John Christopher Byrne (27 November 1935 – 2 April 2008) was an Irish 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 ...

for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT 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 ex ...

. He travelled extensively in his youth as a travelling poet. During the 1960s he worked as a

literary editor A literary editor is an editor in a newspaper, magazine or similar publication who deals with aspects concerning literature and books, especially reviews.

, and wrote short stories that were published in ''

Science Fantasy Science fantasy is a hybrid genre within speculative fiction that simultaneously draws upon or combines tropes and elements from both science fiction and fantasy. In a conventional science fiction story, the world is presented as being scientif ...

'' magazine. Byrne's other works include the novel ''Groupie'' (1969, co-written with Jenny Fabian), the BBC "

Wednesday Play ''The Wednesday Play'' is an anthology series of British television plays which ran on BBC1 for six seasons from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually original works written for television, although dramatic adaptations of fiction ...

" ''Season of the Witch'' (1971), and the scripts for the films '' Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall'' (1972, co-written with original author

Spike Milligan Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish actor, comedian, writer, musician, poet, and playwright. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British Colonial India, where h ...

and

Norman Cohen Norman Cohen (11 June 1936 in Dublin – 26 October 1983 in Van Nuys, California) was an Irish film director and producer, best known for directing two feature films based on television comedy programmes, ''Till Death Us Do Part'' (1969) and ...

), and ''

Rosie Is My Relative Rosie may refer to: Geography * Rosie, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Rosie River, Northern Territory, Australia People and characters * Rosie (given name) * Rosie the Rocketeer (aka "Rosie"), a Boeing spaceflight test dummy * Rosie th ...

'' (1976). He was script editor of the TV series '' All Creatures Great and Small'' (1976, 1978, 1985, 1988–1990), writing 29 episodes, and also produced scripts for '' One by One'' (1987). Byrne was the creator of the TV drama series ''

Heartbeat A heartbeat is one cardiac cycle of the heart. Heartbeat, heart beat, heartbeats, and heart beats may refer to: Computing *Heartbeat (computing), a periodic signal to indicate normal operation or to synchronize parts of a system *Heartbeat, clus ...

'' (which was loosely based on the ''Constable'' books by

Nicholas Rhea Nicholas is a male given name and a surname. The Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglican Churches celebrate Saint Nicholas every year on December 6, which is the name day for "Nicholas". In Greece, the name and its d ...

), writing 23 episodes for 17 series between 1992 and 2005. He also created and wrote for ''

Noah's Ark Noah's Ark ( he, תיבת נח; Biblical Hebrew: ''Tevat Noaḥ'')The word "ark" in modern English comes from Old English ''aerca'', meaning a chest or box. (See Cresswell 2010, p.22) The Hebrew word for the vessel, ''teva'', occurs twice in t ...

'' (1997–98).

''Space: 1999''

Byrne was the most prolific scriptwriter for the first series of '' Space: 1999'' (1973–75), and was initially assigned the role of creative consultant for the second season (1976–77). However, hoping to make a greater impact on the American market, the producers desired a consultant from the United States, and the job was subsequently given to

Fred Freiberger Fred Freiberger (February 19, 1915March 2, 2003) was an American film and television writer and television producer, whose career spanned four decades and work on such films as ''The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms'' (1953) and TV series including ''Ben ...

. Byrne's scripts for series one of ''Space: 1999'' were " Matter of Life and Death" (based on a draft by

Art Wallace Art Wallace was an American television writer best known for his work on the gothic soap opera ''Dark Shadows''. He began work in television in the 1940s, on the anthology series '' Studio One'' and ''Kraft Television Theater''. Over the years, Wa ...

), " Another Time, Another Place", "

Force of Life "Force of Life" is the ninth episode of the first series of '' Space: 1999''. The screenplay was written by Johnny Byrne; the director was David Tomblin. The original title was "Force of Evil". The shooting script is dated 15 May 1974; the fina ...

", "

Voyager's Return "Voyager's Return" is the sixth episode of the first series of '' Space: 1999'', with a screenplay written by Johnny Byrne from an idea by Joe Gannon, and was first screened on 9 October 1975 in the UK, and 21 November 1975 in the United State ...

" (based on an idea by Joe Gannon), " End of Eternity", " The Troubled Spirit", " Mission of the Darians", and " The Testament of Arkadia". For series two, he wrote "

The Metamorph "The Metamorph" is the first episode of the second series of '' Space: 1999'' (and the twenty-fifth overall episode of the programme). The screenplay was written by Johnny Byrne; the director was Charles Crichton. Previous titles were "The Bio ...

", " The Immunity Syndrome", and "

The Dorcons "The Dorcons" is the twenty-fourth episode of the second season of '' Space: 1999'' (and the forty-eighth and final overall episode of the programme). The screenplay was written by Johnny Byrne; the director was Tom Clegg. Original titles wer ...

''Doctor Who''

Byrne is also known for his contributions to the British science-fiction TV series ''

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 ...

''. The first of his three scripted and screened stories was ''

The Keeper of Traken ''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 ...

'' (1981), which resurrected the Master and served as the first instalment in a trilogy of stories (continuing with ''

Logopolis ''Logopolis'' is the seventh and final serial of the Doctor Who (season 18), 18th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC One, BBC1 from 28 February to 21 March ...

'' and '' Castrovalva'') involving the character. For the same story, Byrne created the character of Nyssa, who would later become a companion to the Fifth Doctor. Byrne's second story, ''

Arc of Infinity ''Arc of Infinity'' is the first serial of the 20th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts on BBC1 from 3 to 12 January 1983. The serial is set in Amsterdam a ...

'' (1983), featured the

Time Lord The Time Lords are a fictional ancient race of extraterrestrial life, extraterrestrial people in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', of which the series' main protagonist, The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor, is a memb ...

villain

Omega Omega (; capital: Ω, lowercase: ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and final letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numeric system/isopsephy (gematria), it has a value of 800. The wo ...

, who had first appeared in '' The Three Doctors'' a decade earlier. His final screened story was '' Warriors of the Deep'' (1984), which saw the return of monsters the

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleozo ...

s and the Sea Devils. In 1991, Byrne wrote the final draft script for an unmade Doctor Who movie called ''Doctor Who: Last of the Time Lords''.

Personal life

Byrne left Ireland for the United Kingdom in 1956. For a time, he worked as a teacher of English as a foreign language in various cities in Europe. In 1975 he married Sandy Carrington-Mail, with whom he had three sons.

Death

Byrne died on 2 April 2008, aged 72. He last resided, and is buried, in the Norfolk village of Heydon.

References

External links

*
Obituary: ''The Guardian''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Byrne, Johnny 1935 births 2008 deaths 20th-century Irish novelists 20th-century Irish male writers 21st-century Irish male writers BBC people Irish emigrants to the United Kingdom Irish magazine editors Irish science fiction writers Irish male screenwriters Irish male short story writers Irish television writers Writers from Dublin (city) Teachers of English as a second or foreign language Irish male novelists 20th-century Irish poets Irish male poets 20th-century Irish short story writers 21st-century Irish short story writers Male television writers People from Heydon, Norfolk 20th-century Irish screenwriters