Transmitted in February 1974, Terry Nation's Death to the Daleks followed hot on the heels of Malcolm Hulke's Invasion of the Dinosaurs. A mid-season story, over four weeks it bore the stamp of its writer and his narrative concerns within Doctor Who's ever flexible format. However, there is a sense of transition within the production of the series itself as Robert Holmes, the incoming script-editor, was already trailing the current incumbent Terrance Dicks after Dicks had already announced he was bowing out at the end of the season. Producer Barry Letts signalled his departure during the production of Death to the Daleks and Jon Pertwee, having played the lead role for five years and 128 episodes, was also leaving after an announcement made to the press on 8 February 1974 just before episode five of Dinosaurs went out. 

Nation had agreed with the production team that he would have first shout to write any proposed Dalek stories for the series, unhappy about how his creations had been treated after giving permission for their inclusion in Louis Marks' Day of the Daleks in 1972. After contributing Planet of the Daleks the previous year, Nation discussed his commission, offered in March 1973, for Death to Daleks over a long champagne fuelled lunch with Dicks in July that same year. As noted by Jonathan Bignell and Andrew O'Day in Terry Nation, a post-lunch letter outlined Dicks' concern for Nation not to repeat himself (pun also intended about the author's digestion): "The main necessity is to avoid any resemblance to your previous show, i.e., a group of fugitives hunted through the jungle by Daleks. Instead of jungle, think of bleak, rocky, foggy quarry."

There are several types of Doctor Who memoir - those which outline a busy career in television and film production (such as Barry Letts' recent book Who and Me) or those which are more personal and cover life's experiences rather than the day job.

Personality and a full and interesting life are very important to the success of a memoir. Anneke Wills' books, for example, are a complex, extremely moving journey of a woman's journey into maturity whereas Letts' book is about the development of a writer, actor and director and the changing nature of television production. Both can work extremely well as long as the author's exploits emerge from the page with enough enthusiasm, humour and insight. However, it's often difficult to get the balance right between the personal and the professional and the most successful books are those that can manage to juggle the two and appeal to a broad range of readers.

Classic TV Press have now convinced Michael E. Briant, a television director who has amassed some significant credits ( Z Cars, Blake's 7, Secret Army, Warship, The Onedin Line, Howard's Way among others) during what was regarded as 'the golden age' of television drama and beyond, that his personal and professional exploits would be of interest to those asking the question, Who is Michael E. Briant? Apparently, he's been asking that question too and this book would seem to be a rather good place to start. It fulfills many of the above criteria. While it is not an emotional confessional in the style of Wills' books, it does offer an insider's view of working at the BBC, a significant chunk of which was on Doctor Who, and a personal journey taking him from selling Revlon cosmetics to adventures sailing around the world.