Antony Root
Born: 16th April 1954 (as Antony Howard Root)
Episodes Broadcast: 1981-1982
Born in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, Antony Root went to university there,
studying English and philosophy. He was president of the Amateur
Dramatic Club, and became involved with the revues performed by the
comedy-oriented Footlights; Root's first television credit came as part
of their 1974 production. After graduating, he worked in theatre
administration, but changed tack in 1979 by accepting a holiday relief
appointment with the BBC as an assistant floor manager. One of the
programmes to which Root found himself assigned was Doctor Who,
although his work on Destiny Of The
Daleks was uncredited. His position was made permanent, and he
worked in the same capacity on Blake's 7 and Private
Schulz.
Root then trained to be a script editor, and was back on Doctor
Who for three months on an interim basis from November 1980.
Christopher H Bidmead was wrapping up his year on the programme, and had
been impressed with Root's work critiquing unsolicited Doctor Who
submissions for the BBC Script Unit. Root helped set up the 1982 season
-- Peter Davison's first year as the Fifth Doctor -- with Eric Saward's
The Visitation bearing his stamp
most strongly. He and Saward shared the role on A Girl's Best Friend, the pilot episode
for the unsuccessful spin-off K·9 And Company. Root was then
given another trainee appointment on Juliet Bravo, with Saward
taking over the script editor's post on Doctor Who. It was
planned that Root would come back as Doctor Who's permanent
script editor, but he ultimately decided that he was not a good fit for
the show. His final Doctor Who credit came on Saward's Earthshock, although this was just
to avert the criticism that often followed when a script editor wrote
for his own programme.
As Head of Drama at Thames Television, Root worked with
future Doctor Who showrunner Russell T
Davies on The Grand
Instead, Root became the script editor on The Chinese Detective
and then Strangers And Brothers. In 1984, he left the BBC to
join Euston Films, where he was eventually made Head of Development and
worked on shows like Bellman And True and The Fear, the
latter as a co-producer. Now well-established in production, Root's next
move was to Working Title Television, where his credits included
Lorna Doone and Tales Of The City. In 1994, he was made
Head of Drama at Thames Television, overseeing Cold Comfort Farm
and Call Red. Root then held the same title at Granada from 1997,
where he worked with future Doctor Who showrunner Russell T
Davies on The Grand. He subsequently became the President of
Granada's US division, where his projects included the American version
of Touching Evil.
Continuing his rise up the executive hierarchy, Root was appointed to a
senior vice-presidential role with Sony Pictures Television in 2005.
Amongst the programmes he supervised there was Sofia's Diary.
After a year as CEO of 8th Floor Productions in the UK, Root was named
Executive Vice-President of HBO Europe in 2011. In this role, he was
responsible for multi-lingual original content destined for a number of
regions across central Europe.
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