Piotr Szkopiak

Piotr Szkopiak born 16th March [1966]] in London has been a director on Emmerdale from 2003.

Piotr's parents were born in Poland but were deported when the German and Russian armies invaded the country in 1939. Piotr's father and his family were sent to Austria to work as forced labour. His mother and her family were sent to Siberia by the Soviets as enemies of the state. The Soviet NKVD executed Piotr's grandfather in the Katyn Massacre in 1940. After the war, they found themselves in England but could not return to Poland because it was still occupied by Soviet Russia and under communist rule. They remained in England as political refugees, as did many of their fellow countrymen and women.

Piotr did not have any formal training in film and television. His first break came in 1989, working as an intern at MTV Europe in the News Department. He later joined Sky TV as an intern in Sky Movies and secured a job as an interstitial producer/director. He then co-created the film magazine show "Xposure" which began in September 1992 and was re-named "The Movie Show" in January 1994. It was first presented by Nadia De Lemeny and Rob Brydon then Richard Jobson. Piotr directed the shows between August 1993 and January 1995, which included special reports from New York, Los Angeles and the Cannes, Berlin and Edinburgh Film Festivals.

In 1994, Piotr made the short film "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie", which won the Best British Film Award at the Institute of Amateur Cinematographers in 1995. It was also selected to play at the Barcelona Film Festival and was screened on Sky TV in October 1997.

In January 1995, Piotr left Sky to work as a freelance director and editor while writing and producing his first feature film "Small Time Obsession". On its UK release, both Variety and The Guardian described Piotr as "a director to watch".

Piotr has also directed for Doctors, Eastenders, Heartbeat, Casualty and Coronation Street.