Eric Pringle (5 April 1935,

Morpeth, Northumberland Morpeth is a historic market town in Northumberland, North East England, lying on the River Wansbeck. Nearby towns include Ashington, Northumberland, Ashington and Bedlington, Northumberland, Bedlington. In the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

– 13 April 2017, Ledbury,

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...

)Writers' Guild of Great Britain
/ref> was a British writer for

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

and

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

. He also wrote three novels for children. He was one of the writers of the 1972 television series ''

Pretenders Pretenders may refer to: * The Pretenders Pretenders are an English–American rock band formed in March 1978. The original band consisted of founder and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (le ...

'', and of the 1974 series ''

The Carnforth Practice ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

''. In 1975, he was commissioned by then-''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

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 ...

Robert Holmes to pen a two-part serial entitled ''The Angurth'' for the programme's thirteenth season. This was eventually abandoned, but in 1981, Pringle was encouraged by his agent, former ''Who'' producer

Peter Bryant Peter Bryant (27 October 1923 – 19 May 2006) was an English television producer, script editor and former actor. He acted in ''The Grove Family'' as a regular cast member and later became the producer of ''Doctor Who'' from 1967 to 1969 ...

, to submit new material for the show. Pringle delivered two proposals for four-part stories to the production office in August, one called ''The Darkness'' (possibly featuring the

Dalek The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by writer Terry Nation and first appeared in the 1963 ''Doctor Who'' ...

s) and another entitled ''War Game''. Script editor

Eric Saward Eric Saward (; born 9 December 1944) is a British radio scriptwriter who worked for the BBC as a television script editor and screenwriter on the science fiction series ''Doctor Who'' from 1982 until 1986. He wrote the stories '' The Visitation' ...

finally responded to Pringle, and in 1982, Pringle was asked to put together a scene breakdown for ''War Game''. By 1983, War Game had been rechristened '' The Awakening'' (and may also have been called ''Poltergeist'' at some point). Saward and producer

John Nathan-Turner John Nathan-Turner (''né'' Turner; 12 August 1947 – 1 May 2002) was an English television producer. He was the ninth producer of the long-running BBC science fiction series ''Doctor Who''. He was also the final producer of the series' first ...

had also come to the realisation that the story did not merit four episodes, and so Pringle was asked to condense it down to fit the two-part slot for Season Twenty-One. Pringle concurred and performed the necessary rewrites by April. Saward was still not satisfied with Pringle's modifications; consequently, he elected to heavily rewrite ''The Awakening''. Pringle was not particularly pleased with Saward's rewrites, believing they made the story confusing and rushed. ''The Awakening'' would be his only contribution to ''Doctor Who''. Much of Pringle's more recent work has been for the radio including adaptations of ''

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase ''The Wolves of Willoughby Chase'' is a children's novel by Joan Aiken, first published in 1962. Set in an alternative history of England, it tells of the adventures of cousins Bonnie and Sylvia and their friend Simon the goose-boy as they thw ...

'' and

J. B. Priestley John Boynton Priestley (; 13 September 1894 – 14 August 1984) was an English novelist, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster and social commentator. His Yorkshire background is reflected in much of his fiction, notably in ''The Good Compa ...

's ''

The Good Companions ''The Good Companions'' is a novel by the English author J. B. Priestley. Written in 1929, it follows the fortunes of a concert party on a tour of England. It is Priestley's most famous novel and established him as a national figure. It won ...

''. His 2001

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

play ''Hymus Paradisi'' about the life of composer

Herbert Howells Herbert Norman Howells (17 October 1892 – 23 February 1983) was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music. Life Background and early education Howells was born in Lydney, Gloucest ...

won a

Sony Award The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

. That year also saw the publication of his children's novel ''Big George''. This has been followed by two sequels ''Big George and the Seventh Knight'' and ''Big George and the Winter King''. The ''Big George'' books are a retelling of the

Saint George and the Dragon In a legend, Saint Georgea soldier venerated in Christianitydefeats a dragon. The story goes that the dragon originally extorted tribute from villagers. When they ran out of livestock and trinkets for the dragon, they started giving up a human tr ...

myth with a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

twist.

References

External links

*
Eric Pringle radio plays
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pringle, Eric British children's writers British television writers People from Morpeth, Northumberland Writers from Northumberland 1935 births 2017 deaths