Writing

Nigel Balchin

Born — Died

1908-12-03 — 1970-05-17

Known for

Writing

Credits

14 titles

​Nigel Balchin was an eminent 20th-century novelist and screenwriter. Born in Wiltshire in 1908, he had a successful early career as an industrial psychologist. Whilst seconded to Rowntree’s, he was intimately involved in the launch of Black Magic chocolates. During World War Two, Balchin worked first for the Ministry of Food and later for the Army, ending the War as Deputy Scientific Adviser to the Army Council, with the rank of Brigadier. Balchin’s wartime employment provided him with plenty of original and interesting material and served as the springboard for his career as a novelist. Between 1942 and 1962 he produced a string of commercial and critical successes, including Darkness Fal…

Known for

Horizon poster
7.5

Horizon tells amazing science stories, unravels mysteries and reveals worlds you've never seen before.

Horizon

1964

The Man Who Never Was poster
7.0

The true story of a British effort to trick the Germans into weakening Sicily's defenses before the 1943 attack. A dead soldier is dressed as a British officer and outfitted with faked papers showing that the Allies were intending to invade occupied Greece. His body is put into the sea where it will ultimately drift ashore and the papers be passed along to German Intelligence.

The Man Who Never Was

1956

Barabbas poster
6.9

Epic account of the thief Barabbas, who was pardoned for his crimes and spared crucifixion when Pilate offered the Israelites a choice to pardon Barabbas or Jesus. Struggling with his spirituality, Barabbas goes through many ordeals leading him to the gladiatorial arena, where he tries to win his freedom and confront his inner demons, ultimately becoming a follower of the man who was crucified in his place.

Barabbas

1961

Mandy poster
7.1

London, the early 1950s. Born deaf, Mandy is mute for most of her childhood. As she reaches school age her family itself is in danger of breaking up. Christine, Mandy's mother, has heard of a residential school for the oral education of the deaf.

Mandy

1952

23 Paces to Baker Street poster
6.7

Philip Hannon, a blind playwright living in London, overhears part of a conversation , that leads him into a desperate race, to find a kidnapped child. When he gets no help from the police, he along with his butler, and his ex fiancée, attempt to track down the crooks.

23 Paces to Baker Street

1956

Fame Is the Spur poster
7.1

A politician rises rapidly to fame and fortune and discovers that power corrupts and ultimately becomes the very type of politician he had set out to displace.

Fame Is the Spur

1947

Series credits

Behind the camera

The Man Who Never Was poster
7.0

The true story of a British effort to trick the Germans into weakening Sicily's defenses before the 1943 attack. A dead soldier is dressed as a British officer and outfitted with faked papers showing that the Allies were intending to invade occupied Greece. His body is put into the sea where it will ultimately drift ashore and the papers be passed along to German Intelligence.

The Man Who Never Was

1956

Barabbas poster
6.9

Epic account of the thief Barabbas, who was pardoned for his crimes and spared crucifixion when Pilate offered the Israelites a choice to pardon Barabbas or Jesus. Struggling with his spirituality, Barabbas goes through many ordeals leading him to the gladiatorial arena, where he tries to win his freedom and confront his inner demons, ultimately becoming a follower of the man who was crucified in his place.

Barabbas

1961

Mandy poster
7.1

London, the early 1950s. Born deaf, Mandy is mute for most of her childhood. As she reaches school age her family itself is in danger of breaking up. Christine, Mandy's mother, has heard of a residential school for the oral education of the deaf.

Mandy

1952

23 Paces to Baker Street poster
6.7

Philip Hannon, a blind playwright living in London, overhears part of a conversation , that leads him into a desperate race, to find a kidnapped child. When he gets no help from the police, he along with his butler, and his ex fiancée, attempt to track down the crooks.

23 Paces to Baker Street

1956

Fame Is the Spur poster
7.1

A politician rises rapidly to fame and fortune and discovers that power corrupts and ultimately becomes the very type of politician he had set out to displace.

Fame Is the Spur

1947

Suspect poster
6.9

A government team researching cures for plague find their results put on the Official Secrets list. One of their number is so incensed by this that he lets the maimed and jealous companion of a female colleague draw him into what, technically, could be a treasonable act.

Suspect

1960

The Singer Not the Song poster
6.4

A Roman Catholic priest defies a Mexican bandit whose gang kills villagers in alphabetical order.

The Singer Not the Song

1961

The Singer Not the Song poster
6.4

A Roman Catholic priest defies a Mexican bandit whose gang kills villagers in alphabetical order.

The Singer Not the Song

1961

Malta Story poster
6.3

Malta, 1942, during World War II. While the German air force is relentlessly bombing the island, a British pilot falls in love with a young Maltese girl.

Malta Story

1953

The Blue Angel poster
5.3

Remake of Josef von Sternberg's 1930 classic.

The Blue Angel

1959

Circle of Deception poster
6.2

Unbeknownst to him, a soldier is sent on a doomed mission because of the high likelihood of him divulging secrets if captured and tortured.

Circle of Deception

1960

Mine Own Executioner poster
7.0

Fearing her husband could become a killer, a woman seeks a psychiatrist's help.

Mine Own Executioner

1947

Josephine and Men poster
6.4

The trouble with Josephine is that her ever-loving and over-sympathetic nature leads her to switch from needful men to even more needful men...

Josephine and Men

1955