Bill Strutton

Who was Bill Strutton?

Bill Strutton was a prolific British screenwriter who worked on some of the best-remembered 1960s television shows including Ivanhoe, The Saint, The Avengers, Riptide and Doctor Who. Born in Australia, Bill Strutton won a state scholarship to university at 14 but dropped out after two years to go and work in an office. At the outbreak of WWII he joined the Australian army. He was captured by the Germans in Crete and sent to Stalag VII, learning to swear in several languages. It was there he also began to take an interest in writing.

After the war he took up journalism as a career and in the mid-fifties he began writing military books, including A Jury of Angels in 1957. In 1958 he scripted Ivanhoe, which starred a young Roger Moore. He wrote for more than 15 television series in 11 years, the last of which was Strange Report, starring Anthony Quayle, and several episodes of Paul Temple before retiring in 1978 following a heart attack.

His Doctor Who story was The Web Planet in 1965. It is remembered as a unique Doctor Who serial. It was the first programme to feature a completely alien cast, including Martin Jarvis as a butterfly Menoptera, and introduced the menacing Zarbi.