While director J. Lee Thompson's legacy might lie in the thrillers and action films of his post-British work - from the heights of The Guns of Navarone (1961) and Cape Fear (1962) to the exploitation lows of Death Wish 4 (1987) - his reputation, and ability to diversify, was certainly qualified in the post-war films made in Britain and his contribution to the so called 'social problem' genre. Something of a half-way house between this genre - maturing with the introduction of the X certificate in 1951 - and the arrival of the 'social realism' of the British New Wave is his once neglected but now well regarded Woman in a Dressing Gown (1957).

Although the 'social problem' film's origins stretch back to the late 1940s and early 1950s, with Brighton Rock (1947) and The Blue Lamp (1950) as significant examples, the X certificate's introduction gave greater freedom in the articulation of adult themes and the burning issues of the day. Gang thriller Cosh Boy (1953), cautionary tale of under-age exploitation 'Beat' Girl (1959) and several films in the Basil Dearden and Michael Relph canon, Frieda (1947), I Believe in You (1952), Violent Playground (1958), Sapphire (1959) and Victim (1961) are all fine examples of this sub-genre, many of which set out to break certain taboos about delinquency, homosexuality, racism and the impact of institutions such as the probation service and the police. Thompson's own track record with this style of cinema, although perhaps not rendered in as exploitative a manner, began with the blackmail saga The Yellow Balloon (1953), The Weak and the Wicked (1954) and Yield to the Night (1956). The latter two films are the first in Thompson's group about the lives of women  - the former based on the memoirs of Joan Henry, 'Who Lie In Gaol', and the latter based on her novel with its tale of a condemned murderess reflecting the debates surrounding the Ruth Ellis case. Henry would play a vital role behind the scenes and work, uncredited, on the script for Woman in a Dressing Gown and eventually married Thompson.

As Toby Hadoke notes in the opening of episode one's commentary, The Krotons begins with a door getting stuck as Selris retrieves the exam results from the Kroton ship. It's not a good omen for a story that's not well regarded by fans of the series. Sadly, at the time of its repeat in 1981 as part of 'The Five Faces of Doctor Who' season on BBC2, it was the only complete Patrick Troughton story then currently preserved in the archives. Fortunately, time has been somewhat kinder to Troughton fans than it has perhaps been to The Krotons with more of his missing episodes returned to the archive in the interim, culminating recently with the return of episode two of The Underwater Menace.

The Krotons originated from a single play The Trap by writer Robert Holmes who was an ex-policeman, became a court reporter and from the late 1950s moved into writing for television. His first television work was on Knight Errant and then through the 1960s he contributed to, among others,  Market at Honey Lane, Ghost Squad, Doctor Finlay's Casebook, Undermind and Public Eye. The Trap started life as an unsuccessful submission to Out of the Unknown producer Irene Shubik before Head of Serials Shaun Sutton suggested Holmes pitch it to Doctor Who story-editor Donald Tosh. The two men met in April 1965 but Tosh eventually rejected Holmes's script as he felt the robot creations in the story were going to steal the thunder from the Mechanoids, a race of robots that the BBC were hoping would emulate the success of the Daleks, who would feature in The Chase, a Dalek story to be broadcast in May of that year

Hammer's four films shot back-to-back production experiment came to a conclusion with John Gilling's The Reptile in September 1965. Virtually a week after completing principal photography on The Plague of the Zombies, Gilling was already shooting the film on the same back lot and with two of the same cast, Jacqueline Pearce and Michael Ripper.

Originally titled The Reptiles and announced in 1963, it was intended for production partners Universal. It resurfaced on Hammer's schedule in 1964, as The Curse of the Reptiles before finally going into production at Bray in 1965. Gilling directed from a John Elder script (that's Anthony "Mr Elder" Hinds as he was known to the director) that was completed in August of that year and submitted to the BBFC for their approval.

Like its bedfellow, The Reptile was set in Cornwall and follows the arrival, in a small, isolated village, of Captain Harry Spalding and his wife Valerie after the mysterious death of his brother Charles. The villagers reject the new arrivals and Harry has to rely on the help of local landlord Tom Bailey to discover the real reasons behind the series of mysterious deaths that occur in the village and understand the involvement of theologist Dr Franklyn and his daughter Anna. It is eventually revealed that they harbour a terrible secret - a Malay curse that transforms Anna into a human reptile.

StudioCanal release the latest of their high definition restorations of classic Hammer horror films on June 18th. This month we are treated to not one but two Blu-ray/DVD special editions and appropriately enough they are the back-to-back productions, directed by John Gilling, from 1965, The Plague of the Zombies and The Reptile.

As previously noted in my review of Dracula Prince of Darkness, The Plague of the Zombies was released with that film as a double bill in early 1966, forming one half of their Cornwall located productions that utilised the same sets on the back lot at Bray and were produced as part of their contracts with Eliot Hyman's Seven-Arts, Fox and ABPC.

The Plague of the Zombies had been knocking about as an unfilmed property at Hammer for some years, originating from a Peter Bryan synopsis, The Zombie, in 1962, with further embellishments to it from producer Tony Hinds a year later, and announced as a forthcoming production in November 1963. It later appeared as Horror of the Zombies as part of the Hammer programme for 1964. Director John Gilling's association with Hammer went back to 1949, primarily as a writer on such projects as The Man in Black (1949), Room to Let (1950) and, uncredited, on Whispering Smith Hits London (1952), and then directing and writing a gamut of variable films, including Old Mother Riley Meets the Vampire (1952), the Anthony Newley vehicle Idol on Parade (1959), and a number of television dramas during the 1950s. Between 1959 and 1960, he directed two films with Peter Cushing as the lead, the cult classic about Burke and Hare, The Flesh and the Fiends (1960) and period adventure Fury at Smugglers' Bay (1961). His handling of both horror and period adventure would determine the nature of his work with Hammer when he returned to the company in 1960 to direct The Shadow of the Cat (1961).

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.