---
name: "Allan Prior"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/allan-prior"
roles: ["Creator","Writer"]
born: "13 January 1922"
died: "1 June 2006"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
updated: "2026-09-16T18:11:37.338235+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Allan Prior

Creator and writer. Born 13 January 1922 in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, England, UK. Died 1 June 2006.

## Details

- **Work:** Creator, Writer
- **Born:** 13 January 1922, Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, England, UK
- **Died:** 1 June 2006
- **Active:** 1962–1977
- **Works often with:** Douglas Camfield, Michael E. Briant, Terence Dudley, Tristan de Vere Cole, Troy Kennedy Martin, Viktors Ritelis

## Biography

Allan Prior (13 January 1922 – 1 June 2006) was an English television scriptwriter and novelist. He was a founder-writer of the BBC police series *Z-Cars* (1962), working with Troy Kennedy Martin. He wrote five of the first ten episodes and a total of 136 episodes across *Z-Cars* and its spin-off *Softly, Softly*.

Prior contributed scripts to many series, including *The Sweeney* (1975). He wrote several episodes of *Blake's 7* (1978) and co-created the BBC drama *Howards' Way* (1985) with producer Gerard Glaister. He also wrote more than thirty original television plays and around twenty novels, two of which earned Crime Writers' Association awards. His daughter is the singer Maddy Prior.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, theguardian.com, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *The Sweeney* (1975), Fi1m 84, Writer — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-sweeney.md)

## Also credited on (not yet reviewed)

- *Secret Army* (1977), Writer
- *Z-Cars* (1962), Creator, Writer

## Also known for

- *Blake's 7* (1978), Writer

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/allan-prior