David Sale, born Ernest Swindells (Manchester, 1932) is an English-born author, television screenwriter, playwright, producer, director, actor and journalist. He emigrated to Australia in 1950, and has contributed to many TV drama series, and provided special material for Australian entertainers.

Biography

Early life

Born as Ernest Swindells in 1932 to an aircraft factory worker and his wife Lucy, (he even named the popular Number 96 character of Lucy Sutcliffe, played by

Elisabeth Kirkby Elisabeth Wilma Burton Kirkby (born 26 January 1921), alternatively Elizabeth Kirkby, is a British Australian retired politician. Kirkby entered politics serving with the Australian Democrats in the New South Wales Legislative Council as Stat ...

, after his mother) he grew up in Manchester during the years of World War II, before taking to professional writing under the pseudonym of David Sale.

Screenwriting

He is perhaps best known as creator, writer and

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

of the highly influential television

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

Number 96 96 (ninety-six) is the natural number following 95 and preceding 97. It is a number that appears the same when turned upside down. In mathematics 96 is: * an octagonal number. * a refactorable number. * an untouchable number. * a semiperfe ...

''. Before that, he was Executive Producer of the satirical weekly comedy ''

The Mavis Bramston Show ''The Mavis Bramston Show'' was a weekly Australian television satirical sketch comedy revue series which aired on the Seven Network from 1964 to 1968. Inspired by the British TV satirical revue TV shows of the period (notably ''That Was The Week ...

''. Both of these series were highly rated in their day and still rank amongst the most famous and influential programs to have appeared on

Australian television Television in Australia began experimentally as early as 1929 in Melbourne with radio stations 3DB and 3UZ, and 2UE in Sydney, using the ''Radiovision'' system by Gilbert Miles and Donald McDonald, and later from other locations, such as Bris ...

. He also wrote the scripts for short-lived serial ''

The Group The Group may refer to: Film and television * ''The Group'' (Australian TV series), 1971 situation comedy produced by Cash Harmon Television for ATN7 * ''The Group'' (Canadian TV series), 1968–70 music variety on CBC Television * ''The Group ...

''.

Author

His first two novels, written between TV assignments, were ''Come to Mother'' and ''The Love Bite''. These were published in London in hardback in the 1970s and both were bought by Hollywood. ''Come to Mother'' was made into the television film '' Live Again, Die Again'' (1974).

Publications 1990s

Television interrupted this flow of books, but in the 1990s Sale resumed his career as an author with ''Twisted Echoes'' (1993) (Hodder Headline); ''Scorpion's Kiss'' (1995) (Pan Macmillan) and ''Hidden Agenda'' (1996) (Pan Macmillan). A later book is the memoir "Number 96, Mavis Bramston and Me" (Vivid Publishing)) plus an audio version read by the author (

Bolinda audio Bolinda is a locality north of Melbourne, Australia on the Melbourne-Lancefield Road. It is 6 km. south of Romsey, within the Shire of Macedon Ranges The Shire of Macedon Ranges is a region in Central Victoria, Australia, best known f ...

Theatre

He later tackled

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

for the first time with his co-written (book and lyrics) version of

Sumner Locke Elliott Sumner Locke Elliott (17 October 191724 June 1991) was an Australian (later American) novelist and playwright. Biography Elliott was born in Sydney to the writer Sumner Locke and the journalist Henry Logan Elliott. His mother died of eclamps ...

's novel '' Careful, He Might Hear You''.

Books

* ''Come to Mother'' (1971) ( W. H. Allen Ltd) () * ''The Love Bite'' (1972) (W. H. Allen) * ''Chiller'' (1983, "based on ''The Love Bite''") (Sphere) () * ''Antidote'' (1991) (Bantam) () * ''Twisted Echoes'' (1993) (

Hodder Headline Headline Publishing Group is a British publishing brand and former company. It was founded in 1986 by Tim Hely Hutchinson. In 1993, Headline bought Hodder & Stoughton and the company became Hodder Headline Ltd. In 1999, Hodder Headline was acqui ...

) () * ''Scorpion's Kiss'' (1995) (

Pan Macmillan Pan Books is a publishing imprint (trade name), imprint that first became active in the 1940s and is now part of the United Kingdom, British-based Macmillan Publishers, owned by the Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group of Germany. Pan Books b ...

) () * ''Hidden Agenda'' (1996) (Pan Macmillan) () * ''Number 96 , Mavis Bramston and me'' (2013) (Vivid Publishing) () David Sale

External links

References

Living people Australian screenwriters Australian soap opera writers English emigrants to Australia Australian male television writers 1932 births {{Australia-writer-stub