Peter Bode

Peter Bode is an award-winning television producer/director with over thirty years experience in the industry.

Biography

Peter is an award-winning South African photographer, journalist, television producer and director with over 30 years of experience. He began studying photography in England, moved into television in London, and later co-founded a production company with actress, production assistant and editor Lillias Bode (néé Lillias Tait, his creative partner for decades.

From studio dramas and art shows to documentaries and game shows, he’s worked across nearly every format — often with a camera in one hand and a mission in the other. Ranging from anti-apartheid documentaries to cultural celebrations, Peter’s work has always had purpose. Career highlights include directing Cape Town’s Olympic bid video, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Nigerian Idol, and a year filming East Africa's Got Talent in Kenya. His memoir Pidgin and Pepper Soup (2024) shares four wild years of producing television in Nigeria.

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

His film and TV career included writing/directing Mimi Coertse: Queen of the Night (1992), Die Seepsteen-bataljon (1978) and The Chicken Run (1979).

He ran his own production company for many years, producing magazines, talk shows, game shows, studio dramas and documentaries specialising in outreach programmes and numerous series on art and culture.

in 1980-1982 he wrote an influential series of ten articles called A History of South African Theatre (published in Scenaria, numbers 21, 23 to 27-30, 32 in 1980-1982).

A notable recent project has been Theatre Lives, a series of interviews for with theatre personalities aiming at recording and documenting the theatrical past of South Africa.