Born: 26th May 1927
Died: 19th June 1997 (aged 70 years)
Episodes Broadcast: 1966-1967

London-born Julia Smith originally planned to be an actress, attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and studying drama at the University of London. She became a stage manager in repertory theatre, and then worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Smith was subsequently hired to stage manage a play in Paris, France. When the BBC made arrangements to broadcast the production, Smith was asked to participate in the televised version as well. This led to her joining the Corporation as an assistant floor manager, until concerns about her upward mobility prompted a return to the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 1963, the BBC persuaded Smith to come back to television as a production manager and, the following year, she completed the Corporation's directors' training course.

Smith's earliest directorial assignments were on programmes like Dr Finlay's Casebook, Swizzlewick and Compact. Between 1966 and 1967, she directed two Doctor Who serials which bridged the transition from the First Doctor, William Hartnell, to the Second Doctor, Patrick Troughton: The Smugglers and The Underwater Menace. Television later in the Sixties included The Newcomers, while the Seventies brought work on programmes such as The Doctors and Spy Trap. More than two dozen episodes of Z Cars saw Smith forge a close working relationship with writer and script editor Tony Holland.

In 1985, Smith and Tony Holland launched EastEnders

In 1975, Smith began directing for the medical drama Angels. Three years later, she was promoted to producer, and invited Holland to join her as script editor. In 1984, they created District Nurse, and a year later they launched their crowning achievement: EastEnders, which quickly became a British institution. Smith's final directorial credits came on EastEnders in 1989, as she was winding down her involvement in the show.

A year producing Medics in 1990 was followed by another collaboration with Holland, this time the mystery series Snoken (ie, Snoop) for Swedish television. Soon after, the pair returned to the soap opera genre with Eldorado, a lavish BBC series developed in conjunction with Verity Lambert, who had been the first producer of Doctor Who. Launched in 1992, the show was reviled by critics and snubbed by audiences; Smith left before the BBC pulled the plug after one year. The turn of events marked an unfortunate final chapter in Smith's career, although she continued to lecture about television until her death from cancer on June 19th, 1997.