TV GREATS: PETER BRYANT 1923 - 2006

Prolific television producer Peter Bryant appeared on television first as an actor as Jack Grove, a character in Britain's first Soap Opera for adults; 'The Grove Family'. Nine million viewers tuned in regularly to see the day-to-day life of a lower middle-class family living in a neat double-fronted house in the London suburb of Hendon. Even the Queen Mother declared herself to be a fan when she visited the set, telling the cast that she found them 'so English-so real.'

Peter Murray Bryant was born in London on 27th October 1923 and began his acting career in rep before landing several small screen roles and then moving into television in 1953 as Edgar in a BBC production of 'Wuthering Heights'. In 1955 he reprised his 'Grove Family' role in what was the first ever spin-off movie from a British television series, 'It's a Great Day!' After 'The Grove Family' Peter starred in the final episode of 'The English Family Robinson' (1957), Iain MacCormick's four-part series on colonial rule; playing alongside Peter Wyngarde as an Indian, while 'Champion Road' (1958) was a serial set in the North and also starred a young Prunella Scales.

In 1959 Peter turned to broadcasting as a radio announcer whilst at the same time submitting a number of radio scripts. This led to him becoming an accomplished script editor for the BBC radio drama department of which he eventually became head. In the 1960s he returned to television and began a succesful association with 'Doctor Who', joining the series with the story "The Faceless Ones" as associate producer under Innes Lloyd, then producing the serial "Tomb of the Cybermen" before becoming script editor for three series during the show's fifth season. He became the series producer again with "The Web of Fear" and continued through Patrick Troughton's penultimate story. He was also influential in casting Jon Pertwee as Troughton's successor. After leaving 'Doctor Who' Peter produced 'Special Project Air' (1969), a Sunday evening series that formed part of BBC1's first week in colour and then produced the successful BBC detective series 'Paul Temple' starring Francis Matthews.

Later in his career Peter Bryant became a successful literary agent specialising in children's books. He passed away after a 12 month battle with cancer on May 19th, 2006 aged 82.