Born: 9th December 1938 (as Waris Habibullah)
Episodes Broadcast: 1963-1964

Waris Habibullah was born in Lucknow, Utter Pradesh in what was then still British India, and grew up in Bombay (now Mumbai). His family relocated to the UK when his father was named to the Indian High Commission, but the appointment ended soon thereafter, following the partition of India in August 1947. Habibullah's mother chose to remain in Britain with her children; she later became a broadcaster with the BBC's Eastern Service. He went to Cambridge, graduating in 1960 with a degree in English literature. While there, Habibullah directed a number of plays, working with the likes of Derek Jacobi. After graduation, he adopted the stage name “Waris Hussein”, as he felt that “Habibullah” was too long and difficult to pronounce; although “Hosein” was his mother's maiden name, he chose a spelling which had regal connotations, by virtue of its association with the King of Jordan. Hussein briefly tried his hand at acting but, after appearing in an episode of Corrigan Blake, he soon concluded that he needed to alter his career plans.

Hussein was instead accepted into the BBC's directors' training course, leading to his first professional work on the soap opera Compact. He also directed episodes of programmes such as Suspense and Moonstrike before being assigned to the first-ever Doctor Who serial, 100,000 BC. As later chronicled in the 2013 docudrama An Adventure In Space And Time (where he was portrayed by Sacha Dhawan), he quickly forged a close bond with Doctor Who producer Verity Lambert who, like Hussein, was amongst the youngest staffers at the BBC. He helped guide the development of the fledgling series, including the assembly of the regular cast. Hussein returned to Doctor Who a few months later to direct Marco Polo.

At one point, it was hoped that Hussein would direct half the serials for Doctor Who's debut season

At one point, it was hoped that Hussein would direct half the serials for Doctor Who's debut season, but he instead sought work on plays, such as a celebrated 1965 version of A Passage To India. As such, he was rather dismayed when Lambert successfully argued for him to be assigned to the soap opera The Newcomers, her first project after leaving Doctor Who. This was, however, a rare bleak moment in Hussein's friendship with Lambert. They worked together several more times, including on the drama Shoulder To Shoulder, which was offered to Hussein following a disastrous experience directing Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in Divorce His -- Divorce Hers, a 1973 TV movie for the ABC network in the United States.

By this time, Hussein had made several feature films, including the 1972 horror The Possession Of Joel Delaney starring Shirley MacLaine. But his focus remained on television, especially feature-length teleplays, and he was prolific on both sides of the Atlantic. He won a BAFTA (with Andrew Brown) for Edward & Mrs Simpson -- another Lambert collaboration -- and an Emmy for the musical Copacabana with Barry Manilow. In 1982, he worked with Hollywood legend Bette Davis on the miniseries Little Gloria... Happy At Last. His 1987 miniseries Intimate Contact was one of the first dramas to confront the AIDS epidemic, and it was secretly a very personal project for Hussein, whose partner Ian had died of the disease. In 1983, Hussein was invited to direct the Doctor Who twentieth-anniversary story The Five Doctors, but he was forced to decline due to other commitments.

Hussein remained active as a director into the twenty-first century, when his projects included the TV movie Her Best Friend's Husband with Cheryl Ladd.