Roger Murray-Leach

In the earl 2000s he co-founded the Fishworks restaurant chain alongside Mitch Tonks.

In 1980, following his work on Langrishe Go Down, starring Judy Dench and Jeremy Irons, and Speed King starring Robert Hardy as Sir Malcom Campbell, Murray-Leach left the BBC to work on the 1981 series Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years for which he was nominated for a BAFTA award. His talent was finally being recognised and he broke into feature films, working as production designer on Local Hero. Following this his credits include A Christmas Carol with George C Scott as Scrooge, Defence of the Realm, Clockwise, A Fish Called Wanda, and Goldeneye. His movie career extended into the 1990s with, among others, Mrs Harris Goes To Paris, The Mighty Quinn, Twenty-One and Fierce Creatures. In 1983 he was also employed as Art Director on The Killing Fields.

Initially training to be an architect he joined the BBC design department in 1966, quickly gaining a reputation for great imagination and flair. He began working on Doctor Who when Philip Hinchcliffe took over as producer in late 1974. Hinchcliffe's vision for the series included giving a high priority to set design and he quickly realised that Murray-Leach was one of the most, if not the most, imaginative and resourceful designers on the BBC staff. Murray-Leach designed several Doctor Who serials under Hinchcliffe's reign, many of which remain amongst the most popular serials in the show's history. For the serial Planet of Evil, Murray-Leach designed an alien jungle at Ealing studios that so impressed Hinchcliffe that he wrote to the Head of the BBC design department, suggesting that Murray-Leach should be nominated for a BAFTA or a Royal Television Society Award.

Roger Murray-Leach trained as an architect before becoming a set designer for the BBC. His imagination and talent for making the most of a small budget resulted in regular designs for Doctor Who (1963) under producer Philip Hinchcliffe, who was keen to improve the design element of the series. Roger's first work for the show was the interior of a space station for "The Ark in Space", one of the most impressive futuristic sets the series had featured, which delighted Hinchcliffe and the cast of actors. Six more serials used Roger's designs and he proved his versatility by creating an atmospheric alien jungle in "Planet of Evil" and a gloriously detailed Victorian set in "The Talons of Weng-Chiang", the latter giving the impression of an expensive and prestigious period drama.

Roger Murray-Leach (born 25 June 1943) is a British Production Designer, who is probably best known for his work on British television series' Doctor Who and Blake's 7 in the 1970s, although he went on later to work on major feature films.