Born: 27th November 1935 (as John Christopher Byrne)
Died: 2nd April 2008 (aged 72 years)
Episodes Broadcast: 1981, 1983-1984

Born in Dublin, Ireland, Johnny Byrne demonstrated considerable academic gifts as a child -- reading each of William Shakespeare's plays by age eleven -- but left school at twelve to help support his large and impoverished family. He worked a series of odd jobs and travelled widely, eventually immigrating to England. By the Sixties, Byrne was a beat poet and even lived for a time with the Beatles during the early part of the band's existence. He edited a number of avant garde literary journals, and began publishing science-fiction short stories in 1964. Byrne also appeared on stage with fellow poet Spike Hawkins as the Poisoned Bellows.

Byrne's first notable success was the scandalous novel Groupie, co-written with Jenny Fabian and published in 1969. The attention it brought led to Byrne's first television credit, a 1970 edition of The Wednesday Play. He then co-wrote the 1973 Spike Milligan film Adolf Hitler: My Part In His Downfall, in which he also made an uncredited appearance. In 1975, Byrne married journalist Sandra Carrington-Mail; they would have sons Jasper, Barnaby and Nicholas. By that time, he had returned to television with episodes of Pipkins. Byrne then became heavily involved with Space: 1999, even briefly serving as its script editor before a falling out with the programme's American producer.

Byrne devised Nyssa, who was so well-liked by the Doctor Who production team that she was retained as a new companion

In 1978, Byrne began writing episodes of All Creatures Great And Small, based on the beloved books by rural veterinarian James Herriot. He would remain involved with the series until its eventual conclusion in 1990, latterly working as a story consultant. It was here that he met production unit manager John Nathan-Turner, who subsequently became the producer of Doctor Who and invited Byrne to work as its script editor. Byrne was not interested in the post since it would mean relocating from Norfolk to London, but he did offer to contribute story ideas, having previously turned down multiple overtures in recent years to write for the show. Byrne initially scripted 1981's The Keeper Of Traken, Tom Baker's penultimate adventure as the Fourth Doctor, where he helped reintroduce the Doctor's Time Lord arch-nemesis, the Master. He also devised Nyssa, who was so well-liked by the production team that she was retained as a new companion.

Two serials followed for Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor: 1983's Arc Of Infinity and 1984's Warriors Of The Deep. Byrne was so disappointed with the latter, however, that a proposed sequel to The Keeper Of Traken, called “The Guardians Of Prophecy”, was abandoned. Towards the end of the decade, he wrote a script for a proposed Doctor Who feature film which would never come to fruition. Byrne's other Eighties work included episodes of Tales Of The Unexpected, Miracles Take Longer, Dodger, Bonzo & The Rest, and another veterinary drama, One By One.

During the Nineties he created Heartbeat, which would run from 1992 until 2009, and yet another show about a veterinarian called Noah's Ark. He also wrote episodes of Love Hurts and collaborated on the movie screenplay for the 1994 supernatural comedy-drama To Die For. In his later years, Byrne lectured on the subject of the former Yugoslavia, while his last television project was -- appropriately enough -- Young James Herriot. Sadly, Byrne did not live to see its eventual broadcast in 2011; he died on April 2nd, 2008.