Edward J. Mason
Encyclopedia
Edward J. Mason was born on May 8, 1912 in Birmingham
, England
and died on February 3, 1971. He was a script writer for radio, television and movies for both the British Broadcasting Corporation and its rival Radio Luxembourg
.
radio network began airing his British detective serial Dick Barton
which he created with co-writer Geoffrey Webb
. This was the first serial to air on the BBC and it continued to be aired until 1951. The BBC replaced Dick Barton with The Archers
. Originally another creation of the Mason-Webb team, today it remains as the world's longest-running soap opera
on radio.
In 1950 and prior to The Archers, Mason also created the radio serials The Lady Craved Excitement and What the Butler Saw.
In 1955 Edward J. Mason created another mystery series called Shadow Man for the BBC's English language commercial rival Radio Luxembourg. Shadow Man was sponsored by Stork margarine and it ran on 208 at 8:30 PM on Tuesday evenings.
That same year Mason also worked on scripts for two television series: Unheimliche Begegnungen and a year later (1956) on I'm Not Bothered.
In 1960 Mason wrote for the TV mini-series The Days of Vengeance and in 1961 Flower of Evil. In 1962 his TV work included Outbreak of Murder followed in 1964 by How to be an Alien.
Mason also created a string of panel game
shows with producer Tony Shryane
and these included Guilty Party
, My Word!
, and My Music.
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and died on February 3, 1971. He was a script writer for radio, television and movies for both the British Broadcasting Corporation and its rival Radio Luxembourg
Radio Luxembourg (English)
Radio Luxembourg is a commercial broadcaster in many languages from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is nowadays known in most non-English languages as RTL ....
.
Brief biography
Edward J. Mason had his first major success in 1947 as a script writer when the BBC Home ServiceBBC Home Service
The BBC Home Service was a British national radio station which broadcast from 1939 until 1967.-Development:Between the 1920s and the outbreak of The Second World War, the BBC had developed two nationwide radio services, the BBC National Programme and the BBC Regional Programme...
radio network began airing his British detective serial Dick Barton
Dick Barton
Dick Barton - Special Agent was a popular radio programme on the BBC Light Programme. Between 1946 to 1951 it aired at 6.45 each weekday evening and at its peak it had an audience of 15 million listeners. Despite popular belief, it was not actually the BBC's first daily serial...
which he created with co-writer Geoffrey Webb
Geoffrey Webb
Geoffrey Fairbank Webb was a British art historian, Slade Professor of Fine Art and head of the Monuments and Fine Arts section of the Control Commission during World War II....
. This was the first serial to air on the BBC and it continued to be aired until 1951. The BBC replaced Dick Barton with The Archers
The Archers
The Archers is a long-running British soap opera broadcast on the BBC's main spoken-word channel, Radio 4. It was originally billed as "an everyday story of country folk", but is now described on its Radio 4 web site as "contemporary drama in a rural setting"...
. Originally another creation of the Mason-Webb team, today it remains as the world's longest-running soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
on radio.
In 1950 and prior to The Archers, Mason also created the radio serials The Lady Craved Excitement and What the Butler Saw.
In 1955 Edward J. Mason created another mystery series called Shadow Man for the BBC's English language commercial rival Radio Luxembourg. Shadow Man was sponsored by Stork margarine and it ran on 208 at 8:30 PM on Tuesday evenings.
That same year Mason also worked on scripts for two television series: Unheimliche Begegnungen and a year later (1956) on I'm Not Bothered.
In 1960 Mason wrote for the TV mini-series The Days of Vengeance and in 1961 Flower of Evil. In 1962 his TV work included Outbreak of Murder followed in 1964 by How to be an Alien.
Mason also created a string of panel game
Panel game
A panel game or panel show is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participates. Panelists may compete with each other, such as on The News Quiz; facilitate play by guest contestants, such as on Match Game/Blankety Blank; or do both, such as on Wait Wait.....
shows with producer Tony Shryane
Tony Shryane
Anthony Joseph Shryane was a long-serving producer of radio programs for the British Broadcasting Corporation.He was born in Harborne, Birmingham....
and these included Guilty Party
Guilty Party
Guilty Party is a party/puzzle game for Wii, developed by Wideload Games and published by Disney Interactive. The goal of the game is to discover the identity of the culprit in a whodunit-style mystery...
, My Word!
My Word!
My Word! was a long-running radio panel game broadcast by the BBC on the Home Service and Radio 4 . It was created by Edward J. Mason and Tony Shryane, and featured comic writers Denis Norden and Frank Muir, famous in Britain for the series Take It From Here...
, and My Music.
Trivia
- The actor who played the part of Mason's Dick Barton on the BBC Home Service, was also the voice of Dan DareDan DareDan Dare is a British science fiction comic hero, created by illustrator Frank Hampson who also wrote the first stories, that is, the Venus and Red Moon stories, and a complete storyline for Operation Saturn...
in the serial that ran on Radio Luxembourg's 208 wavelength.