15 Facts About Shaun Sutton

Shaun Alfred Graham Sutton was an English television writer, director, producer and executive, who worked in the medium for nearly forty years from the 1950s to the 1990s.

Sutton's father, Graham Sutton, was a theatre critic and novelist as well as being a teacher at Latymer Upper School, where Sutton himself was educated.

Shaun Sutton's mother was an actress, and Sutton followed in her footsteps by enrolling in drama school after leaving Latymer.

Shaun Sutton moved into television, the medium with which he was to become most closely associated, in 1952, joining the staff of the BBC's drama department.

Shaun Sutton found particular success in children's serials, writing and directing the likes of Queen's Champion and Bonehead.

One of his reasons for declining the role was that by this stage Shaun Sutton was beginning to make a name for himself in more adult drama series, directing several early episodes of the police drama Z-Cars from 1962.

Shaun Sutton worked as a director on other drama series such as The Last Man Out, The Troubleshooters and the Z-Cars spin-off Softly, Softly until 1966, when he moved into the upper echelons of the drama department by succeeding Gerald Savory as Head of Serials.

Shaun Sutton was to occupy the position for the next twelve years, until 1981, overseeing the entirety of the BBC's 1970s drama output.

Shaun Sutton deemed the production to be unbroadcastable upon seeing the result, but so much time, money and effort had been spent on making and publicising the series that he was left with little choice in the matter.

Nonetheless, Shaun Sutton himself was seen as having been a great success in his role, and when he finally departed in 1981 he was not short of further work in the department.

Shaun Sutton returned to front-line producing duties, taking over the BBC's The Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare series, which had been initiated by producer Cedric Messina under Sutton's aegis in the late 1970s.

Shaun Sutton produced all of the remaining works between 1982 and 1986, some thirteen plays in all, including some of the less frequently performed plays.

Shaun Sutton continued to work as a producer following the end of this run and into the late 1980s, mostly of theatrical adaptations for BBC2.

Shaun Sutton was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for his services to broadcasting, in 1979.

Shaun Sutton died following a short illness in May 2004.