Guy Slater is an actor, writer and director whose distinguished career spans British theatre, television and radio; his most recent success came as the director of last July’s widely acclaimed BBC-TV production of Only Yesterday with Paul Scofield and Wendy Hiller.

Slater began his theatre career as an actor at Cambridge University, and went on to perform extensively from 1964-74 in regional theatre companies, the West End and television. He branched out into writing, and at a time when there was a vital tradition of serious, one-hour television dramas on the BBC, had a number of plays produced (including No Easy Walk, The Brophy Story, Ancient and Modern) which established him as a television playwright.

His first foray into directing came in 1969 at the prestigious Traverse Theatre in Edinborough, Scotland, which has long been a seed ground of experimental work. He discovered that he found directing more satisfying than acting, and in 1974, he founded and became the artistic director of a major regional theatre, the Horseshoe Theatre Company in Basingstoke, which he headed until 1980. The company’s program included a main hall as well as touring performances, and featured such major acting talents as Peter Cushing, Derek Jacobi, Gwen Watford and Timothy West.

Since 1980, he has been with the BBC as a television producer, director and writer. He has recently branched out in yet another new direction, writing radio dramas for the BBC.