William Harold Strutton (23 February 1918 – 23 November 2003) was an Australian screenwriter and novelist. He worked on television shows such as ''

Ivanhoe ''Ivanhoe: A Romance'' ( ) by Walter Scott is a historical novel published in three volumes, in December 1819, as one of the Waverley novels. It marked a shift away from Scott's prior practice of setting stories in Scotland and in the more ...

'', '' The Saint'', '' The Avengers'', '' Riptide'' and ''

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 ...

''.

Early life

Born in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, Bill Strutton won a state scholarship to university at 14 but dropped out after two years to work as an office clerk in Adelaide. At the outbreak of World War II, he joined the Australian army. He was captured by the Germans in Crete and sent to

Stalag In Germany, stalag (; ) was a term used for prisoner-of-war camps. Stalag is a contraction of "Stammlager", itself short for ''Kriegsgefangenen-Mannschaftsstammlager'', literally "main camp for enlisted prisoners of war" (officers were kept i ...

VII, learning to swear in several languages. It was there he also began to take an interest in writing. He once said: "My first year as a prisoner-of-war was the most interesting in my life. The ensuing three were the most boring, but more instructive, I think, than any university. I learned several languages: German from a Serbian horse-doctor; Spanish from a Basque; a Parisian taxi-driver bequeathed me a startling vocabulary. I also ran a camp newspaper, caught up on my reading, and finally celebrated my liberation by tearing up a novel." After being demobbed, he lived in England. In 1961, he lived with his Australian wife, Marguerite and two children in Woddingham, East Surrey.

Career

After the war, he began a career in journalism, and started to write military books in the mid-fifties. These included '' The Secret Invaders'', '' A Jury of Angels'' in 1957 and '' Island of Terrible Friends'' in 1961. Also, three films. In 1958, he scripted the ''

'' television series which starred

Roger Moore Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 192723 May 2017) was an English actor. He was the actor to portray Ian Fleming's fictional secret agent James Bond (literary character), James Bond in the Eon Productions/MGM Studios film series, playing the ...

. He wrote for more than fifteen television series in eleven years, the last of which was ''

Strange Report ''Strange Report'' is a British television crime drama series starring Anthony Quayle as Adam Strange. It was produced by ITC Entertainment and first broadcast in 1969 on ITV In the United States, NBC broadcast ''Strange Report'' between 8 Ja ...

'', starring

Anthony Quayle Sir John Anthony Quayle (7 September 1913 – 20 October 1989) was a British actor. He was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his supporting role as Thomas Wolsey in the film '' Anne of the Thousand Days'' (1969). He also played impor ...

, and several episodes of ''

Paul Temple Paul Temple is a fictional character created by English writer Francis Durbridge. Temple is a professional author of crime fiction and an amateur private detective. With his wife Louise, affectionately known as 'Steve' in reference to her jo ...

'' before retiring in 1978 following a heart attack. His ''

'' story was ''

The Web Planet ''The Web Planet'' is the fifth serial of the second season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Written by Bill Strutton and directed by Richard Martin, the serial was broadcast on BBC1 in six weekly parts from ...

'' in 1965. It is remembered as a unique ''Doctor Who'' serial. It was the first programme to feature a completely alien cast, including Martin Jarvis as a butterfly Menoptera, and introduced the menacing Zarbi. Two of its six episodes are amongst the handful of ''Doctor Who'' instalments to be seen by more than 13m people on original transmission. Strutton went on to adapt the serial as the third ''Doctor Who'' novel in 1965. In 1972, he submitted another storyline to ''Doctor Who'' entitled ''The Mega'', but this was rejected. It was later adapted as an audio drama that was released in 2013.

Death

Bill Strutton died on 23 November 2003, the day of ''Doctor Whos fortieth anniversary, aged 85 years.

References

External links

* 1918 births 2003 deaths British television writers British science fiction writers British male screenwriters Australian television writers Australian screenwriters 20th-century Australian non-fiction writers British male television writers 20th-century British screenwriters 20th-century Australian screenwriters Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian prisoners of war World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Australian male television writers {{UK-novelist-stub