Peter Richard Newman (4 June 1926 – 22 February 1975) was an English television screenwriter in the 1950s and 1960s.

Early life

He was born in Ilford,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

Writing

He wrote a television play, ''

Yesterday's Enemy ''Yesterday's Enemy'' is a 1959 Hammer Films British war film in MegaScope directed by Val Guest and starring Stanley Baker, Guy Rolfe, Leo McKern and Gordon Jackson set in the Burma Campaign during World War II. It is based on a 1958 BBC t ...

'', which he later turned into a screenplay for

Val Guest Val Guest (born Valmond Maurice Grossman; 11 December 1911 – 10 May 2006) was an English film director and screenwriter. Beginning as a writer (and later director) of comedy films, he is best known for his work for Hammer, for whom he direct ...

; the film version was released in 1959 by Hammer. As a three-act play, it was published by

Samuel French Samuel French (1821–1898) was an American entrepreneur who, together with British actor, playwright and theatrical manager Thomas Hailes Lacy, pioneered in the field of theatrical publishing and the licensing of plays. Biography French foun ...

in 1960. He was commissioned for further screenplays, but the relationship between Newman and Hammer deteriorated over financial concerns. His Western screenplay, ''The San Siado Killings'', would become the basis for the 1961 Eurowestern film '' Savage Guns''. The final film, one of the first Spaghetti Westerns, was credited to Edmund Morris. It was also the first western to be shot on location in Almeria, Spain, an area which would be often used in later Spaghetti Westerns during the next two decades. He wrote ''

The Sensorites ''The Sensorites'' is the seventh serial in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Written by Peter R. Newman and directed by Mervyn Pinfield and Frank Cox, the serial was first broadcast on BBC1 in six weekly parts fro ...

'' for the first season of '' Doctor Who'' in 1963–64. This would be Newman's only contribution to ''Doctor Who'', and indeed his last credit for British television. He subsequently developed severe

writer's block Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author is either unable to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. Mike Rose found that this creative stall is not a result of commitment problems or th ...

and took a job as a porter at the Tate Gallery.

Personal life

In an attempt to join the army before he was of age, Newman fled his school and exchanged clothes with a

deserter Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which ...

he subsequently met, not knowing at the time that the soldier was a deserter. This resulted in some trouble with the police, who sought out his family under the belief that it was Newman who had deserted. Unable to return to school as he was expelled, he did eventually join the army legally and was deployed to Burma, where he met and befriended a Japanese soldier. It is likely his experiences there greatly influenced his writing in both ''

'' and ''

''."Looking for Peter", documentary on the official BBC DVD of ''

Death

He died in 1975 after suffering a cerebral haemorrhage following an accident at work in which he fell down a flight of stairs and hit his head on an iron radiator.

References

External links

* 1926 births 1975 deaths People from Ilford English science fiction writers English television writers English male screenwriters British male television writers 20th-century English screenwriters 20th-century English male writers {{England-writer-stub