John Christopher Byrne (27 November 1935 – 2 April 2008) was an Irish television

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

and

script editor A script editor is a member of the production team of scripted television and radio programs, usually dramas and comedies. The script editor has many responsibilities including finding new script writers, developing storyline and series ideas wit ...

. He travelled extensively in his youth as a travelling poet. During the 1960s he worked as a

literary editor A literary editor is a editor responsible for refining and overseeing the quality of written content in a newspaper, magazine or other publication. Literary editor deals with aspects concerning literature and books, especially reviews. A literary ...

, and wrote short stories that were published in ''

Science Fantasy file:Warhammer40kcosplay.jpg, Cosplay of a character from the ''Warhammer 40,000'' tabletop game; one critic has characterized the game's setting as "action-oriented science-fantasy." Science fantasy is a hybrid genre within speculative fiction ...

'' magazine. Byrne's other works include the novel ''Groupie'' (1969, co-written with Jenny Fabian), the BBC " Wednesday Play" ''Season of the Witch'' (1971), and the scripts for the films '' Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall'' (1972, co-written with original author

Spike Milligan Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright and actor. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British India, where he spent his ...

and

Norman Cohen Norman Cohen (11 June 1936 in Dublin – 26 October 1983 in Van Nuys, California) was an Irish film director and producer, best known for directing two feature films based on television comedy programmes, ''Till Death Us Do Part (film), Till ...

), and ''Rosie Is My Relative'' (1976). He was script editor of the TV series '' All Creatures Great and Small'' (1976, 1978, 1985, 1988–1990), writing 29 episodes, and also produced scripts for '' One by One'' (1987). Byrne was the creator of the TV drama series '' Heartbeat'' (which was loosely based on the ''Constable'' books by Nicholas Rhea), writing 23 episodes for 17 series between 1992 and 2005. He also created and wrote for '' Noah's Ark'' (1997–98).

''Space: 1999''

Byrne was the most prolific scriptwriter for the first series of '' Space: 1999'' (1973–75), and was initially assigned the role of creative consultant for the second season (1976–77). However, hoping to make a greater impact on the American market, the producers desired a consultant from the United States, and the job was subsequently given to

Fred Freiberger Fred Freiberger (February 19, 1915March 2, 2003) was an American film and television writer and television producer, whose career spanned four decades and work on films such as ''The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms'' (1953) and TV series including '' B ...

. Byrne's scripts for series one of ''Space: 1999'' were " Matter of Life and Death" (based on a draft by Art Wallace), " Another Time, Another Place", " Force of Life", " Voyager's Return" (based on an idea by Joe Gannon), " End of Eternity", " The Troubled Spirit", " Mission of the Darians", and " The Testament of Arkadia". For series two, he wrote " The Metamorph", " The Immunity Syndrome", and " The Dorcons".

''Doctor Who''

Byrne is also known for his contributions to the British science-fiction TV series ''

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 ...

''. The first of his three scripted and screened stories was ''

The Keeper of Traken ''The Keeper of Traken'' is the sixth serial of the Doctor Who (season 18), 18th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC One, BBC1 from 31 January to 21 February ...

'' (1981), which resurrected the

Master Master, master's or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles In education: *Master (college), head of a college *Master's degree, a postgraduate or sometimes undergraduate degree in the specified discipline *Schoolmaster or master, presiding office ...

and served as the first instalment in a trilogy of stories (continuing with '' Logopolis'' and '' Castrovalva'') involving the character. For the same story, Byrne created the character of Nyssa, who would later become a companion to the

Fifth Doctor The Fifth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He is portrayed by Peter Davison. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord ...

. Byrne's second story, ''

Arc of Infinity ''Arc of Infinity'' is the first serial of the 20th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts on BBC1 from 3 to 12 January 1983. The serial is set in Amsterdam a ...

'' (1983), featured the

Time Lord The Time Lords are a fictional ancient race of extraterrestrial life, extraterrestrial people in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Time Lords are so named for their command of time travel technology and their Nonli ...

villain

Omega Omega (, ; uppercase Ω, lowercase ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and last letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numerals, Greek numeric system/isopsephy (gematria), it has a value ...

, who had first appeared in '' The Three Doctors'' a decade earlier. His final screened story was '' Warriors of the Deep'' (1984), which saw the return of monsters the

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 23.5 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the third and shortest period of t ...

s and the Sea Devils. In 1991, Byrne wrote the final draft script for an unmade ''Doctor Who'' movie called ''Doctor Who: Last of the Time Lords''.

Personal life

Byrne left Ireland for the United Kingdom in 1956. For a time, he worked as a teacher of

English as a foreign language English as a second or foreign language refers to the use of English by individuals whose native language is different, commonly among students learning to speak and write English. Variably known as English as a foreign language (EFL), Engli ...

in various cities in Europe. In 1975 he married Sandy Carrington-Mail, with whom he had three sons.

Death

Byrne died in 2008, aged 72. He last resided, and is buried in, Heydon,

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

References

External links

*
Obituary: ''The Guardian''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Byrne, Johnny 1935 births 2008 deaths 20th-century Irish poets 20th-century Irish short story writers 21st-century Irish short story writers 20th-century Irish novelists 20th-century Irish male writers 21st-century Irish male writers 20th-century Irish screenwriters BBC people Burials in Norfolk Irish emigrants to the United Kingdom Irish magazine editors Irish male novelists Irish male poets Irish male screenwriters Irish male short story writers Irish male television writers Irish science fiction writers People from Heydon, Norfolk Teachers of English as a second or foreign language Irish television show creators Writers from Dublin (city)