Peter Bryant

This article is about the British TV producer. For other people, see Peter Bryant (disambiguation).
Peter Bryant
in The Grove Family (1954-1957)
Born
Peter Murray Bryant

(1923-10-27)27 October 1923
London[1]
Died19 May 2006(2006-05-19) (aged 82)
Occupation(s)Television producer, script editor, literary agent, actor

Peter Bryant (27 October 1923 – 19 May 2006)[2] was an English television producer, script editor and former actor. He acted in The Grove Family as a regular cast member and later became the producer of Doctor Who from 1967 to 1969 during Patrick Troughton's tenure as the Second Doctor. He also produced the series Paul Temple before becoming a literary agent.

Career

Bryant was originally an actor and appeared in the 1950s soap opera The Grove Family.[3] Later, he became a BBC Radio announcer while writing radio scripts as a sideline. This led to him becoming a script editor in the Radio Drama Department and eventually the head of the Drama Script Unit.[4] In 1967 he transferred from radio to television, where head of serials Shaun Sutton put him to work with script editor Gerry Davis on Doctor Who as a "Story Associate" then story editor.[2]

Having acted as associate producer on The Faceless Ones and The Evil of the Daleks, Bryant was tested out as full producer for The Tomb of the Cybermen, replacing Innes Lloyd,[2] and later became full-time producer for the later Patrick Troughton stories from The Web of Fear to The Space Pirates.[5] Bryant was also the script editor on the last 4 episodes of The Evil of the Daleks and the whole of The Abominable Snowmen, The Ice Warriors and The Enemy of the World. One of Bryant's last contributions to Doctor Who was the casting in June 1969 of Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor.[6] After the casting of Jon Pertwee as the new Doctor, Bryant left Doctor Who to become the new producer of Paul Temple,[7] following the departure of Alan Bromly. Bryant soon brought over Derrick Sherwin to join him on Paul Temple. Bryant and Sherwin had previously worked together on Doctor Who.

Bryant later became a literary agent to writers and a casting agent to actors. One of his clients was Eric Pringle, who wrote the Doctor Who story The Awakening.[8]

Personal life

Bryant was married to actress Shirley Cooklin, who appeared in the Doctor Who serial The Tomb of the Cybermen, but they eventually divorced.[9]

Partial filmography

References

  1. ^ "Peter Bryant". BFI. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019.
  2. ^ a b c Gaughan, Gavin (30 June 2006). "Peter Bryant". The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  3. ^ "BFI Screenonline: Grove Family, The (1954-57)". www.screenonline.org.uk.
  4. ^ III, Harris M. Lentz (24 October 2008). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2006: Film, Television, Radio, Theatre, Dance, Music, Cartoons and Pop Culture. McFarland. ISBN 9780786452118 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ Westthorp, Alex (30 March 2010). "Top 10 Doctor Who producers: Part One". Den of Geek. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  6. ^ "BBC - Doctor Who Classic Episode Guide - Season 7". www.bbc.co.uk.
  7. ^ "Doctor Who Classic Episode Guide - Season 7". BBC. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  8. ^ Newley, Patrick (26 June 2006). "Peter Bryant". The Stage. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  9. ^ "BBC One - Doctor Who, Season 5, The Tomb of the Cybermen - The Fourth Dimension". BBC.

Further reading

Preceded by Doctor Who Script Editor
1967 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Doctor Who Producer
1967 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Doctor Who Script Editor
1967–68 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Doctor Who Producer
1968–69 		Succeeded by