Michael J. Bird
Writing
Known For

World War II drama about covert organisation Lifeline helping allied airmen escape after being shot down in occupied Europe, working with the Resistance and hiding from the Gestapo.
Secret Army

The Onedin Line is a BBC television drama series which ran from 1971 to 1980. The series was created by Cyril Abraham. The series is set in Liverpool from 1860 to 1886 and deals with the rise of a shipping line, the Onedin Line, named after its owner James Onedin. Around this central theme are the lives of his family, most notably his brother and partner, shop owner Robert, and his sister Elizabeth, giving insight into the lifestyle and customs at the time, not only at sea, but also ashore. The series also illustrates some of the changes in business and shipping, such as from wooden to steel ships and from sailing ships to steam ships. It shows the role that ships played in affairs like international politics, uprisings and the slave trade.
The Onedin Line

The Expert is a British television series produced by the BBC between 1968 and 1976. The series starred Marius Goring as Dr. John Hardy, a pathologist working for the Home Office and was essentially a police procedural drama, with Hardy bringing his forensic knowledge to solve various cases. The Expert was created and produced by Gerard Glaister. The series was also one of the first BBC dramas to be made in colour, and throughout its four series had numerous high quality guest appearances by actors such as John Carson, Peter Copley, Rachel Kempson, Peter Vaughan, Clive Swift, Geoffrey Palmer, Peter Barkworth, Jean Marsh, Ray Brooks, George Sewell, Anthony Valentine, Bernard Lee, Lee Montague, Geoffrey Bayldon, Mike Pratt, Edward Fox, André Morell, Brian Blessed, Nigel Stock, Philip Madoc and Warren Clarke.
The Expert

Out of the Unknown is a British television science fiction anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in four series between 1965 and 1971. Each episode was a dramatisation of a science fiction short story; some were created for the series, but most were adaptations of already published stories. The first three years were exclusively science fiction, but that genre was abandoned in the final year in favour of horror and fantasy. A number of episodes were wiped during the early 1970s, as was standard procedure at the time.
Out of the Unknown

A short-lived anthology television series from Hammer Studios. Though similar in format to the 1980 series Hammer House of Horror, the Mystery and Suspense series had feature-length episodes, usually running around 70 minutes without commercials. Co-produced by Hammer Studios with 20th Century Fox Television, it is known in the United States as Fox Mystery Theater. Unlike 1980's Hammer House of Horror, all episodes feature American actors as either the leads or in key roles. It first broadcast in the UK on ITV in 1984, though was not simulcast and was shown in different timeslots throughout the various regions.
Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense

A British television anthology series with a fantasy, science fiction and supernatural theme, similar to the American television series The Twilight Zone, and deals with normal people whose everyday situations somehow become extraordinary.
Journey to the Unknown

This series strips away the elaborate medieval view of Camelot, and presents Arthur as the chief of a small Celt tribe in Dark-Ages Britain, a century or two after the withdrawal of Rome. Arthur struggles to weave the scattered tribes of Celts, Jutes, etc. into a union that can effectively oppose the Saxon invaders who are arriving in Britain in growing numbers. He is aided by his adoptive father, Llud, and his foster brother, Kai, who is himself a Saxon foundling.
Arthur of the Britons

The Informer is a British crime drama series broadcast on ITV from August 1966 to December 1967. Created by John Whitney and Geoffrey Bellman, it stars Ian Hendry as former barrister Alex Lambert, disgraced and disbarred, who has to rebuild his life. He utilises his former contacts on both sides of the law to become a paid informer. Living well from the rewards paid by insurance companies, Lambert still has to hide his activities from both his wife and others behind a new persona in the guise as a business consultant. Two seasons were produced, totalling 21 episodes. Only two episodes are known to exist, the remainder presumably wiped.
The Informer

Special Branch is a British police drama centred on members of the Special Branch anti-espionage and anti-terrorist department of the London Metropolitan Police.
Special Branch

Starring Paul Shelley in a role reminiscent of his Secret Army character in all but name, this 12-part serial follows a team of secret agents parachuted into occupied Europe during World War II, exploring their recruitment, training, and first mission behind enemy lines.
The Fourth Arm

Follows the lives of British expatriates living on the island of Crete, where their secrets will soon rise to the surface.
The Lotus Eaters

Barnaby Rudge is a British drama television series which originally aired on the BBC in thirteen episodes between 30 September and 23 December 1960. It was an adaptation of the novel Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens set against the backdrop of the 1780 Gordon Riots.
Barnaby Rudge

A man visiting Cyprus to investigate the death of his brother is drawn into a strange conspiracy.
The Aphrodite Inheritance

A millionaire leaves his fortune to an unknown woman, Catherine Durell, who travels to Norway to take over her newly inherited property. Soon, she finds herself caught in a maelstrom of murder and terror.
Maelstrom

Who Pays the Ferryman? was a television series produced by the BBC in 1977. The title of the series refers to the ancient religious belief and mythology of Charon the ferryman to Hades. In ancient times it was the custom to place coins in or on the mouth of the deceased before cremation so that the deceased could pay the ferryman to go to Hades. The eight-part series was written by Michael J. Bird.
Who Pays the Ferryman?

A tale of supernatural terror, concerning the discovery of a secret brotherhood of international financiers and politicians meeting clandestinely on Rhodes. The head of the brotherhood, Raoul Lavalliere, had his own secret concerning his ancestor Tibald de Montrefort, a particularly unpleasant individual from the middle ages when the Knights Templar settled on Rhodes.
The Dark Side of the Sun

A U.S. Embassy worker is helped by an Interpol agent to prove herself innocent of a murder in the Greek isles.
Out of the Shadows

Eric and Diana Carver move into a new home in the country, but a series of strange events soon cause Diana to suspect the house is haunted by the ghost of a man. A ghost who seems to be interested in her particularly.
To Lay a Ghost

A terrified couple becomes trapped in what seems to be a replay of a sinister event that happened in their apartment in the past.
In Possession
Supernatural thriller series dealing with a secret society on the Greek island of Rhodes.