WILLIAM Smethurst earned himself the nickname of 'butcher' when he moved from The Archers to Crossroads only to axe many of the viewers' favourite stars.
He then sank without trace making the BSB soap, Jupiter Moon.
But now he's back, with a book called How To Write for Television (How To Books).
William has written it because he says there's a desperate search for new talent - who then warns of plot situations to avoid if they want to get on
Taking a swipe at Dr Who he says: "Script editors hate plots which can only work if basically intelligent characters behave in a totally stupid way.
"Dr Who was always a terrible culprit here - the Doctor and his Assistant would be clinging to each other.
"We would all know they ought to stay together, but, sure enough, the Doctor would say: 'I'll be back in a minute' and wander off on his own, leaving his assistant to be captured and held prisoner for the next four episodes.
"In Dr Who this was expected, it was part of the formula, but it is basically very lazy plotting."
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