Michael J Bird Tribute Site
TV Scriptwriting

Michael J Bird was a prolific writer and contributor to many British television series throughout the 1960's, 70's and 80's. Click any entry in the list below to read more about his contribution(s).

Bird's own creations for the BBC and YTV each get a section of the site to themselves, and in yet another part of the site you can read about many of the ideas he had that never made it into production.
Take "The Scenic Route" ...

... if you can spare the time. Start with Danger Man (Bird's first screen credit). In the top right-hand corner of the page there is a button which takes you to The Informer, his next credit, and so on through all the television series to which he made a contribution.
In addition to creating memorable drama series,

The Lotus Eaters Who Pays The Ferryman? The Aphrodite Inheritance The Outsider The Dark Side of the Sun Maelstrom 		and a couple of 'TV movies'

West of Paradise Out of the Shadows
Michael Bird contributed to many leading British television drama series throughout the 60's, 70's and 80's.

Danger man The Informer Mr Rose Journey To The Unknown Murder Hadleigh Paul Temple Out of the Unknown Brett The Onedin Line Arthur of the Britons
Special Branch Quiller Warship General Hospital The Expert Secret Army The Fourth Arm Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense
He also wrote a lot more that didn't make it into production.

UNPRODUCED WORK
View the Dangerman page 1966 - Danger Man
"Judgement Day" (29 January 1966)
Copy available on DVD
View the Informer page 1967 - The Informer
"Keep Off The Grass"(22 November 1967)
Script available
View the Mr Rose page 1968 - Mr Rose
"The Unlucky Dip" (21 April 1968)
Script available
"The Jolly Good Fellow" (28 November 1968)
Script available 		View the Journey To The Unknown page 1969 - Journey to the Unknown
"Somewhere in the Crowd" (21 April 1969)
Copy available on DVD and script available
"The Madison Equation" (2 June 1969)
Copy available on DVD and script available
"Girl of My Dreams" (9 June 1969)
Copy available on DVD
"Matakitas is Coming" ( )(Uncredited re-write)
Copy available on DVD
View the Murder page 1969 - Murder
"The Blood Relation" (25 October 1969)
Script available 		View the Hadleigh page 1969 - Hadleigh
"Some You Win, Some You Lose" (10 October 1969)
Copy available on DVD
"A Memory of Times Past" (14 November 1969)
Copy available on DVD and script available
1970 - Radio Play (adaptation of Somerset Maugham short story)
"The Unconquered" (18 and 19 November 1970)
Script available 		View the Paul Temple page

1971 - Paul Temple
"Night Train" (24 January 1971)
Copy available on DVD (Dubbed with a German soundtrack)

Out of the Unknown 1971 - Out of the Unknown
"To Lay a Ghost" (28 April 1971)
Copy available on DVD
"The Uninvited" (23 June 1971)
Script and audio recording available 		View the Brett page 1971 - Brett
"A Whole New World" (31 May 1971)
"The Hollow Men" (7 June 1971)
"The Right Time for a Killing" (2 August 1971)
"All The King's Horses" (16 August 1971)
"And All The King's Men" (23 August 1971)
View the Onedin Line page 1971 - The Onedin Line
"Salvage" (19 November 1971) (Repeated 16 July 1972)
Copy available on video
Go to The Lotus Eaters section 1972 - The Lotus Eaters - series 1

BBC Television series in nine parts created by Michael Bird. (Bird wrote only five of the nine episodes in the first series.)
Series available on DVD

"Cold Wind from the North" (23 April 1972)
Script available
"The Present Mrs Clive"(30 April 1972)
"And Hera Had a Sister" (7 May 1972)
"A Touch of Home" (14 May 1972)
"The Climbing Wave" (18 June 1972) 		Go to The Lotus Eaters section 1973 - The Lotus Eaters - series 2

BBC Television series in six parts.
(Bird wrote five of the episodes.)
Series available on DVD

"There and Back by Candlelight" (8 July 1973)
"A Kind of Treason" (15 July 1973)
"Beside a Crooked Stile(29 July 1973)
"The Well Diggers" (5 August 1973)
"And if you have time, Lord" (12 August 1973)
View the Arthur of the Britons page 1973 - Arthur of the Britons (HTV)
"In Common Cause" (24 October 1973)
Copy available on DVD 		View the Special Branch page 1974 - Special Branch Season 4
"Double Exposure" (14 February 1974)
Copy available on DVD "Stand and Deliver" (7 March 1974)
Copy available on DVD

"Something About a Soldier" (14 March 1974)
Copy available on DVD
View the Quiller page 1975 - Quiller
"Price of Violence" (29 August 1975)
Copy available on DVD

"Safe Conduct" (14 November 1975)
Script available 		View the General Hospital page 1976 - General Hospital
"Red Alert" (2 July 1976)
View The Expert page 1976 - The Expert
"A Family Affair" (22 October 1976)
Copy available on DVD and script available 		View the Warship page 1976 / 77 - Warship
"What Are Friends For?" (13 January 1976)
Copy available on DVD
"Quiet Run Ashore" (24 February 1976)
Copy available on DVD
"Girl from the Sea" (1 February 1977)
Copy available on DVD
"A Matter of History" (8 February 1977)
Copy available on DVD
Go to the Who Pays The Ferryman? section 1977 - Who Pays the Ferryman?
BBC Television series in eight parts.
Created and written by Michael J. Bird.
Series available on DVD

"Return to Yesterday" (7 November 1977)
"Some Talk of Alexander" (14 November 1977)
"The Long Shadow"(21 November 1977)
"A Dead Man to Carry My Cross" (28 November 1977)
"Receive the Light"(5 December 1977)
"The Well" (12 December 1977)
"A River to Cross"(19 December 1977)
"The Daughters of Themis" (26 December 1977) 		Go to The Aphrodite Inheritance section 1979 - The Aphrodite Inheritance
BBC Television series in eight parts.
Created and written by Michael J. Bird.
Series available on DVD

"A Death in the Family" (3 January 1979)
"A Lamb to Slaughter" (10 January 1979)
"Here We Come Gathering"(17 January 1979)
"A Friend in Need" (24 January 1979)
"Come into my Parlour" (31 January 1979)
"Said the Spider to the Fly"(7 February 1979)
"The Eyes of Love" (14 February 1979)
"To Touch a Rainbow" (21 February 1979)
View the Secret Army page 1979 - Secret Army
"Bridgehead" (8 December 1979)
Copy available on DVD and script available
View The Fourth Arm page

1983 - The Fourth Arm
Part Nine(4 March 1983)
Copy available on DVD and script available

Go to The Outsider section 1983 - The Outsider
Yorkshire Television series in six parts.
Created and written by Michael J. Bird.
Series available on DVD

"A Death In The Family" (30 September 1983)
"The Legacy"(7 October 1983)
"A Question of Judgement" (14 October 1983)
"Vacant Possession" (21 October 1983)
"The Homecoming" (28 October 1983)
"Wound for Wound"(4 November 1983) 		Go to The Dark Side of the Sun section 1983 - The Dark Side of the Sun
BBC Television series in six parts.
Created and written by Michael J. Bird.
Series available on DVD

"Into the Shadows" (13 September 1983)
"A Time Out of Mind" (20 September 1983)
"No Stranger by Night" (27 September 1983)
"The Face of Asmodeus" (4 October 1983)
"The Summoning" (11 October 1983)
"Harvest of Fear"(18 October 1983)
View the Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense page

1985 - Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense
an anthology of feature length TV movies

"In Possession" (4 January 1985)
Christopher Cazenove and Carol Lynley suffer from
disturbing nightmares after receiving visitations.
Copy available on DVD 		Go to the Maelstrom section 1985 - Maelstrom
BBC Television series in six parts.
Created and written by Michael J. Bird.
Series available on DVD

"An Ill Wind" (5 February 1985)
"Shadows" (12 February 1985)
"In Possession" (19 February 1985)
"House of Secrets" (26 February 1985)
"Into the Vortex" (5 March 1985)
"Out of the Depths" (12 March 1985)
Go to The Winning Streak section 1985 - The Winning Streak
(16 September 1985 - 21 October 1985)

A six part drama series created by Michael J Bird for Yorkshire Television, although he did not write any of the scripts.
Most were credited to producer Michael Miller.
Series available on DVD
View the West of Paradise page 1986 - "West of Paradise" (7 September 1986)

Two hour TV movie written for Yorkshire Television.
Copy available on DVD 		Go to the Out of the Shadows section 1988 - "Out of the Shadows" (2 September 1988)

Two hour TV movie adapted from a novel for Yorkshire Television.
Copy available on DVD
Michael J Bird Tribute Site

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