Born: 14th February 1942 (as Michael Edwin Briant)
Episodes Broadcast: 1971-1975, 1977

Michael E Briant was born in Bournemouth, Hampshire and grew up in Maidenhead, Berkshire. As a youth, he attended the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts. While still in his teens, Briant began acting professionally in repertory theatre and on television in programmes such as The Little Round House and Mr Papingay's Ship. He was sometimes credited as “Michael Tennant” in order to avoid confusion with the actor Michael Bryant. As he approached the end of his teenaged years, Briant found acting roles scarce, so he took a job as an assistant stage manager and quickly rose through the ranks to become company manager. In 1963, he joined the BBC as an assistant floor manager. It was in this capacity that he gained his first experience with Doctor Who, on 1965's The Daleks' Master Plan.

The following year, Briant was promoted to production assistant, and returned to Doctor Who for The Power Of The Daleks, Patrick Troughton's debut serial as the Second Doctor. By the time he worked on Fury From The Deep in early 1968, Briant had already completed the BBC's directors' training course. Here it was Briant who suggested replacing the regular screwdriver carried by the Doctor in the script with a sonic screwdriver -- inspiring a recurring element of the Doctor Who mythos. Early directorial assignments included episodes of The Newcomers, The Doctors and Z Cars. He then directed his first Doctor Who serial, 1971's Colony In Space, featuring Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor. Briant's wife, Monique, made a cameo appearance in the concluding installment. He made three further stories during Pertwee's tenure, including 1973's The Green Death, the farewell adventure for companion Jo Grant. Briant also directed for Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor on two occasions, latterly The Robots Of Death, broadcast in 1977.

Briant worked in Dutch television in the late Eighties and early Nineties

Other Seventies television included Dixon Of Dock Green, Warship, Blake's 7 and Secret Army. In 1980, Briant both directed and helped write an Emmy-winning adaptation of A Tale Of Two Cities. He formed a video production company called Linked Ring, but even Briant was underwhelmed by the resulting action-adventure movie, 1982's Tangiers. In 1985, he helped develop the yachting drama Howards' Way, drawing upon his own love of watercraft. Amongst Briant's other Eighties work was Breakaway, One By One and Hideaway. Briant worked in Dutch television in the late Eighties and early Nineties, but he returned to the UK to direct episodes of Emmerdale and EastEnders.

Wearying of television, Briant retired and spent time living in both France and Spain. He indulged his passion for sailing by publishing several books and even circumnavigating the world. An autobiography, Who Is Michael E Briant?, was published by Classic TV Press in 2012.