# George Spenton-Foster

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TV director and producer (1926–1993)

George Spenton-Foster Born Thomas George Spenton (1926-11-11)11 November 1926 Lambeth, London, England Died 26 December 1993(1993-12-26) (aged 67) Lambeth, London, England Occupations Television director and producer

**George Spenton-Foster** (11 November 1926 – 26 December 1993) was a British [television director](/source/Television_director) and [television producer](/source/Television_producer).

## Career

Joining the BBC in 1948 as George Spenton, he worked as a call boy on productions including *[The Quatermass Experiment](/source/The_Quatermass_Experiment)*. A move to production assistant led to a promotion as director in 1963, adopting Spenton-Foster as his professional surname by the mid-sixties.[1]

After producing a few anthology series in his homeland like *[Thirty-Minute Theatre](/source/Thirty-Minute_Theatre)*, he went to Australia in 1968 to produce a short-lived police series *[The Link Men](/source/The_Link_Men)* (1970). For the [BBC](/source/BBC), Spenton-Foster directed two *[Doctor Who](/source/Doctor_Who)* stories: *[Image of the Fendahl](/source/Image_of_the_Fendahl)* (1977) and *[The Ribos Operation](/source/The_Ribos_Operation)* (1978). He also directed four *[Blake's 7](/source/Blake's_7)* episodes from its second series in 1979: "Weapon", "Pressure Point", "Voice from the Past" and "Gambit".[2]

In late 1982, Spenton-Foster left the Liverpool-based soap opera *[Brookside](/source/Brookside_(TV_series))* four days before it aired because of a disagreement over bad language in the dialogue.[3][4]

## Personal life

His cousin was the actress and singer [Queenie Watts](/source/Queenie_Watts) (Mary Spenton).[5]

According to [Tom Baker](/source/Tom_Baker), Spenton-Foster was quite a lonely person. The director found consolation in alcohol, leading to a drink problem, resulting in his death on Boxing Day 1993.[6]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Sullivan, Shannon. ["George Spenton-Foster"](http://www.shannonsullivan.com/drwho/bio/george-spenton-foster.html). *Doctor Who: A Brief History of Time (Travel)*. Retrieved 11 December 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Muir, John Kenneth (2007). [*A Critical History of Doctor Who on Television*](https://books.google.com/books?id=qMKSCgAAQBAJ&dq=George+Spenton-Foster&pg=PA262). McFarland. p. 262. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781476604541](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781476604541). Retrieved 13 July 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["New rumpus over Mersey soap opera"](https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000271/19821126/034/0003). *[Liverpool Echo](/source/Liverpool_Echo)*. 26 November 1982. p. 3. Retrieved 13 July 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Time to Adjust the Picture"](https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000271/19821129/081/0006). *Liverpool Echo*. 29 November 1982. p. 3. Retrieved 13 July 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["The Quest for Queenie Watts – The Voice of the Isle of Dogs"](https://islandhistory.wordpress.com/2014/03/03/the-quest-for-queenie-the-voice-of-the-island/). *islandhistory.wordpress.com*. Retrieved 20 February 2026. (post from John Spenton on 20/07/2022)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["The Directors of Blake's 7 – George Spenton-Foster"](https://pinkforyouractualpterodactyl.com/2025/12/17/the-directors-of-blakes-7-george-spenton-foster/). *pinkforyouractualpterodactyl.com*. Retrieved 20 February 2026.

## External links

- [George Spenton-Foster](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0818226/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier))

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