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Michael Samuels directs a star-studded series for ITV

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Award-winning television director Michael Samuels has had a busy couple of years.

His most recent project, which he wrote and directed, is Channel 4's Any Human Heart. The series, which started last month, airs on Sundays and runs until December 12.

Starring Jim Broadbent, Matthew Macfadyen and Sam Claflin, it is a moving adaptation by William Boyd of his own best-selling novel, exploring one man's tumultuous journey through the 20th century.

Earlier in the year, Mr Samuel's Mrs Mandela, the story of Winnie, Nelson Mandela's second wife, was shown on BBC. And then there was the Royal Television Society's best single drama award he picked up for The Curse of Steptoe. He has also directed BBC Boxing Day drama Caught in a Trap, EastEnders and The Last Days of Lehman Brothers.

Mr Samuels tells People: "Many people have named Any Human Heart as their favourite book, so it has been quite challenging - but also very exciting - to transform it into another medium entirely. It's very different from much of the stuff you see on TV. It contains a lot of ideas but what it definitely is not, for instance, is another 'heritage' drama like Downton Abbey."

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