Peter Yeldham

Peter Alan Yeldham (born 25 April 1927) is an Australian screenwriter for motion pictures and television, playwright and novelist.

Peter Yeldham was born in Gladstone, near Smithtown, New South Wales in 1927. Leaving Knox Grammar School at 16, Yeldham briefly became a jackaroo in Queensland. Then he returned to Sydney to join Radio 2GB, first as a messenger boy and then became junior script writer. He wrote several scripts and a weekly column for the magazine, The Listener In before being called up for the army at 18, volunteering to go to Japan with the Occupation Force, where he served with the radio unit. Returning to civilian life he married and worked freelance, writing Famous Trials, Medical File, Night Beat, The Golden Cobweb, For The Defence, and many other programs that he largely originated for Grace Gibson Productions. He also attempted to join the Sydney Morning Herald as a cadet journalist but was told they only accepted those with university degrees. Yeldham's young age may have worked for him at 2GB as he was instructed that the average mental age of the Australian radio audience was thirteen and to write accordingly.

In 1956, the year television arrived in Australia, he moved to England with his family where he remained for 20 years. He was given a reference to producer Harry Alan Towers. Thus began twenty years of writing for television and motion pictures in the United Kingdom. With independent television taking off in the British Isles, Yeldham was employed writing for such shows as Armchair Theatre, Shadow Squad, Dial 999, Espionage, Crime Sheet, Inside Story, No Hiding Place, The Persuaders, Probation Officer, The Third Man, Van Der Valk, Zodiak, The Zoo Gang and other British TV series.

Turning to feature films he wrote the The Comedy Man and The Liquidator for producer Jon Pennington, as well as screenplays for Columbia, MGM, The Rank Organisation and producer Harry Alan Towers.

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