Michael Imison

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[edit] Early years

Michael Imison started his career at the BBC working for the Script Department.

Initial successes included directing 'Magnyfcence' by John Skelton at the Tower Theatre,Canonbury in May 1963. [1].

[edit] As Director of Doctor Who

However he was soon to become one of the original director's of the Doctor Who series back in 1966.

Directing The Ark .[2].Imison is believed to have helped create the timeless Monoids, familiar to all Doctor Who enthusiasts.

The Ark was first broadcast in four weekly parts from March 5 to March 26, 1966. The story is set in the 57th Segment of Time, which the Doctor calculates to be approximately AD 10,000,000

Talking in an interview back in 1974 Imison said, "The Monoids.[3]. were my idea. I can't remember what they were called originally. They were fairly indefinite creatures, but I had this idea, which I thought was brilliant, of having actors with ping pong balls in their mouths so that they could play these one-eyed creatures which would appear to have a living eye. I thought this would be a great thing for BBC Enterprises to market, but of course it was a total damp squib! I don't remember what else I got them to change. Having worked quite a lot as a script editor I was quite happy to get people to rewrite". [4].

[edit] Literary Agent

Later in his career Imison became a literary agent. His company has now been incorporated into Alan Brodie Representation Ltd .However it was whilst based in Islington, North London, that Michael concentrated on promoting author's and poets from the former Eastern Bloc. His contacts at the internationally renowned Almeida Theatre would prove invaluable during this period, promoting as they did, often untried and lesser known writers.

"Giving a voice to artists that might have otherwise been overlooked became an obsession of mine", claimed Imison back in 1991.

[edit] Later Work

Still active, Michael now spends much of his time with the Imison family at their country retreat in Southwold, Suffolk. [5]. Apart from chairing the Noel Coward Society. [6]., and working for the British Humanist Association .[7]., he is said to enjoy gardening, twitching and the occasional Fish 'n' Chip supper. He has, on occasions, worked as a Salman Rushdie look-alike for the London based, 'Splitting Images' agency.

However it is for his work with the original Doctor Who programme that Michael Imison will remain best known, and with interest in the series having gone into cyber space over the last 5 years , many fans of the show are now expressing a desire to recreate it's early days. Imison remains an iconic figure of 1960's BBC television for that reason alone. With producer John Wiles he helped to create a brand of entertainment that has outlived and outclassed many, if not all, of its contemporaries.[8].

[edit] External links

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