Troy Kennedy Martin was responsible in large part for two pieces of television which have become classics. In the early 1960s he had a central role in the creation of Z-Cars, which challenged the traditionally cosy notion of the police series, while in the 1980s his nuclear thriller, Edge of Darkness, was a nightmarish warning about the dangers of ecological disaster.

He wrote much else for television and made regular forays into the cinema, most successfully with his screenplay for The Italian Job.

He enjoyed a full career but it was one that rarely moved in a straight path, partly because he was reluctant to compromise a forthright approach to his craft but also from choice, as when he left Z-Cars only a few months into its run.

After the critical and popular success of Edge of Darkness he should have had the television world at his feet but the rest of his career was something of an anti-climax. He became disenchanted with television’s growing surrender to accountants and did not help himself by leaving projects unfinished. He also had tax problems which forced him to accept inferior assignments. But his best work places him among the finest writers for the medium.

Full obituary at:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article6835830.ece