A British actor who turned to television direction and screenwriting in the late 1950s. During the 1960s he directed several important television plays, such as Harold Pinter's A Night Out (1960). Other notable programmes on which he worked included Out of the Unknown (1965) and the Boys from the Blackstuff (1982) for which he received a BAFTA to add to his earlier BAFTA for Hamlet.

In film, he directed The Fruit Machine (1988), Metroland (1997) and The Gospel of John (2003).