Donald Wilson (writer and producer)

Donald Wilson
Born	Donald Boyd Wilson 11 September 1910 Dunblane, Scotland
Died	5 March 2002 (aged 91) Gloucestershire, England
Occupation	Screenwriter, television producer

Donald Boyd Wilson (11 September 1910, Dunblane, Scotland – 5 March 2002, Gloucestershire, England) was a British television writer and producer, best known for his work on the BBC's adaptation of The Forsyte Saga in 1967 and co-creating the series Doctor Who.

He attended the Glasgow School of Art, following which his first jobs were as a newspaper cartoonist and sketch writer.

His initial career was in the film industry, including working for MGM at Elstree Studios, where he was Assistant Director of such films as Jericho (1937) and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939). During the war he served with the Cameronians and the 43rd Wessex Division before afterwards returning to the film industry, and then in 1955 was recruited to BBC Television by the then Head of Drama, Michael Barry. As the Head of the Script Department, Wilson was ultimately responsible for overseeing the commissioning and development of all the original scripts and adaptations transmitted by BBC Television.

When the Script Department was rendered redundant by Sydney Newman’s radical shake-up of the BBC Drama Department after his arrival as its head in 1962, the highly respected Wilson was given one of the most senior positions under Newman as Head of Serials. In this position, Wilson was responsible for overseeing the creation and development of a series that Newman himself had originally conceived; an educational science-fiction serial entitled Doctor Who. It was Wilson, together with Newman and staff writer C. E. Webber, who co-wrote the first format document for the programme.

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