Behind the Screens: Johnny Byrne

This month is the first of a semi-regular series of articles which will see the Swords and Rayguns Newsletter turning its Sensor Scan on the folks behind the some of our favorite science fiction, fantasy and horror scripts. They’ll be tagged Behind the Screens because the writers featured have scripted the things filling movie, TV and even video game screens. 

John Byrne is a very familiar name to comic book fans. The British born comic book writer and artist has worked on everything from X-Men and She-Hulk to Superman. He was, however not to be confused with Johnny Byrne, a name known to many Premier League fans of Crystal Palace and West Ham. Neither are to be confused with he other Johnny Byrne, though. He was not a striker for Crystal Palace and did not create comic book heroes like Kitty Pryde, Sabretooth or the second incarnation of Wonder Girl. The Johnny Byrne born in Dublin on November 27, 1935 would become a television writer and script editor. Although best known for his work on the original run of All Creatures Great and Small (BBC, 1976-1990) he had roots in science fiction which led to penning multiple Doctor Who (1963-1989) scripts and major contributions to Space: 1999 (1975-1977).

The oldest of thirteen children, Johnny Byrne moved from Ireland to England in 1959 at the age of 24. He worked as a teacher, become involved with the poetry scene and even worked as a tour manager for an American music manager whose clients included The Kinks and The Who. He also started submitting science fiction stories to magazines, eventually finding publication in Science Fantasy (later Impulse). Teaming with Jenny Fabian, a real life groupie in the London music scene, he co-wrote the novel Groupie (1969). The novel’s success led to Byrne’s first forays into script writing. After a just one or two television productions he was able to work with legendary British comedian Spike Milligan on the screenplay of Milligan’s World War II memoir Adolf Hitler: My Part In His Downfall (1972).

Soon after Byrne started an association with Gerry Anderson, the British producer of Supermarionation shows such as Thunderbirds and Fireball XL-5. Anderson’s live action science fiction show UFO (1970-1971) stalled before its second season. Instead of continuing UFO Anderson began work on a new science fiction series. Building on the international distribution of UFO and promising a series with no Earth bound episodes Anderson launched Space 1999 (1975-1977) and brought Johnny Byrne on as script editor.

Martin Landau, Barbara Bain (both veterans of Mission Impossible, 1966-1973) and Barry Morse (the British actor best known for portraying Lt. Gerard in The Fugitive, 1963-1967) led the crew of Moonbase Alpha, castaways wandering the universe after an accident tears the Moon out of Earth’s orbit and propels it into the galaxy. In addition to serving as the series’ script editor Byrne penned eight of the 24 season one episodes. Although he was set to move into a creative consultant role in season two Byrne lost the position to Fred Freiberger. It was hoped Freiberger’s recognition from his time on Star Trek would boost the series in the American market. Despite the loss of the creative consultant position Byrne still contributed three scripts to season two including its opening episode. Unfortunately, Space 1999 would not have a third season.

During the run of Space 1999 Anderson produced a pilot episode for an educational science fiction series aimed at younger viewers. Starring Nick Tate, who was also part of the Space 1999 cast, and Brian Blessed The Day After Tomorrow (1975) followed two families on the Antares, Earth’s first near lightspeed space ship in its mission of exploration. The show followed the crew as they dealt with the consequences of relatively and an encounter with a black hole, carefully explaining prevailing scientific theory to a teenage demographic. Although the pilot was not picked up it did find life in the US as a part of NBC’s afterschool special series Special Treat.

After his work with Anderson Johnny Byrne took on the role of script editor for All Creatures Great and Small (1976-1990), the television adaptation of James Herriot’s memoir about his veterinarian practice. It is this work for which he is probably best remembered, which is not surprising given the show’s longevity and international success (it was, in fact, recently rebooted). After All Creatures Byrne would also act as script editor for One by One (1984-1987), another BBC veterinarian drama, and would go onto to create a third veterinarian drama, Noah’s Ark (1997-1998) for ITV. He also co-created Heartbeat (1992-2010) based on Nichola Rhea’s book series about police and medical staff in 1960s Yorkshire. Despite his success in more mainstream drama over the years, though, Johnny Byrne made another important foray into science fiction.

Johnny Byrne wrote three produced Doctor Who (1963-1989) scripts beginning with 1981’s The Keeper of Traken. This Fourth Doctor adventure introduced new companion Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) and reintroduced The Master. He would reintroduce another villian when he brought back the insane Time Lord Omega in Arc of Infinity (1983), last seen in The Three Doctors (1972-1973), to face the Fifth Doctor. He would reintroduce another set of adversaries in his film produced Doctor Who scripts beginning with Warriors of the Deep (1984). Last seen in 1972’s The Sea Devils, Earth’s original sentient species returned for another unfortunate conflict with humanity and a meeting with the Fifth Doctor.

Johnny Byrne wrote a sequel to The Keeper of Traken which, for whatever reason, was not produced. However Big Finish, producers of the Doctor Who audio series, resurrected The Guardians of Prophecy for their Lost Stories range in 2012. He was involved with another unproduced Doctor Who script beginning in 1988 before the original series was canceled by the BBC. A production company (at times known as Daltenreys, Coast to Coast and Green Light) had acquired film rights to the show and planned a stand alone film, similar to the Peter Cushing led films from the 1960s. He began by editing a script penned by Mark Ezra. By 1991 the original script was scrapped and Byrne wrote an entirely new script titled Doctor Who: Last of the Time Lords. Reportedly, Leonard Nimoy was tapped to direct and Alan Rickman was cast as the film’s Doctor. Rumors Spielberg was interested in producing a Who film through his Amblin Entertainment added to other problems facing the project. Unable to start production before an April 1994 deadline film rights were lost and Doctor Who: Last of the Time Lords was never made. (https://www.cbr.com/doctor-who-movie-last-of-the-time-lords-fell-apart/)

Johnny Byrne passed away on April 2, 2008 at the age of 72. His contributions to British television were widely celebrated. He also was an important influence on 1970s and 1980s science fiction television whose works are still being enjoyed today. 

film… but it did not enter production by a contractual deadline of April 1994 and they lost rights (and in 1993 it was being reported Spielberg and Amblin were interested in making a Who film)