
Michael Imison
Directing
Biography
Michael Imison (born in Hoylake, Cheshire, 9 February 1935) is a retired British television director and literary agent. He directed several productions for the BBC in the 1960s, including Doctor Who, and subsequently served as the story editor on the second series of the science-fiction anthology programme Out of the Unknown. Imison began his career at the BBC working for the Script Department. Initial successes included directing Magnificence by John Skelton at the Tower Theatre, Canonbury, in May 1963. Under contract as a director at the BBC, Imison directed Compact and a serial adaptation of Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks. His final directorial assignment for the BBC was the Doctor Who serial The Ark (1966), which starred William Hartnell as the First Doctor. Although his contract as a staff director was not renewed following the completion of the serial, Imison remained at the BBC and acted as story editor on the second series of Out of the Unknown under producer Irene Shubik.
Known For

The adventures of The Doctor, a time-traveling humanoid alien known as a Time Lord. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-traveling spaceship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, The Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilizations, help ordinary people, and right many wrongs.
Doctor Who

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

Robot QT-1, aboard an orbiting space station, controls the massive energy beam which transmits the sun's power to receivers on Earth. But QT-1 (Cutie) has some strange bees in his positronic bonnet. How could weak creatures of protoplasm create a nearly invincible, totally logical entity like himself? It is up to his human supervisors, Powell and Donovan, to convince Cutie of his niche in creation before his new robot theology becomes a threat to all life on Earth.
The Prophet

The Doctor and his companions Steven Taylor and Dodo Chaplet arrive some ten million years into the future, on board a generation starship which is carrying the last of humanity away from an Earth that is about to fall into the Sun. However, the cold that Dodo has could prove devastating to these future humans and their servants, the Monoids.
Doctor Who: The Ark

Déja vu: as Guy Birkett goes through the day he has a nagging feeling that he's been here before, experienced this already; except the details are always different. Is it conceivable that he is merely a simulacrum, the ultimate in consumer market surveying?
Tunnel Under the World

The future. The TAU-mode shuttle carries passengers to Australia through the earth's crust. When a routine TAU-shuttle becomes entombed in solid rock miles under the earth, the only means of rescue is the experimental LAMBDA-mode shuttle; which its creator is unsure about.
Lambda 1

Level 7 is the deepest and the safest level in a nuclear bunker. The nerve centre of the government is based here. But how safe is it?
Level Seven

College student Sarah Richards is alone in fearing and disliking the new teaching machines but even she does not foresee the terrifying situation that arises when her supervisor, Stephen Kershaw, re-arranges the machines to conform with revised fire regulations.
The World in Silence

A stranger calls at the home of divorcée Anna Preston, asking to collect some of her ex-husband's belongings. Anna agrees, but is suspicious, and tries to contact her 'ex' at the space-research establishment where he worked. But none of his colleagues can tell her where he is and the authorities block all her efforts to find out. Anna grows more convinced that he is in danger, but the truth is more horrifying than even she can imagine.
Frankenstein Mark 2

Dr Andrew Cook, inventor of a process for making living replicas of human beings, has unwittingly duplicated himself and becomes a secret weapon in the Solar System's struggle for economic survival against a powerful alien culture, the Sentients.
Too Many Cooks

A human-looking robot housekeeper is the latest gadget to acquire in the ceaseless battle to keep up with the Joneses. But housewife Claire Belmont starts to question the wisdom of her husband's purchase when TN3 (Tony) arrives. Can a man-like robot do everything a man can do, but willingly, obediently, tirelessly? Is a robot less than a man, or more?
Satisfaction Guaranteed

Julian Clay is accused of murdering Andrew Maddox - a charge he cannot deny because 'The Eye', a device which records the past, saw him do it. However, the law affords one loophole.
The Eye

Matthew Sweet takes actor Peter Purves back to the studio that hosted numerous Doctor Who productions in the 1960s. This documentary also features the director of The Ark, Michael Imison.
Riverside Story

Amos Handworthy's grandfather was quick on the draw: as a U.S marshal, it was a job requirement if you wanted to stay alive. But now Amos has built a gun-slinging robot, programmed to be a split second slower than him in a gunfight, so that he can perpetuate the myth and glory of his grandfather's frontier past. But will Amos bet his life on a duel with real bullets?
The Fastest Draw

The future. The material needs of people are tended by the Machine, which makes their environment, in vast tunnels beneath the earth, comfortable and safe. But if the Machine stops, what then?
The Machine Stops

Dr Saint's offer of a free place in his comfortable old-folks' home appears entirely philanthropic to Miss Claythorpe. However, he is suspiciously vague about the treatment that goes with it.
Walk's End

Charles Dennistoun, a 60-year-old contestant on 'You Bet a Million' - a quiz show for millionaires - wins the jackpot prize, a course in rejuvenation. But his friends and family have mixed feeling, and the repercussions have blackly comic effects on all concerned.
Second Childhood

Bringing together key Out of the Unknown actors, directors and production team members for the very first time in order to explore the legacy and impact of the legendary series.