Edward John Mason (born 8 May 1912 in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, England, died 3 February 1971) was a scriptwriter for radio, television and movies for both 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 ...

and its rival

Radio Luxembourg Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg). The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...

Career

Edward J. Mason had his first major success in 1947 as a script writer when 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 ...

radio network began airing his British detective serial ''

Dick Barton ''Dick Barton – Special Agent'' is a radio thriller serial that was broadcast in the BBC Light Programme between 7 October 1946 and 30 March 1951. Produced and directed by Raymond Raikes, Neil Tuson, and Charles Lefaux, it was aired in 15- ...

'' which he created with co-writer

Geoffrey Webb Geoffrey Fairbank Webb CBE (9 May 1898 – 17 July 1970) was a British art historian, Slade Professor of Fine Art and head of the Monuments and Fine Arts section of the Allied Control Commission during World War II. Early life Webb was born in ...

. This was the first serial to air on the BBC and it continued to be aired until 1951. The BBC replaced ''Dick Barton'' with ''

The Archers ''The Archers'' is a British radio soap opera currently broadcast on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word Radio broadcasting, channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now pr ...

'', originally another creation of the Mason-Webb team, today ''

'' remains the world's longest-running

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

on radio. In 1950 and prior to ''The Archers'', Mason also created the radio serials ''The Lady Craved Excitement'' and ''What the Butler Saw,'' both of which were filmed in that year by

Hammer Films A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as wi ...

(''

The Lady Craved Excitement ''The Lady Craved Excitement'' is a 1950 British comedy second feature ('B') film directed by Francis Searle and starring Hy Hazell, Michael Medwin and Sid James. It was written by John Gilling based on the 1949 BBC radio serial ''The Lady Cra ...

,'' '' What the Butler Saw''). In 1954, he wrote the 6-part serial thriller ''Red For Danger'', which was broadcast on the BBC Midlands service. In 1955, Edward J. Mason created another mystery series called '' Shadow Man'' for the BBC's English language commercial rival Radio Luxembourg. ''Shadow Man'' was sponsored by Stork Margarine and it ran on ''208'' at 8:30 pm on Tuesday evenings. That same year Mason also worked on scripts for two television series: ''Unheimliche Begegnungen'' and a year later (1956) on ''I'm Not Bothered''. In 1960, Mason wrote for the TV mini-series ''The Days of Vengeance'' and in 1961 ''Flower of Evil''. In 1962 his TV work included ''Outbreak of Murder'' followed in 1964 by ''How to be an Alien''. Mason also created a string of

panel game A panel show or panel game is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participate. Celebrity panelists may compete with each other, such as on '' The News Quiz''; facilitate play by non-celebrity contestants, such as on ' ...

shows with producer

Tony Shryane Anthony Joseph Shryane MBE (20 January 1919 – 22 September 2003) was a long-serving producer of radio programmes for the BBC. He was born in Harborne, Birmingham. He was the first producer of ''The Archers'', in which capacity he served for 2 ...

and these included ''

Guilty Party In criminal law, guilt is the state of being responsible for the commission of an offense. Legal guilt is entirely externally defined by the state, or more generally a "court of law". Being factually guilty of a criminal offense means that one ...

'', ''

My Word! ''My Word!'' is a British radio quiz panel game broadcast by the BBC on the BBC Home Service, Home Service (1956–67) and BBC Radio 4, Radio 4 (1967–88). It was created by Edward J. Mason and Tony Shryane, and featured the humorous writers ...

'', and '' My Music''.

Personal life

His son Jeremy Mason, an actor who played Roger Travers-Macy in ''The Archers'', married the actress

Carolyn Jones Carolyn Sue Jones (April 28, 1930 – August 3, 1983) was an American actress of television and film. She began her film career in the early 1950s, and by the end of the decade had achieved recognition with a nomination for an Academy Awa ...

. Jones played Ursula Titchener in ''The Archers'' from 2016 to 2018, at the end of her career. His other son was musician and songwriter Laurence 'Lol' Mason, the former lead singer of late 1970s rock band City Boy and 1980s one hit wonders

The Maisonettes The Maisonettes were an English pop band formed by Lol Mason (formerly of City Boy) with Mark Tibenham and drummer Nick Parry, best known for their hit single "Heartache Avenue". History The group's debut single, "Heartache Avenue", reached ...

References

External links

* 1912 births 1971 deaths English male screenwriters Writers from Birmingham, West Midlands 20th-century English screenwriters 20th-century English male writers {{England-writer-stub