Peter Bryant(1923-2006)

Peter Bryant was an English actor and producer whose first television break came as one of the stars of the popular soap The Grove Family (1954). Bryant then worked as an announcer and scriptwriter for BBC radio and was eventually promoted to head the script unit of the Radio Drama Department. His theatrical training and raw enthusiasm supported a successful transition to television several years later. BBC Head of Serials, Shaun Sutton, initially assigned him to work in tandem with outgoing story editor Gerry Davis on Doctor Who (1963). However, before long, Bryant had advanced to editor and lead producer for the series. During the reign of the second Doctor (Patrick Troughton, 1966-69), he exercised his creative influence on several of the classic episodes, including "Tomb of the Cybermen", "The Wheel in Space", "The Web of Fear" and "The Invasion". Under his auspices, UNIT and the Brigadier were introduced into the series. In 1969, in one of his final acts on the series, he cast Jon Pertwee as the Doctor, then he left Doctor Who (1963) to produce the popular detective series Paul Temple (1969). Towards the end of his career, he freelanced as a producer of stage plays and TV commercials before reinventing himself as a literary agent, specializing in children's books.