Mervyn Pinfield

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Mervyn Pinfield (28 February 1912 – 20 May 1966) was a British television producer and director who worked for the

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during the 1950s and 1960s. By the time Pinfield joined the BBC to work in live drama at

Alexandra Palace Alexandra Palace is a Grade II listed entertainment and sports venue in London, situated between Wood Green and Muswell Hill in the London Borough of Haringey. It is built on the site of Tottenham Wood and the later Tottenham Wood Farm. Origi ...

in the early 1950s, he was a highly experienced producer and manager. During

Verity Lambert Verity Ann Lambert (27 November 1935 – 22 November 2007) was an English television and film producer. Lambert began working in television in the 1950s. She began her career as a producer at the BBC by becoming the founding producer of ...

's tenure as the first producer of ''

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 ...

'', he was the programme's associate producer (from the first episode of ''

An Unearthly Child ''An Unearthly Child'' (sometimes referred to as ''100,000 BC'') is the first serial of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It was first broadcast on BBC TV in four weekly parts from 23 November to 14 December 1963 ...

'' (1963) to '' The Romans'' (1965)).

Early life

Mervyn Pinfield initially trained as an engineer. Before the war, he worked in the automobile industry in Coventry where he joined the company amateur dramatics society. He eventually resigned his position and joined the Coventry Repertory Company for theatrical training, then joining the company as a full member. For the next three years he gained acting experience till in 1939 he was appointed Producer to the Midlands Art Group. With the outbreak of war, as a trained engineer, he was posted to aircraft manufacturing, in his spare time forming a company of actors to tour and stage plays for the forces. After demobilisation, he formed his own repertory company, "The Star Players", in partnership with Ernest Pickering and

Frank Pemberton Frank Pemberton (14 September 1914 – 26 March 1971) was an English stage and television actor, who after appearing in numerous series and telemovie's, got his big break, when he became best known as an original cast member of TV series '' Cor ...

. In the summer of 1946 he joined Aurora Productions Limited in Dunfermline as Producer, and then Falkirk where a season of plays was staged. In 1946 he moved with Aurora to Cromer and Great Yarmouth where the company settled at the Little Theatre, Royal Aquarium, where he was acting producer and general manager. In 1948 he left Aurora and joined the newly formed Morecombe Repertory Theatre Limited as Producer at the Royalty Theatre. Pinfield spent 4 years with the Royalty, leaving in April 1953 having been appointed Studio Manager at the BBC TV studios in Lime Grove, and then Productions Assistant in September 1955 .

''Doctor Who''

In 1963, he was appointed to the position of associate producer for ''Doctor Who'' to support

, as it was the first programme for which she was the producer. He also directed episodes one to four of ''

The Sensorites ''The Sensorites'' is the seventh serial in the British science fiction television Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and othe ...

'', all four episodes of ''

The Space Museum ''The Space Museum'' is the seventh serial of the second season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Written by Glyn Jones and directed by Mervyn Pinfield, it was broadcast on BBC1 in four weekly parts from 24 Ap ...

'' and episodes one and two of ''

Planet of Giants ''Planet of Giants'' is the first serial of the second season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Written by Louis Marks and directed by Mervyn Pinfield and Douglas Camfield, the serial was first broadcast on BBC1 i ...

'' for the series, and worked as director on other BBC series such as ''

Compact Compact as used in politics may refer broadly to a pact or treaty; in more specific cases it may refer to: * Interstate compact * Blood compact, an ancient ritual of the Philippines * Compact government, a type of colonial rule utilized in British ...

(Day Of Deliverance'' and ''Fare Thee Well For I Must Leave Thee)'', ''The Monsters'', and '' The Franchise Affair''. (There is some debate that he might he directed episode 3 of '' The Reign of Terror'' when assigned director

Henric Hirsch Henric Hirsch (13 November 1923 – March 1999) was a Hungarian-Romanian theatre and television director. Initially an experienced theatre director in Hungary, Hirsch fled to England to seek refuge following the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. The ...

collapsed from nervous exhaustion. However, there are conflicting reports that

John Gorrie John B. Gorrie (October 3, 1803 – June 29, 1855) was a Nevisian-born American physician and scientist, credited as the inventor of mechanical refrigeration. Early life Born on the Island of Nevis in the Leeward Islands of the West Indies t ...

in fact directed the episode even though he claims to have no recollection of this.) Pinfield's engineering background held him in good stead in directing ''Doctor Who'' programmes with their complex special effects. He was also known as the inventor of an early type of

teleprompter A teleprompter, also known as an autocue, is a display device that prompts the person speaking with an electronic visual text of a speech or script. Using a teleprompter is similar to using cue cards. The screen is in front of, and usually be ...

, or

autocue Autocue is a UK-based manufacturer of teleprompter systems. The company was founded in 1955 and licensed its first on-camera teleprompter, based on a patent by Jess Oppenheimer, in 1962. Its products are used by journalists, presenters, politic ...

, which he called the ''Piniprompter''. In 2013, as part of the programme's 50th anniversary celebrations, the BBC broadcast the

docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television and film, which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event". Docudramas typic ...

An Adventure in Space and Time ''An Adventure in Space and Time'' is a 2013 British biographical television film, starring David Bradley, Brian Cox, Jessica Raine and Sacha Dhawan. Directed by Terry McDonough, and written by regular ''Doctor Who'' writer Mark Gatiss, it p ...

'', which recounted the creation and early days of ''Doctor Who''. Pinfield was portrayed by

Jeff Rawle Jeffrey Alan Rawle (born 20 July 1951) is an English actor. He is known for portraying George Dent in the news-gathering sitcom ''Drop the Dead Donkey''. He also portrayed Silas Blissett in ''Hollyoaks'' from December 2010 until 2012. Rawle retu ...

.BBC iPlayer episode info: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p01kqt9x/hd/An_Adventure_in_Space_and_Time/

References

External links

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Tardis Fandom
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinfield, Mervyn 1912 births 1966 deaths BBC television producers British television directors British television producers