British television producer and documentary maker.
Early life Furneaux attended a preparatory school in Kensington and later attended Marlborough College and Durham University, where he read modern history, graduating with a 2:1 degree in 1978.
Up series Furneaux is a former participant in the Up series, an ongoing documentary series which follows the lives of fourteen British citizens in seven-year intervals, beginning when they were seven years old in 1964. Furneaux was interviewed for the first three adaptations, Seven Up!, 7 Plus Seven, and 21 Up, in 1964, 1970 and 1977, and in all three was interviewed alongside John Brisby and Andrew Brackfield, with whom he had attended prep school.
Furneaux declined to participate in the series after the 21 Up episode, broadcast in 1977. After Charles declined to appear in 28 Up, during a subsequent phone conversation, director Michael Apted, by his own admission, "went berserk", which destroyed the relationship to the degree that Furneaux has refused to participate in all subsequent films. Allison Pearson, writing for The Telegraph, reports that Apted alleged Furneaux had filed a lawsuit aimed at "remov[ing] Charles' likeness from the archive sequences in 49 Up"; however, in all of the installments of the Up series that do not feature Furneaux, he still appeared in archive footage, and up until 49 Up, was still mentioned. In 56 and 63 Up, Charles is never mentioned, aside from older footage.
In 2026, it was announced that for 70 Up, the tenth and final installment, Charles was to contribute to the documentary, the first time since 1977, but only as a voice-over, with a recent photo of himself he provided. In 2026, Furneaux went into more detail as to why he left the series, saying: "We had no idea really of what was going on, when I gave my mother a hard time about this subsequently, she said the headmaster had wanted to promote the school. We'd never given consent. Our parents didn't really know what was going on. And I was stuck with two boys who, while they were perfectly nice, weren't mates of mine."
Career Furneaux attended Oxford University, and completed his BBC trainee scheme. He began his career as an assistant producer with the BBC, becoming a commissioning editor at Channel 4 in 1994. In 2003, Furneaux went to Talkback Thames as Head of Specialist Factual and Documentaries, resigning in 2007 to manage his own production company, Kaboom Film & TV. Furneaux has participated in one of the original television series in which a viewer was encouraged to voice their opinions regarding current television programmes, Right to Reply, in 1998.
Furneaux moved into journalism, working as a newspaper editor for the BBC.
Furneaux produced Diana: In Her Own Words, which broadcast on 6 August 2017 and became Channel 4's "most-watched documentary since 2014", peaking with 4.1 million viewers. Furneaux retired around 2017.
Awards Award-winning productions of Furneaux include:
The Natural History of the Chicken, which won an Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Science and Nature Programming-Long Form in 2002. Touching the Void won BAFTA's 2004 Alexander Korda award for the outstanding British film of the year. The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall, in 2009, won two BAFTA Awards and one Monte Carlo Golden Nymph Award Treblinka: Inside Hitler's Secret Death Camp won a Cine Golden Eagle Award in the History category of the Televised Documentary & Performance Division in 2014.
Filmography Television Year Title Role Notes and source19647 UpHimselfFirst installment of the Up series; originally aired as an episode of World in Action19707 Plus SevenHimselfSecond installment of the Up series197721 UpHimselfThird installment of the Up series198428 UpHimselfFourth installment of the Up series; Furneaux only appears in archive footage from 7 Up, 7 Plus Seven, and 21 UpAll Our Working LivesProducerOne episode1984–1985Out of CourtDirector/producerTwo episodes; director (one episode, 1984), producer (one episode, 1985)1986–1987Food & DrinkDirectorSix episodes1988–1992PanoramaProducerFifteen episodes1990–2003FrontlineProducerTwo episodes199135 UpHimselfFifth installment of the Up series; Furneaux only appears in archive footage from 7 Up, 7 Plus Seven, and 21 Up1995Secret LivesDirector/producerOne episode / credited as "Charles Furneau"1996People's CenturyDirector/producerTwo episodes1997–2002To the Ends of the EarthCommisioning editorSix episodes1997–1998Cutting EdgeCommisioning editorThree episodes199842 UpHimselfSixth installment of the Up series; Furneaux only appears in archive footage from 7 Up, 7 Plus Seven, and 21 UpMysterious Mummies of ChinaExecutive producerTelevision movieRight to ReplyHimselfOne episodeDanger UXOStrand editorTelevision movie2000Secrets of the Stone AgeCommisioning editorThree episodesThe Day the World Took OffCommisioning editorThree episodes2000–2001EquinoxCommisioning editorTwo episodes / uncredited2001Planet StormProducerTelevision movieClimbing the FatherlandCommisioning editorTelevision movie / uncreditedGoing to ExtremesExecutive producerTelevision movie2001–2004Secrets of the DeadCommisioning editor/producerThree episodes / editor (one episode in 2001 and 2004) producer (one episode in 2002)2002Yamashita's GoldCommisioning editorTelevision movieDinosaur DetectivesCommisioning editorTelevision movie2002–2003The Big TripCommisioning editor2003Gods in the SkyCommisioning editorThe Big Monster DigCommisioning editorBarbarians, Secrets of the Dark AgeCommisioning editorThree episodes200549 UpHimselfSeventh installment of the Up series; Furneaux only appears in archive footage from 7 Up, 7 Plus Seven, and 21 UpPoisonedExecutive producerTelevision movieThe UntouchablesExecutive producerFour episodes2006The Teen TamerExecutive producerSix episodesThe Last AztecExecutive producerTelevision documentary2006–2008Buildings That Shaped BritainExecutive producerSix episodes2007The Yellow HouseExecutive producerTelevision documentaryThe Building of the Year: The Riba Stirling Prize 2007 Live2008The Shooting of Thomas HurndallExecutive producerTelevision documentary2009MorphedExecutive producerThree episodesBrothers in Arms-BasraExecutive producer2011DispatchesExecutive producerOne episode201256 UpHimselfEighth installment of the Up series; Furneaux only appears in archive footage from 7 Up, 7 Plus Seven, and 21 UpRevealedExecutive producerOne episodeNazi Temple of Doom 2013 Treblinka: Inside Hitler's Secret Death Camp Executive Producer Television documentary, directed by Alex Nikolic-Dunlop.Bill's Kitchen: Notting HillExecutive Producer2014The French Revolution: Tearing Up HistoryExecutive ProducerTelevision documentary2015A Brief History of GraffitiExecutive ProducerTelevision documentary2017Diana: In Her Own WordsProducer201963 UpHimselfNinth installment of the Up series; Furneaux only appears in archive footage from 7 Up, 7 Plus Seven, and 21 Up202670 UpHimselfTenth installment of the Up series; Furneaux only appears visually in archive footage from 7 Up, 7 Plus Seven, and 21 Up but does give an off-camera interview
Film YearTitleRole1984Protest and the Suburban GuerrillaDirector1995Jackie ODirector2000The Natural History of the ChickenExecutive producer2003Touching the VoidExecutive producer Sources
References
Further reading and viewing List of production credits for Furneaux from the BFI