Barbara Clegg

Born: 1st March 1926
Episodes Broadcast: 1983

Biography

Manchester-born Barbara Clegg completed a degree in English at Oxford University, where she became interested in acting. After graduating, she embarked on a stage career; her work included a 1955 tour of Australia with Katharine Hepburn, performing William Shakespeare's plays Measure For Measure, The Merchant Of Venice and The Taming Of The Shrew. Upon her return to the United Kingdom, Clegg began to move into television, appearing in plays from 1956 and then winning a regular role on Emergency -- Ward 10 in 1958. In the early Sixties, she could be seen in programmes such as Deadline Midnight as well as her only movie, the 1963 musical comedy It's All Happening starring Tommy Steele.

By this time, Clegg had added scriptwriting to her portfolio, initially with several 1961 episodes of Coronation Street. She both wrote and acted in Strange Concealments, and contributed an episode of Once Aboard The Lugger.... By the mid-Sixties, Clegg had given up acting and largely focussed on writing for radio, although occasional television scripts included installments of Crossroads and Together. Through her radio work, Clegg came to know Eric Saward. Soon after he became the script editor of Doctor Who in 1981, Clegg submitted a story idea for the show. The result was 1983's Enlightenment, starring Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor.

Over the next several years, Clegg pitched several other story ideas to the Doctor Who production office. Although none reached the screen, both “The Elite” and “Point Of Entry” were later adapted for audio by Big Finish Productions, and released as part of the Doctor Who: The Lost Stories range. Clegg and Saward also collaborated on Gateway, a proposal for a new science-fiction programme which was rejected by the BBC in 1983. Her last television credit came on Gems in 1986. In 1993, Clegg published a biography of her uncle, Sir John Moores, called The Man Who Made Littlewoods.

Credits
Writer
Enlightenment

Updated 10th June 2021