Born: 28th May 1940 (as Frank Dixon Cox)
Died: 27th April 2021 (aged 80 years)
Episodes Broadcast: 1964

London-born Frank Cox was educated at Leeds University, from which he graduated with an English degree in 1962. Having enjoyed acting during both his secondary and post-secondary schooling, he applied to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, but was unsuccessful. Instead, Cox took a temporary assignment as a filing clerk at the BBC Television Film Studios in Ealing, London. This led to an opportunity to work as a floor assistant on programmes such as Maigret, after which he was accepted into the BBC's directors' training course. Cox's first directing assignment came on a 1964 episode of Star Story -- albeit with an unfortunate mis-credit as “Frank Fox”. Soon thereafter, a director was needed at short notice for the second episode of the third Doctor Who serial, Inside The Spaceship. It was agreed that this would be a good opportunity for Cox to obtain some experience, since he could work closely with Richard Martin, the director of the opening installment. A few months later, Cox was assigned the final two episodes of The Sensorites on a similar basis.

Although Doctor Who would never again feature on Cox's resume, it helped launch a successful career in television. During the latter half of the Sixties, he made a permanent move from floor assistant to director, becoming responsible for episodes of The Revenue Man, The First Lady, Mogul and Softly Softly: Task Force. Seventies credits included Doomwatch, Barlow At Large and Warship. Cox became a producer in 1975, initially on Sutherland's Law, for which he was also a director. In 1977, he married actress Bridget Turner, who would later encounter David Tennant's Tenth Doctor in 2007's Gridlock. Cox went freelance the same year, after which one of his first projects was as producer of Life At Stake. He would dub his company Fox Productions in reference to that imprecise attribution on Star Story.

The Eighties saw Cox work as both a director, on the likes of Take The High Road and EastEnders, and a producer, such as on Escape and CATS Eyes. He returned to Take The High Road as a producer in the Nineties, before he tackled the same role on Taggart. Cox retired from television in the mid-Nineties. He died on April 27th, 2021.