RIP Trevor Preston (12.7.1938 - 29.4.2018)
A screenwriter of style and versatility, Trevor Preston was as well known for his early work on children’s television as he was for gritty gangland drama. Born in Kent in 1938, the young Preston was an avid reader of pulp fiction, played guitar in a skiffle group and loved the cinema. Whilst attending the Royal College of Art in London, Preston and some fellow students worked on an instalment of ITV’s arts programme, Tempo; Trevor soon found himself part of the regular crew. He followed this with his first works for children’s TV, adapting The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe (1967) and The Tyrant King (1968), followed by contributions to The Incredible Adventures Of Professor Branestawm (1969) and Freewheelers. Sadly, much of this formative work is considered lost.
As the 70’s dawned, Preston was moving into adult drama. He contributed scripts to a number of important genre shows - The Mind Of Mr. J. G. Reeder (1971), Callan (three episodes between 1969 and 1972) and Public Eye (5.7, ‘And When You’ve Paid The Bill, You’re None The Wiser’, 1971). In 1970, however, he got the chance to create his very own series - again for children, but Ace Of Wands (1970 - 1972) proved to be that rare cult series that appealed across generations. The story of Tarot, a supernatural investigator and magician, the show, like so much of Preston’s work, has suffered great losses - the first two series’ are considered completely lost. The third and final series is extant, though, and saw a well received DVD release from Network back in 2007.
Trevor continued to freelance throughout the decade, writing for Special Branch (1969 - 1973) and The Protectors (1973 - 1974), and even finding time to resurrect the villainous Mr. Stabs from Ace Of Wands for an episode of the children’s anthology series Shadows (1975). His work on Special Branch proved to be good training for the shows that followed. First there were eleven scripts for the hard-hitting, gritty cop show The Sweeney (1975 - 1978), making Preston the most significant writer for the series after creator Ian Kennedy Martin. As if to prove that he could do more than punch ups and robberies, Trevor followed this with the intense, psychological study of a career criminal, Out (1978). He wrote all six episodes of the miniseries, a sort of blend of The Sweeney and Brecht, with Tom Bell providing a powerhouse central performance as the seething, hurting antihero Frank Ross.
Next up was crime-family drama Fox (1980), envisioned as a novel for television and starring Peter Vaughan as the villainous patriarch. Although it was a success, Preston struggled to sell ideas for series after this and instead turned to single dramas and film. There was the deliriously abstract snooker-musical Billy The Kid And The Green Baize Vampire (1987) - Trevor had imagined the films as a gritty, dark location piece, but director Alan Clarke took a decidedly more avant garde route. Then there was Slayground (1983), a strange hybrid of independent British film and American slasher tropes. The script, and the film, are considerably better than the marketing (and that title) might suggest. Common Preston tropes - themes of guilt and innocence, loyalty, culpability and collateral damage - are all explored. His later career was much slower, but his final work - the script for Mike Hodges’ I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead (2003) was a belated return to form for the writer.
Preston was also a prolific writer for radio, and drew inspiration for his radio plays from his own life. For much of his life he was plagued by manic depression and bouts of ill health, including cancer and arthritis. He channeled this into his work, producing a portfolio of angry, but humane work. Many writers have made careers around writing crime drama, but few have tried so hard to capture the mentality and soul of the people they write about - to ask *why* just as often as *how* or *what*. Few writers, too, have been so badly served by the former processes of destroying television material. Although much of his work is lost, what survives shows a writer of rare perception and humanity. Trevor is survived by his partner of almost three decades, Susie, and by his daughter Isca and son Julian.
