Wilfred Greatorex

Wilfred Glyn Greatorex (27 May 1921 – 14 October 2002 ) was an English television and film writer, script editor and producer.

Early life Born in Liverpool, he was educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn. After wartime service with the RAF, he became a reporter on The Blackburn Times, The Lancashire Evening Post and Reynold's News. He began his television career at Associated Television.

Career He was creator of such series as Secret Army, 1990, Plane Makers and its sequel The Power Game, Hine, Brett, Man From Haven and The Inheritors. He also wrote the screenplay for the 1969 film Battle of Britain. Starting off as a journalist, he got his big break as a TV writer on Lew Grade's ATV service writing dramas about journalism, such as Deadline Midnight and Front Page Story. Over its two series it portrayed "a Britain in which the rights of the individual had been replaced by the concept of the common good – or, as I put it more brutally, a consensus tyranny."

When talking about his writing style he said "I am opposed to soft-centred characters, which is why I don't create a lot of Robin Hoods. The world's full of hard cases, real villains. And they need to be confronted with other characters just as hard."