Peter Grimwade

Who was Peter Grimwade?

Peter Grimwade was a British television writer and director, best known for his work on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.

Grimwade's talent as a director was evident during his time at Truro Cathedral School: in his final year there, he was responsible for a production of The Monkey's Paw.

After joining the BBC in the late 1960s, he first worked on Doctor Who as a Production Assistant on Jon Pertwee's first serial, Spearhead from Space. He occupied this position on a further five serials. In 1977, he got his first chance to direct, being asked to film some model shots for the serial The Robots of Death while the serial's actual director, Michael E. Briant, directed the rest of the serial in the studio. Tom Baker, meanwhile, used Grimwade's name to replace the scripted "Grimwold's Syndrome" illness mentioned in the script. The serial's Production Unit Manager, George Gallaccio, later allowed him to make his full directorial debut on the episode "Out of Body, Out of Mind" in the series The Omega Factor. Grimwade was also at this time Production Assistant on the BBC's serialised dramatisation of John le Carré's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.