Born: 15th December 1940 (as John Pennant Roberts)
Died: 22nd June 2010 (aged 69 years)
Episodes Broadcast: 1977-1978, 1985

Pennant Roberts was born in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset and became involved in acting while studying Physics at the University of Bristol. The son of Welsh parents and a fluent speaker of Welsh, in 1962 he took a job as a floor manager at Wales West and North, a short-lived ITV franchise. When it folded at the start of 1964, Roberts moved to BBC Wales. By 1969, he had become a production manager and was dividing his time between London and Cardiff. He married actress Betsan Jones in 1970.

Roberts' experiences on Welsh television led to directing assignments, including episodes of Doomwatch and The Regiment. He went freelance in 1974, working on programmes such as Sutherland's Law and Survivors. It was on the latter that he met actress Louise Jameson, whom he later recommended for the role of Leela when he directed The Face Of Evil for Doctor Who in 1976. The character would be retained as a companion, and Roberts and Jameson would maintain a firm friendship. Roberts directed three more stories for Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor but the last of these, Shada, went unfinished due to an industrial dispute. Roberts also channelled his interest in Celtic folklore and the Welsh language into a prospective Doctor Who script entitled “Erinella”, although it ultimately went unproduced.

Roberts was involved in the early years of Channel Four's Welsh-language service, S4C

Away from Doctor Who, the late Seventies saw Roberts working on shows like Angels, Blake's 7 and The Onedin Line. He then worked on Juliet Bravo before directing the early episodes of Tenko; here he cast Jameson in a lead role, providing the actress with what would prove to be her favourite part. Roberts was also involved in the early years of Channel Four's Welsh-language service, S4C. In the mid-Eighties, he directed Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor in Warriors Of The Deep and Colin Baker's Sixth Doctor in Timelash, but was unhappy with both scripts.

Directorial credits in the late Eighties included episodes of Howards' Way, Albion Market and Dramarama. The latter contributed to Roberts' move into children's television, where he was also a producer on shows like The Snow Spider and The Bubblegum Brigade. This work continued into the early Nineties, but Roberts continued to direct occasional programmes for adults such as an episode of Crime Story and a movie-length Wycliffe. Roberts then relocated to Cardiff where he formed a production company, Penderyn Films, which primarily recorded plays for television broadcast. Roberts was largely retired by the turn of the century, although his twenty-year term as the chair of the Directors' and Producers' Rights Society (later Directors UK) lasted until 2007. He died following a battle with cancer on June 22nd, 2010.