When the call came through to create a new children's series to fulfill the station's obligations to young people's programming Ruth, who was working in ATV's Script Department, came up with Timeslip - partially inspired by the theories and ideas expounded in the non-fiction book "An Experiment with Time"
Ruth remained at as Head of the Script Department until 1972 when she moved to Thames Television as a producer. It was there she produced the first four series of "The Tomorrow People" and pioneered further the use of OB VT recording for drama series - a then infant technique used to successful effect in 'Escape into Night.' She remained at Thames, producing many childrens' drama series and becoming the company's representative at the European Broadcast Union. She also wrote the book on the EBU conference in Eindhoven in 1978.
In 1980, she moved to the BBC where she produced adult drama series for both BBC1 and BBC2. One of these was a 20 part series called "Maybury" - set in the psychiatric wing of a hospital. It featured Patrick Stewart in his first starring role on television and also had early appearances by Kenneth Branagh, Juliet Stevenson and Michael Kitchen.
In 1990, she moved to Anglia TV to develop and produce "The Chief" for ITV. The series ran for five successful seasons and starred Tim Pigot-Smith and, later, Martin Shaw.
In 1996, Ruth's company co-produced (with Castle Rock L.A.) the motion picture "The Run of the Country". Her co-producer on the project was Peter Yates. The film starred Albert Finney and was written by Shane Connaughton who had previous success with "My Left Foot".
In 1997, Ruth returned to science fiction to produce "The Uninvited" for Zenith Productions. It was originally based on an idea by the serial's eventual star Leslie Grantham and also featured Douglas Hodge. After 'The Uninvited', Ruth developed a feature film with the BBC based on a novel she had co-written with Frances Kennet called 'Antigua'.
She is currently developing a feature film called 'Gricers' and another of her novels 'Out of Time' is also in development as a film.
Selected TV work includes:
Timeslip (1970) ATV ...as creator and script editor
The Tomorrow People (1972-75) ...as producer
Funny Ha Ha (1974) Thames TV (Anthology series)
Warrior Queen (1978) Thames TV (with Sian Phillips, Nigel Hawthorne and Michael Gothard) ...as producer and director
Maybury (1981-1984) BBC Television (with Patrick Stewart) ...as producer
Late Starter (1985) BBC Television ...as producer
The Chief (1990-94) Anglia Television (with Tim Piggot-Smith and Martin Shaw) ...as producer
The Uninvited (1997) Zenith for ITV (with Leslie Grantham and Douglas Hodge) ...as producer
Writing credits include:
Novel: 'Emmy' Published by RKP (Adapted for BBC's 'Jackanory')
Script: Adapted 'Escape into Night' by Catherine Storr
Novel: 'Antigua' (with Frances Kennett)
Novel: 'Out of Time' (Currently in development as a feature film.)
