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Anthony Read

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This article is about the British writer. For the British general, see Anthony Read (British Army officer).
Anthony Read
Born (1935-04-21) 21 April 1935 (age 89)
Cannock, England
OccupationAuthor, screenwriter, script editor, and television producer.
Period1964–present
GenreComedy, drama, adventure, science fiction

Anthony "Tony" Read (born 21 April 1935 died 21 November 2015) was a British script editor, television writer and author. He was principally active in British television from the 1960s to the mid-1980s, although he occasionally contributed to televised productions until 1999. Starting in the 1980s, he launched a second career as a print author, concentrating largely on World War II histories. Since 2004 he regularly wrote prose fiction, mainly in the form of a revival of his popular 1983 television show, The Baker Street Boys.

As television professional

1960s

Like other artists who worked during the 1960s, a substantial portion of Read's body of work was junked by the BBC, and is thus not available for inspection by a modern audience. Nevertheless, Read was prodigious during the early part of his career. His earliest work was as a freelance writer for Z-Cars in 1962. He started working at the BBC on the 2nd of November 1963.[1] He soon graduated to writer/script editor of several other adventure-mystery series, like the anthological Detective, The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling and Peter Cushing's 1965 Sherlock Holmes vehicle. The balance of the decade was spent on the adult drama, The Troubleshooters. Though little of his work on the petroleum industry drama survives today, Troubleshooters would provide Read with the steadiest work of his career. He was the series' original script editor in 1965, and ended his run as producer of the 1969 season.

1970s

When he departed The Troubleshooters, Read kept his producer's hat on for a few years, before returning to his more traditional roles of script editing and writing. The Lotus Eaters and The Dragon's Opponent extended his run as a producer of contemporary dramas. It also continued a few key professional relationships he had enjoyed since the mid-1960s. Notably, The Lotus Eaters reunited him with director Douglas Camfield and writer David Fisher.

By 1978, Read had been brought into Doctor Who as script editor by the new producer Graham Williams. Read replaced Robert Holmes in mid-season; Holmes had stayed on after the end of the 14th season at Williams' request. In the 16th season Read oversaw the "Key to Time" story arc (taking over part of the producer's duties when Williams fell ill), and shaped the character of the first Romana. A key ally in his days on Doctor Who was again David Fisher. Fisher wrote two of the "Key to Time" stories, and then wrote (or co-wrote) three more stories in the next year.

Read was also instrumental in commissioning Douglas Adams as a Doctor Who writer, and for advocating the Hitchhiker's Guide author to be his replacement as script editor. His final contribution to Doctor Who was as scriptwriter for The Horns of Nimon. Given the cancellation of Shada, he was thus the final writer of the Graham Williams era on the program.

Immediately following his stint on Doctor Who in 1979, he contributed the scripts for the episodes Powers of Darkness and Out of Body, Out of Mind to the paranormal thriller series The Omega Factor

1980s

Together with Don Houghton, he co-wrote the fifth Sapphire & Steel television story, known informally as Dr McDee Must Die.[2] In 1984 Read adapted the John Wyndham novel, Chocky, for Children's ITV. Its success led to two original sequels: Chocky's Children and Chocky's Challenge. In an interview for the DVD release of Chocky, Read revealed that the Wyndham estate considered his adaptation of Chocky to be the best adaptation ever produced from Wyndham's novels.[3]

Read's biggest critical success of the 1980s, however, was 1983's The Baker Street Boys. The series' unique approach to the world of Sherlock Holmes garnered Read an award from the Writers' Guild of Great Britain.

As author, historian

During the 1980s, Read gradually began to replace his television work with a burgeoning career in print. He remains an active author as of 2009.

In his second career as an author he continued his relationship with David Fisher into the world of non-fiction writing. While the majority of Read's books were solo works, he and Fisher combined a number of times, almost always to explore some aspect of World War II. Together they wrote The Fall of Berlin,[4] Deadly Embrace: Hitler, Stalin and the Nazi-Soviet Pact, 1939–1941, The Proudest Day: India's Long Road to Independence,[5] Operation Lucy: The Most Secret Spy Ring of the Second World War, Berlin Rising: Biography of a City, Colonel Z: The Secret Life of a Master of Spies, and Kristallnacht: The Nazi Night of Terror.

Read's solo non-fiction works followed a similar interest in World War II, but he occasionally wrote prose fiction. He was the main writer of a series of novels about The Baker Street Boys, a television show for which he wrote in the early 1980s.

Writing credits

Production Notes Broadcaster
Detective
  • "The Man Who Murdered in Public" (1964)
 BBC1
The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling
  • "On the City Wall" (1964)
  • "Private Learoyd's Story" (1964)
  • "Beyond the Pale" (1964)
 BBC1
Sherlock Holmes
  • "The Copper Beeches" (script editor, 1965)
  • "The Man with the Twisted Lip" (script editor, 1965)
  • "The Beryl Coronet" (script editor, 1965)
  • "Charles Augustus Milverton" (script editor, 1965)
  • "The Retired Colourman" (script editor, 1965)
 BBC1
This Man Craig
  • "The Tinks" (1967)
 BBC2
The Troubleshooters
  • 6 episodes (1966–1970)
 BBC1
Play for Today BBC1
Marked Personal
  • 4 episodes (1974)
 ITV
Sutherland's Law
  • "The Partnership" (1974)
 BBC1
The Black Arrow
  • 7 episodes (1974–1975)
 ITV
Crown Court
  • "The Personator" (1975)
  • "The Also Ran" (1975)
 ITV
BBC2 Playhouse
  • "Diane" (credited as "David Agnew", 1975)
 BBC2
Quiller
  • "Night of the Father" (1975)
 BBC1
Centre Play
  • "Kipper" (1977)
 BBC2
Z-Cars
  • "Say Goodbye to the Horses" (1976)
  • "Nightwatch" (1976)
  • "Rage" (1977)
  • "Error of Judgement" (1977)
  • "Skeletons" (1977)
 BBC1
The Professionals
  • "Private Madness, Public Danger" (1977)
  • "Long Shot" (1978)
  • "Hunter/Hunted" (1978)
  • "Fugitive" (1980)
 ITV
The Standard
  • "Golden Boy" (1978)
  • "New Standards" (1978)
 BBC1
The Omega Factor
  • "Powers of Darkness" (1979)
  • "Out of Body, Out of Mind" (1979)
 BBC1
Doctor Who BBC1
Hammer House of Horror
  • "Witching Time" (1980)
 ITV
Into the Labyrinth
  • "Robin" (1981)
  • "Minotaur" (1981)
 ITV
Sapphire & Steel
  • "Doctor McDee Must Die" (1981)
 ITV
The Baker Street Boys
  • "The Adventure of the Disappearing Dispatch Case" (1983)
  • "The Case of the Captive Clairvoyant" (1983)
 BBC1
Chocky
  • 6 episodes (1984)
 ITV
One by One
  • 13 episodes (1984–1985)
 BBC1
Chocky's Children
  • 6 episodes (1985)
 ITV
Chocky's Challenge
  • 4 episodes (1986)
 ITV
The Chief
  • "Episode #5.3" (1995)
 ITV
The Adventures of Swiss Family Robinson
  • "Princess from the Sea" (1998)
  • "The Treasure Hunt" (1998)
 Pax TV
Heartbeat
  • "Baby Love" (1998)
 ITV
A Twist in the Tale
  • "The Magician" (1999)
 N/A
Revelations
  • "False Witness (2002)
  • "The Good Samaritan (2003)
 N/A

References

  1. ^ https://drwhointerviews.wordpress.com/2009/10/11/anthony-read-1985/
  2. ^ Stanley, Rob (1993, 1996). "P.J. Hammond Interview". Retrieved 24 February 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1386621/index.html
  4. ^ http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/book-review--a-stampede-on-fire-the-fall-of-berlin--anthony-read--david-fisher-hutchinson-pounds-1899-1551292.html
  5. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/r/read-proudest.html

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