Michael Leeston-Smith

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John Michael Bazalgette Leeston-Smith, known as Michael Leeston-Smith, was a British film and television director (1916–2001). He joined Ealing Studios at 16 in 1932, working as a photographer and assistant sound engineer. In 1938 the BBC sent him to its Daventry studios. During World War II he served in the Royal Horse Artillery. After the war, he worked at Alexandra Palace studios.

In 1953 he became a sound engineer on the BBC TV serial The Quatermass Experiment and in 1955 was a production assistant on Quatermass II. In the 1960s he began directing, making episodes of Z-Cars, R3, and the Doctor Who serial The Myth Makers. After a period as a freelance director, he moved to South Africa in 1973 to work for the SABC as it started its television broadcasts. He died in December 2001 at the age of 84.