Philip David Segal

Episodes Broadcast: 1996

Biography

Philip David Segal was born in Southend-on-Sea, Essex and became a fan of Doctor Who during his childhood. He moved to the United States as a teenager, where he attended San Diego State University and graduated with a degree in telecommunications. Segal worked as a casting assistant and then a literary agent, after which he joined Columbia Pictures. Eventually becoming their Director of Drama Development, he worked on programmes such as Hardball, and made his first attempts to secure a co-production agreement for Doctor Who in late 1989. However, Segal's ambition had to be put on hold when he moved to the American Broadcasting Company in early 1990. As their Director of Current Programing, he oversaw shows like Twin Peaks and thirtysomething.

In 1991, Segal changed jobs again, this time landing at Steven Spielberg's production company, Amblin Entertainment. Now Vice President of Amblin Television, he worked on seaQuest DSV, Earth 2 and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles; he also reignited discussions with the BBC regarding Doctor Who. Although Segal left Amblin in 1995 to form his own production company, Lakeshore Television, Spielberg allowed him to take the Doctor Who project with him. The following year, he served as the executive producer of Doctor Who (1996), starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor. Although there was a very real possibility that it would lead to a full series, the telefilm suffered poor ratings in North America, effectively killing the project as an ongoing concern.

In 1998, Segal briefly entered into discussions with the BBC about the rights to remake the two Dalek feature films from the Sixties, before quickly deciding that there was little potential in the venture. In 2000, he and Gary Russell co-wrote the behind-the-scenes book Doctor Who: Regeneration, published by HarperCollins. During the twenty-first century, Segal served in executive roles for a variety of production companies. This provided him with rare opportunities to direct, including episodes of the science-fiction series Andromeda and Mutant X. As reality television grew in popularity, it took on an increasingly prominent role in Segal's resume. He was an executive producer on Storage Wars, Deadliest Catch, Ice Road Truckers, and many other such programmes.

Credits
Executive Producer
Doctor Who (1996)

Updated 30th July 2021