Michael Plant


Michael Plant was an Australian screenwriter, actor and producer best known for co-creating Whiplash.
The Bulletin said on his death in 1965 that Plant "had left as big an impression on Australian viewing habits as any one man in the industry’s brief history."

Biography

Plant, the son of Major-General Eric Plant, was educated in Canberra and at The Scots College, Sydney. Plant started writing and producing radio plays while still at high school. According to one obituary, "At 15, and still in short pants, Michael Plant presented himself at the office of a Sydney radio producer, insisting that he wanted to be a scriptwriter. He was given a script outline to work on and returned the next morning with a story which is still remembered as “brilliant”. He worked for Grace Gibson as a writer, actor and producer then moved to London. A play he co-wrote Miss Isobel was performed on Broadway. He wrote for several American television series before returning to Australia in 1964. His final job was as executive producer over 28 episodes of the Mavis Bramston Show.

Death

He died age 33. Police were told that he had had been working up to 80 hours a week on the production of the show, and that there were no suspicious circumstances to his death.

TV Select Credits