Born: 16th April 1954 (as Antony Howard Root)
Episodes Broadcast: 1981-1982

Born in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, Antony Root went to university there, studying English and philosophy. He was president of the Amateur Dramatic Club, and became involved with the revues performed by the comedy-oriented Footlights; Root's first television credit came as part of their 1974 production. After graduating, he worked in theatre administration, but changed tack in 1979 by accepting a holiday relief appointment with the BBC as an assistant floor manager. One of the programmes to which Root found himself assigned was Doctor Who, although his work on Destiny Of The Daleks was uncredited. His position was made permanent, and he worked in the same capacity on Blake's 7 and Private Schulz.

Root then trained to be a script editor, and was back on Doctor Who for three months on an interim basis from November 1980. Christopher H Bidmead was wrapping up his year on the programme, and had been impressed with Root's work critiquing unsolicited Doctor Who submissions for the BBC Script Unit. Root helped set up the 1982 season -- Peter Davison's first year as the Fifth Doctor -- with Eric Saward's The Visitation bearing his stamp most strongly. He and Saward shared the role on A Girl's Best Friend, the pilot episode for the unsuccessful spin-off K·9 And Company. Root was then given another trainee appointment on Juliet Bravo, with Saward taking over the script editor's post on Doctor Who. It was planned that Root would come back as Doctor Who's permanent script editor, but he ultimately decided that he was not a good fit for the show. His final Doctor Who credit came on Saward's Earthshock, although this was just to avert the criticism that often followed when a script editor wrote for his own programme.

As Head of Drama at Thames Television, Root worked with future Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies on The Grand

Instead, Root became the script editor on The Chinese Detective and then Strangers And Brothers. In 1984, he left the BBC to join Euston Films, where he was eventually made Head of Development and worked on shows like Bellman And True and The Fear, the latter as a co-producer. Now well-established in production, Root's next move was to Working Title Television, where his credits included Lorna Doone and Tales Of The City. In 1994, he was made Head of Drama at Thames Television, overseeing Cold Comfort Farm and Call Red. Root then held the same title at Granada from 1997, where he worked with future Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies on The Grand. He subsequently became the President of Granada's US division, where his projects included the American version of Touching Evil.

Continuing his rise up the executive hierarchy, Root was appointed to a senior vice-presidential role with Sony Pictures Television in 2005. Amongst the programmes he supervised there was Sofia's Diary. After a year as CEO of 8th Floor Productions in the UK, Root was named Executive Vice-President of HBO Europe in 2011. In this role, he was responsible for multi-lingual original content destined for a number of regions across central Europe.