Artist Info
Duncan Ross
Duncan Ross (1908–1968) was a pioneer of television writing and direction, the first writer to work full-time for a television company anywhere in the world. He was known for The Naked Lady (1959), The Spies (1966) and Tales from Soho (1956). In a Scottish context he was best-known for writing Para Handy — Master Mariner, first broadcast on network BBC Television from 11 December 1959 to 22 January 1960.
Ross first established himself as a sought-after cinema manager. When the Second World War broke out he joined the Ministry of Information. Making his home in Carnoustie, where his parents had settled, he toured the towns and villages of Angus, Perthshire, Kincardine and further afield with a portable film and sound projector, showing MOI pictures to boost war production, fire-fighting methods, ARP drill, war savings, and to illustrate the dangers of over-talking.
He found his niche after moving to London to become script writer to the noted Paul Rotha "Films of Fact" organisation, turning out war-time documentaries and producing some of them, on occasion taking over the camera to shoot them.
Keen to be in on something that was still struggling, he gave up his well-paid job for a smaller salary working in television when, in December 1947, he was appointed by the BBC in London to be its first full-time 'documentary writer and script supervisor' for television — the first such position of its kind anywhere in the world (American television companies employed no full-time script-writers at the time, relying on a great deal of 'ad-libbing').
Ross established his reputation in 1948 with a powerful, thought-compelling five-part documentary series, The Course of Justice, dealing with the work of the Juvenile Duncan Ross (1908–1968) was a pioneer of television writing and direction, the first writer to work full-time for a television company anywhere in the world. He was known for The Naked Lady (1959), The Spies (1966) and Tales from Soho (1956). In a Scottish context he was best-known for writing Para Handy — Master Mariner, first broadcast on network BBC Television from 11 December 1959 to 22 January 1960.
Ross first established himself as a sought-after cinema manager. When the Second World War broke out he joined the Ministry of Information. Making his home in Carnoustie, where his parents had settled, he toured the towns and villages of Angus, Perthshire, Kincardine and further afield with a portable film and sound projector, showing MOI pictures to boost war production, fire-fighting methods, ARP drill, war savings, and to illustrate the dangers of over-talking.
He found his niche after moving to London to become script writer to the noted Paul Rotha "Films of Fact" organisation, turning out war-time documentaries and producing some of them, on occasion taking over the camera to shoot them.
Keen to be in on something that was still struggling, he gave up his well-paid job for a smaller salary working in television when, in December 1947, he was appointed by the BBC in London to be its first full-time 'documentary writer and script supervisor' for television — the first such position of its kind anywhere in the world (American television companies employed no full-time script-writers at the time, relying on a great deal of 'ad-libbing').
Ross established his reputation in 1948 with a powerful, thought-compelling five-part documentary series, The Course of Justice, dealing with the work of the Juvenile Duncan Ross (1908–1968) was a pioneer of television writing and direction, the first writer to work full-time for a television company anywhere in the world. He was known for The Naked Lady (1959), The Spies (1966) and Tales from Soho (1956). In a Scottish context he was best-known for writing Para Handy — Master Mariner, first broadcast on network BBC Television from 11 December 1959 to 22 January 1960.
Ross first established himself as a sought-after cinema manager. When the Second World War broke out he joined the Ministry of Information. Making his home in Carnoustie, where his parents had settled, he toured the towns and villages of Angus, Perthshire, Kincardine and further afield with a portable film and sound projector, showing MOI pictures to boost war production, fire-fighting methods, ARP drill, war savings, and to illustrate the dangers of over-talking.
He found his niche after moving to London to become script writer to the noted Paul Rotha "Films of Fact" organisation, turning out war-time documentaries and producing some of them, on occasion taking over the camera to shoot them.
Keen to be in on something that was still struggling, he gave up his well-paid job for a smaller salary working in television when, in December 1947, he was appointed by the BBC in London to be its first full-time 'documentary writer and script supervisor' for television — the first such position of its kind anywhere in the world (American television companies employed no full-time script-writers at the time, relying on a great deal of 'ad-libbing').
Ross established his reputation in 1948 with a powerful, thought-compelling five-part documentary series, The Course of Justice, dealing with the work of the Juvenile Court, Magistrates' Courts and The Assizes, based on factual police reports and on Ross's own observation and research. It was estimated that these programmes drew a viewing public of 88 per cent, far and away the highest of any television programme at the time.
Drawn from the documentary film world of John Grierson and Paul Rotha, he was to go on to produce outstanding individual programmes, including one intricate magazine programme, London Town (1951), with easy switching from film to matching studio sets — and with the increasingly accomplished and prestigious Richard Dimbleby.
In around 1949, he hitch-hiked from Edinburgh to London for a television documentary on the Great North Road. He wrote many of the earliest drama-documentaries. One of his successes was the Loch Ness Monster (1951). He lived with his wife and four children near his work at Alexandra Palace.
In 1952, he joined the National Film Board of Canada as a 'scenario adviser' for six months. The appointment was linked with the start of television in Canada, and before taking over his new post Ross hoped to study television technique in the United States.
He died on 29 March 1968 in Enfield, Middlesex, England, UK.
