Ayton Richardson Whitaker (26 May 1916 – August 1999) was a British producer and director of radio, film and television for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Life

Whitaker was born on 26 May 1916 in

Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England. It lies on the southwestern bank of the River Thames, which at this point forms the border with Buckinghamshire. In the 2021 Census, ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

.BFI
Ayton Whitaker During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he was an officer in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

,London Gazette 25 July 1941 p 4281 being captured and spending time as a

Prisoner of War A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

Stalag Luft III Stalag Luft III (; literally "Main Camp, Air, III"; SL III) was a ''Luftwaffe''-run prisoner-of-war (POW) camp during the Second World War, which held captured Western Allied air force personnel. The camp was established in March 1942 near th ...

.Marilyn Walton and Michael Eberhard (2014) "From Interrogation to Liberation" p 275

Work

From 1945 he was a producer for radio programmes on the

BBC Home Service The BBC Home Service was a national and regional radio station that broadcast from 1939 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 4. History 1922–1939: Interwar period Between the early 1920s and the outbreak of World War II, the BBC ...

and the

Light Programme The BBC Light Programme was a national radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and light music from 1945 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the lo ...

.Radio Times 25 November 1945 issue 1156 ''et sequi'' These included

Mrs Dale's Diary ''Mrs Dale's Diary'' (known as ''The Dales'' from 1962 to 1969) was the first significant BBC Radio serial drama. It was first broadcast on 5 January 1948 on the BBC Light Programme, later BBC Radio 2, running until 25 April 1969. A new episode ...

Radio Times 20 February 1948 issue 127 ''et sequi'' and Dick Barton Special Agent.Radio Times 1 December 1950 issue 1412 ''et sequi'' From 1953 he also began producing television drama.Radio Times 29 December 1953 issue 1572 ''et sequi'' In 1956 he adapted and produced

Blithe Spirit Blithe Spirit may refer to: * ''Blithe Spirit'' (play), a 1941 comic play written by Noël Coward * ''Blithe Spirit'' (1945 film), a British comedy film based on the play * Blithe Spirit (''Ford Star Jubilee''), a 1956 television play version of ...

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...

for the radio,Radio Times 8 June 1956 issue 1700 but from then on concentrated on producing and directing for television. He was involved in the creation of the

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

series.www.televisionheaven.co.uk
The origin of Dr Who.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitaker, Ayton People from Maidenhead 1916 births 1999 deaths Radio directors BBC radio producers BBC television producers British World War II prisoners of war World War II prisoners of war held by Germany 20th-century British businesspeople