Julia Smith

Julia Smith (26 May 1927-19 June 1997Doctor Who Guide) directed the Doctor Who television stories The Smugglers and The Underwater Menace.
She was the second woman to direct a Doctor Who story, following Paddy Russell's direction of The Massacre. According to Russell in 2011, Smith was the only other female director at the BBC during at least the mid-1960s. (DCOM: Invasion of the Dinosaurs)
== Career ==
She originally wanted to become an actress, but ventured into the production side of drama during repertory theatre when she stage-managed several plays.http://www.shannonsullivan.com/doctorwho/bio/julia-smith.html
Indeed, she was one of the most important women in the BBC from the 1960s to the 1990s. Her most recognisable contribution to British television was her co-creation, with Tony Holland, and early production of EastEnders. She had other significant impact, as well.
As a director, she may be best known for helming all but one episode of the 1968 version of , which is considered by the British Film Institute as one of the . She also directed a number of episodes of the popular 1960s show and was an occasional contributor to other productions like Z-Cars, Peter Ling's , and early 1980s episodes of her own EastEnders. The sad variation of the EastEnders theme is named after her.https://www.atvtoday.co.uk/eastenders-julias-theme-2/
As a producer, her work beyond EastEnders includes the ill-fated soap opera , a collaboration with Verity Lambert's , and . For the three years that it ran, the popular District Nurse, a show which she had also created, was the only production made by BBC Wales for national consumption. It was the longest-running English language show made in Wales in the 1980s. Consequently, Smith had a significant impact upon the economy of South Wales, somewhat similar to that of Russell T Davies when he first brought Doctor Who to Wales.
Anneke Wills has claimed that Smith was disliked by Patrick Troughton. (DCOM: The Underwater Menace)
== External links ==
== Footnotes ==
Category:Doctor Who directors