Michael Imison (born in

Hoylake Hoylake is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is at the north west of the Wirral Peninsula, near West Kirby and where the River Dee meets the Irish Sea. Historically part of Cheshire, the Domesday Bo ...

, Cheshire, 9 February 1935) is a retired

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

television director A television director is in charge of the activities involved in making a television program or section of a program. They are generally responsible for decisions about the editorial content and creative style of a program, and ensuring the pro ...

and

literary agent A literary agent is an agent who represents writers and their written works to publishers, theatrical producers, film producers, and film studios, and assists in sale and deal negotiation. Literary agents most often represent novelists, screenwrit ...

. He directed several productions for the BBC in the 1960s, including '' Doctor Who'', and subsequently served as the

story editor Story editor is a job title in motion picture and television production, also sometimes called "supervising producer". In live action television, a story editor is a member of the screenwriting staff who edits scripts, pitches stories, and reports ...

on the second series of the science-fiction anthology programme ''

Out of the Unknown ''Out of the Unknown'' is a British television science fiction anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in four series between 1965 and 1971. Most episodes of the first three series were a dramatisation of a science ...

''.

Early life and education

Imison attended Exeter College at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

BBC career

Imison began his career at the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

working for the Script Department. Initial successes included directing ''Magnyfcence'' by John Skelton at the Tower Theatre,

Canonbury Canonbury is a residential area of Islington in the London Borough of Islington, North London. It is roughly in the area between Essex Road, Upper Street and Cross Street and either side of St Paul's Road. In 1253 land in the area was granted ...

in May 1963. Under contract as a director at the BBC, Imison directed ''

Compact Compact as used in politics may refer broadly to a pact or treaty; in more specific cases it may refer to: * Interstate compact * Blood compact, an ancient ritual of the Philippines * Compact government, a type of colonial rule utilized in British ...

'' and a serial adaptation of

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novella ...

's ''

Buddenbrooks ''Buddenbrooks'' () is a 1901 novel by Thomas Mann, chronicling the decline of a wealthy north German merchant family over the course of four generations, incidentally portraying the manner of life and mores of the Hanseatic bourgeoisie in the ...

''. His final directorial assignment for the BBC was the '' Doctor Who'' serial '' The Ark'' (1966), which starred

William Hartnell William Henry Hartnell (8 January 1908 – 23 April 1975) was an English actor. He is best remembered for his portrayal of the first incarnation of the Doctor in '' Doctor Who'' from 1963 to 1966. In film, Hartnell notably appeared in '' Bri ...

as the

First Doctor The First Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. He was portrayed by actor William Hartnell. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien T ...

. Although his contract as a staff director was not renewed following the completion of the serial,Voice-over commentary on the BBC DVD " The Ark" (1966, 2011) Imison remained at the BBC and acted as story editor on the second series of ''

'' under producer

Irene Shubik Irene Shubik (26 December 1929 – 26 September 2019) was a British television producer and story editor, known for her contribution to the development of the single play in British television drama. Beginning her career in television at AB ...

Literary agent

Later in his career, Imison became a literary agent. His company represented

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'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combina ...

and

Terence Rattigan Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan (10 June 191130 November 1977) was a British dramatist and screenwriter. He was one of England's most popular mid-20th-century dramatists. His plays are typically set in an upper-middle-class background.Geoffrey Wa ...

, among many other playwrights. He also helped previously unknown dramatists such as David Edgar (''

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby ''Nicholas Nickleby'' or ''The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby'' (or also ''The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Containing a Faithful Account of the Fortunes, Misfortunes, Uprisings, Downfallings, and Complete Career of the ...

'') and

Bernard Pomerance Bernard Pomerance (September 23, 1940 – August 26, 2017) was an American playwright and poet whose best known work is the play '' The Elephant Man''. Biography Pomerance was born in Brooklyn, New York City in 1940. He studied at the University ...

('' The Elephant Man'') to international success. It has now been incorporated into Alan Brodie Representation Ltd.,

Other work

Imison founded and chaired the Noël Coward Society, worked for the

British Humanist Association Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious be ...

, and also founded and chaired the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society is the organisation that supports the running of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world. The Society was established in 1958 to provide a centralised information and box office ...

when he was the undergraduate director of the Oxford University Theatre Group, known for its late-night revues which launched the careers of

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two ...

and

Dudley Moore Dudley Stuart John Moore CBE (19 April 193527 March 2002) was an English actor, comedian, musician and composer. Moore first came to prominence in the UK as a leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s. He was one of the four writ ...

among others.

Personal life

Imison was married to the educator Dame

Tamsyn Imison Dame Tamsyn Imison, DBE (1 May 1937 – 18 September 2017) was a prominent British educator and "educational strategist" whose first career was as a scientific illustrator. Imison was educated at Somerville College, Oxford. After having a famil ...

and lives in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include L ...

References

External links

* http://www.shillpages.com/howe/b-h1.htm * https://web.archive.org/web/20060624184234/http://www.bbccharterreview.org.uk/first_phase_responses/I/imison_michael.rtf * http://www.clubdesmonstres.com/monoids.jpg * https://web.archive.org/web/20030921084420/http://www.humanism.org.uk/site/cms/contentviewarticle.asp?article=1160 * http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/ * {{DEFAULTSORT:Imison, Michael 1935 births Living people Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford British television directors People from Southwold