Biography
Michael Leeston-Smith (born John Michael Bazalgette Leeston-Smith) was a British television and film director. He began his career at Ealing Studios in 1932, aged 16, working as a photographer and assistant sound engineer. He joined the BBC in 1938 and, after service in the Royal Horse Artillery during the Second World War, returned to the corporation, later serving as sound engineer on the 1953 serial The Quatermass Experiment and production assistant on its 1955 sequel Quatermass II.
In the 1960s Leeston-Smith became a staff director. His credits include multiple episodes of Z-Cars and R3, as well as the six-part adaptation The Small House at Allington (1960), which he also produced. He directed the four-part Doctor Who serial The Myth Makers in 1965. After a period freelancing, he moved to South Africa in 1973 to work for the South African Broadcasting Corporation.
