Robert Banks Stewart

Robert Banks Stewart (16 July 1931 – 14 January 2016), was a Scottish screenwriter, television producer and former journalist. Stewart contributed extensively to drama for the BBC and ITV, among other networks, for several decades. He is best known for producing the shows Shoestring (1979) and Bergerac (1981), which were both highly popular television series, with Stewart being nominated for a BAFTA for the former. He also contributed to the science-fiction television series Doctor Who, writing and creating two stories for the show which have retrospectively been considered among its best. For the series, he would also create the Zygons, who would go on to be recurring antagonists in the programme. Later in life, he would also produce the television series Lovejoy (1986) and The Darling Buds of May (1991), with the latter proving to be highly popular, garnering one of the highest ratings for a new series of British TV.

Stewart was born and raised in Edinburgh. Early in his life, he would begin writing, for which he would win a prize. Leaving schooling at age 15, Stewart would contribute to a variety of news agencies prior to joining the television industry. Stewart died in 2016 at the age of 84 due to cancer.

Robert Stewart was born in Portobello, Edinburgh on 16 July 1931.^[1] His father was a printer and performed as a pierrot clown in end-of-the-pier shows,^[1] and also served as a grocer while Stewart was growing up during the second World War. His mother worked as a tearoom waitress.^[2] Stewart went to primary school at Moray House in Edinburgh. Stewart's first experience with show business came from his father, with Stewart being inspired by his pierrot work.^[1] began writing during primary school, with his first play being written at the age of nine.^[3] He contributed stories to the local newspaper. He would also win a Burns essay prize for his writing.^[4]

Stewart left schooling at age 15, where he subsequently took up a job as an office boy at the Edinburgh Evening Dispatch. Following some time performing National Service, Stewart briefly joined as a sub-editor on The Scotsman^[3] before returning to the Evening Dispatch to act as its news editor.^[4] He later joined the Evening News and the Daily Record^[1] and also commentated on sports games for BBC Home Service.^[2] During this time, he produced stage plays and radio talks.^[3] He later worked as an international correspondent with Illustrated magazine.^[4]

Illustrated would soon fold due to increasing industry pressure. While most of his contemporaries would depart for work at the BBC, Stewart would join the Rank Organisation.^[5] He provided rewrites for several Pinewood Studios films, and would produce scripts for the Edgar Wallace Mysteries series, the 1959-1960 television series Interpol Calling, for which he served as its story editor,^[2] and the 1960-1962 spy series Danger Man.^[4] His work on Danger Man led to him nearly writing for the first ever James Bond film, though this fell through due to the death of the film's director.^[2]

Stewart subsequently contributed scripts to a variety of shows throughout the 60s and 70s.^[4] Early work included the series Dr. Finlay's Casebook, with a 1964 episode being the first televised usage of the "Banks Stewart" name. It was apparently suggested to him by new agent Beryl Vertue.^[2] He adopted the name "Banks" from his mother's maiden name and used it to distinguish himself from similarly named writers when he began to gain greater success in television.^[4]

Stewart would soon after gain an association with ITV, for whom he worked on the 1963-65 series The Human Jungle, as well as two episodes of the series The Avengers. He also created the 1965 television series Undermind, which focused on aliens invading the Earth. He would serve as the story editor for the show Armchair Theatre and the producer for the 1966 show Intrigue.^[4] He later worked with Australian Broadcasting Corporation for a variety of programs, though departed after working on the 1969 series Riptide due to concerns over the Australian union.^[2]

After returning back to Britain, he would assume story editor and writing credits on a variety of television series, including Jason King, Van der Valk, Arthur of the Britons, The Sweeney, and The Legend of Robin Hood.^[2] For his work on Arthur of the Britons, he would receive a Writers Guild Award,^[2] and his work on The Legend of Robin Hood would earn the BBC an Emmy nomination.^[3] In the mid-1970s, Stewart wrote for the science-fiction series Doctor Who, being brought on by script editor Robert Holmes as part of a drive to bring in new writers to the series.^[6] Stewart would write two stories for the series: Terror of the Zygons (1975) and The Seeds of Doom (1976), both of which would go on to be among the show's most highly regarded stories. One of his creations, the Zygons, became recurring antagonists in the series.^[4] During this time, Stewart, while attempting to discuss a script, was brought into production of the 1976 serial The Brain of Morbius, where he, alongside other behind the scenes figures for the series, were hastily photographed and used to represent past incarnations of the title character, the Doctor, resulting in a brief on-screen appearance.^[7] Though initially intending to write a third story for the program, he soon left to work with Thames TV, leaving the production team to write a replacement story.^[2]

While working with Thames, Stewart wrote and story edited for a number of shows, including Rooms and Armchair Thriller, with Stewart in particular helping the former to catch up after it had fallen behind schedule during production.^[2][8] He would also end up creating the 1980 children's series Jukes of Piccadilly.^[2] He returned to Scotland to work with STV, where he wrote for and created a variety of productions, and also worked on Charles Endell Esquire, which, due to an ITV strike, had difficulty airing throughout 1980.^[2] One of his productions, Between the Covers, would be nominated for a New York Film and Television drama award.^[5]

In 1978, Philip Hinchcliffe, who produced the series Target, departed his role, and recommended Stewart to take over. Target ended up being cancelled before Stewart could take up the offer.^[2] Stewart was subsequently asked to create a new crime drama to take Target's place.^[3] Stewart, alongside playwright Richard Harris, conceived of the idea of a show starring a private eye working for a radio station, hoping to match the success of American shows based around a single character such as Columbo.^[3] This concept evolved into Shoestring. The series quickly became a success with viewers, with The Guardian citing its setting in Bristol, distinctive soundtrack, and the performance of lead actor Trevor Eve for its popularity. The show garnered two series and be nominated for a BAFTA,^[4] the first detective thriller show to be nominated in the TV drama series category.^[3] The show additionally kickstarted Eve's acting career.^[8] Shoestring was successful enough that NBC was interested in making an American adaptation. However, the proposed pilot was never produced. Stewart noted that a similar series to Shoestring, named Midnight Caller, was released a year after the failed pitch.^[3]

After Eve elected not to return for a third series, Stewart elected to create a new series. Taking the many successful elements of Shoestring, Stewart created Bergerac, which began airing in 1981. The series quickly became a hit with viewers,^[4] with its first series netting 17 million viewers and becoming the number one show in the country.^[2]

After two series of Bergerac, Stewart left his role as the show's producer. He became an executive producer of drama at London Weekend Television, though discovered earlier overspending had made making new productions unfeasible. He subsequently turned down an officer to become the head of drama at BBC Scotland, and returned to produce for the 1986 television series Lovejoy.^[3] He would also end up heading multiple series, including 1986's Call Me Mister and 1988's Hannay. He also produced episodes for the television adaptation of H. E. Bates's The Darling Buds of May, which proved to be a ratings hit, netting over 18 million viewers and gaining one of the highest ratings for a new series of British television.^[2] Stewart was said to have played a critical role in the casting of Catherine Zeta-Jones in the series, with her role in the series being instrumental in launching her career.^[4][9] He would later create the short-lived 1992 television series Moon and Son^[4] and also joined production company Portman, which was headed up by Hinchcliffe. He would reboot the drama McCallum in 1998. Another adaptation of Bates's works, My Uncle Silas, produced in the early 2000s, would end up being Stewart's final major production in television.^[2]

In 2013, he publish a novel, The Hurricane's Tale, at the age of 81.^[10] It had previously been a turned-down television pitch.^[11] He later published his memoirs, titled To Put You in the Picture, in 2015.^[4]

Stewart would marry twice throughout his life, with both marriages ending in divorce.^[4] He met his first wife while acting in his first play^[1] and married her at a young age. The pair had a daughter together, and divorced when he was 24. He would later marry his second wife, Helen.^[2] They had three sons before getting divorced.^[4] During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Stewart lived with Rooms cast member Mela White.^[2]

Stewart personally felt that ageism denied him many television opportunities later in life.^[4] Talking with Digital Spy in 2013, he felt many older writers had been having difficulty finding work, and felt the BBC had become too reliant on pre-existing series and formats instead of trying to make new programmes.^[11]

Stewart died of cancer on 14 January 2016 at the age of 84.^[12]

• Robert Banks Stewart at IMDb