Michael E. Briant

Michael E. Briant (born 14 February 1942) directed several Doctor Who stories. He was invited to a meeting to view the new Cybermen costumes for Revenge of the Cybermen, and suggested the idea of them having inbuilt guns. This was incorporated into the design.

Briant had originally been an actor, working under the stage name Michael Tennant, as there was already a Michael Bryant registered with Equity. Having started using his own name as a director, Briant later added the initial 'E' to avoid confusion with the aforementioned actor, after the pair apparently began receiving each other's mail.

During a location recce for Revenge of the Cybermen at the Wookey Hole Caves, Briant encountered a young man wandering around the caves on his own. When he asked about him after leaving the caves, he learned that not only had nobody else been down there, but that someone had drowned there a few weeks earlier. Briant decided not to tell the cast and crew about his experience, just in case.

Doctor Who stories directed

 * Colony in Space (as Michael Briant)
 * The Sea Devils (as Michael Briant)
 * The Green Death (as Michael Briant)
 * Death to the Daleks
 * Revenge of the Cybermen
 * The Robots of Death