{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{short description|English screenwriter}} {{infobox person | image = | caption = | name= George F. Kerr | birth_place = England, UK | birth_date= 15 April 1918 | death_place = | death_date = 9 October 1996 (aged 78) | occupation = Screenwriter }} '''George F. Kerr''' (15 April 1918 – 29 October 1996) was an English writer best known for his work in TV. He worked for eight years in British TV as a writer and script editor.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.abctvgorehill.com.au/assets/publications/radio_active/pubs_ra1957.htm|first=George F.|last=Kerr|title=Notes on Playwriting for TV|magazine=Radio-active: The ABC staff journal|date=16 September 1957|access-date=11 March 2017|archive-date=14 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170214190100/http://abctvgorehill.com.au/assets/publications/radio_active/pubs_ra1957.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>
He moved to Australia in 1957 and wrote several early TV dramas as well as stage and radio plays.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Young Star's Work|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|date=12 March 1962|page=13}}</ref> He returned to England in the mid 1960s.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/forgotten-australian-television-plays-four-from-george-f-kerr/|magazine=Filmink|title=Forgotten Australian Television Plays: Four from George F. Kerr|first= Stephen|last= Vagg|date=February 27, 2022}}</ref>
He was a POW during World War II.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=ABC Weekly|title=STUDIO PORTRAIT George F. KERR |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1414279744|date=19 February 1958|page=9}}</ref> In 1955 when Kerr was a script editor for Associated Television he wrote that "a successful television play should have a strong contemporary story plus a subplot, preferably of emotional entanglement. The story should be classifiable as a study of the peoples next door or, if the troubles are slightly unsavoury, of the people next door but one."<ref>"Nature on a Slide" Author: George F. Kerr Date: Wednesday, Dec. 7, 1955 Publication: The Daily Telegraph (London, England) Issue: 31307 p 6</ref>
==''Doctor Who'' == In April 1966, Kerr was asked from the production office at BBC to work on some stories for ''Doctor Who'' on Season 4 of the program.<ref name=":0">''A brief history of Doctor Who stories- The Lost Stories- Sullivan, Shannon''</ref> These stories Kerr submitted have no explanation details, and were both rejected by story editor Gerry Davis on 15 June 1966.<ref name=":0" /> These stories were entitled as:
'''''The Hearsay Machine'''<ref name=":0" />''
'''''The Heavy Scent of Violence'''<ref name=":0" />''
'''''The Man from the Met'''''<ref name=":0" />
These story titles are all that remain.<ref>''A comprehensive history of Doctor Who's untold stories- The First Doctor (Part Two)- Wholmes, Harbo- retrieved February 2020''</ref>
(see List of unmade Doctor Who serials and films)
==Select credits== *''Business in Great Waters'' (1952) – novel *''A Month of Sundays (TV play)'' (1952) – British TV play *''Jan and the Blue Fox'' (1952) – British TV play *''Almost Glory'' (1953) – radio play *''The Voice'' (1955) – British radio play *''Killer in Close-Up'' (1957) *''Symphonie Pastorale'' (1958) *''Man (Mark II)'' (1958) – - Australian radio play *''LBW Smith'' (1957) - radio play *''An Enemy of the People'' (1958) *''The Multi-Coloured Umbrella'' (1958) – TV movie *''Blue Murder'' (1959) – TV movie *''His Name Isn't Rogers'' (1959) – radio play *''Man in the Grovesnor Hotel'' (1959) – radio play *''The Last Minute'' (1960) *''Farewell, Farewell, Eugene'' (1960) – TV play *''Hunger of a Girl'' (1960) – play<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article225608913 |title=At Sydney Theatres |newspaper=Le Courrier Australien |issue=39 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=23 September 1960 |access-date=5 June 2016 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> *''Ghost of a Day'' (1960) – radio play<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article137118130 |title=Advertising |newspaper=The Canberra Times |volume=34 |issue=9,649 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=9 July 1960 |access-date=5 June 2016 |page=17 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> *''The Dock Brief'' (1960) – TV play *''Moment of Indecision'' (1961) – radio play<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article103085314 |title=Advertising |newspaper=The Canberra Times |volume=35 |issue=10,002 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=26 August 1961 |access-date=5 June 2016 |page=17 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> *''Heart Attack'' (1960) – TV play *''A Little South of Heaven'' (1961) – TV play *''The Concert'' (1961) – TV play *''Traveller Without Luggage'' (1961) – TV play *''Once Upon a Time'' (1961) – radio play *''Jenny'' (1962) (TV play) *''She'll Be Right'' (1962) – TV movie *''Ghost of a Day'' (1964) – radio play *''Quick Before They Catch Us'' (1966) – TV series *''Z-Cars'' (1969) – TV series
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|0449702}} *[http://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A24796 George F. Kerr] at AustLit {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerr, George F.}} Category:1918 births Category:1996 deaths Category:20th-century Australian male writers Category:20th-century English male writers Category:British World War II prisoners of war
{{England-writer-stub}}