Philip David Segal (born in Essex, England in 1958) is a
television producerThe primary role of a television producer is to control all aspects of production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
. He emigrated to the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1975 at the age of seventeen, where he studied film at San Diego State University. After graduating he became involved in the US television industry, first as a casting assistant and then as a literary agent.
In 1985 he became a Director of Drama Development at
Columbia PicturesColumbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
, after which he moved over to
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
Television as a programming executive, becoming involved in such programmes as
Twin PeaksTwin Peaks is an American television serial drama created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. The series follows the investigation, headed by Special Agent Dale Cooper , of the brutal murder of a popular teenager and homecoming queen, Laura Palmer...
,
Thirtysomething and
China Beach-Overview of television series:Created by William Broyles, Jr. and John Sacret Young, the series looks at the Vietnam War from a unique perspective: that of the women, military and civilian, who were present during the conflict...
.
In 1991 he joined
Steven SpielbergSteven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer. In a career of over four decades, Spielberg's films have touched on many themes and genres. Spielberg's early sci-fi and adventure films, sometimes centering on children, were seen as an archetype of modern...
's
Amblin EntertainmentAmblin Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded by director, Steven Spielberg, film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in 1981. Amblin is only a production company, and has never distributed its own movies, nor has it fully financed its productions,...
, where he quickly became Vice President of Amblin Television, overseeing the production of
seaQuest DSVseaQuest DSV is an American science fiction television series created by Rockne S. O'Bannon. It originally aired on NBC between 1993 and 1996. In its final season, it was renamed seaQuest 2032....
,
Earth 2Earth 2 is a short-lived science fiction television series which aired on NBC from November 6, 1994 to June 4, 1995. The show was canceled after one season of 22 episodes...
and
The Young Indiana Jones ChroniclesThe Young Indiana Jones Chronicles is an American television series that ran from 1992 to 1996. The series explores the childhood and youth of the fictional character Indiana Jones...
.
It was while he was at Amblin that he first gained control over the creation of a new series of
Doctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a mysterious alien time-traveller known as "the Doctor" who travels in his space and time-ship, the TARDIS, which normally appears from the exterior to be a blue 1950s police box...
, working in conjunction with fellow English expatriate Peter Wagg (Producer of
Max HeadroomMax Headroom is a short-lived but ground-breaking American science fiction television series which aired on Cinemax, then on ABC. The series was developed from a British television movie, 20 Minutes into the Future, that was developed to provide background for the Max Headroom character,...
) to create the early drafts of what eventually became the
Doctor Who television movieDoctor Who is a television movie based on the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Developed as a co-production amongst Universal Television, BBC Television, BBC Worldwide, and the Fox Network, the 1996 television film premiered on 12 May 1996 on CITV in Edmonton, Alberta —...
in 1996.
A fan since the age of five, when
Doctor Who first began in 1963, it had long been his dream to produce his own version.
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Philip David Segal (born in Essex, England in 1958) is a
television producerThe primary role of a television producer is to control all aspects of production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
. He emigrated to the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1975 at the age of seventeen, where he studied film at San Diego State University. After graduating he became involved in the US television industry, first as a casting assistant and then as a literary agent.
In 1985 he became a Director of Drama Development at
Columbia PicturesColumbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
, after which he moved over to
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
Television as a programming executive, becoming involved in such programmes as
Twin PeaksTwin Peaks is an American television serial drama created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. The series follows the investigation, headed by Special Agent Dale Cooper , of the brutal murder of a popular teenager and homecoming queen, Laura Palmer...
,
Thirtysomething and
China Beach-Overview of television series:Created by William Broyles, Jr. and John Sacret Young, the series looks at the Vietnam War from a unique perspective: that of the women, military and civilian, who were present during the conflict...
.
In 1991 he joined
Steven SpielbergSteven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer. In a career of over four decades, Spielberg's films have touched on many themes and genres. Spielberg's early sci-fi and adventure films, sometimes centering on children, were seen as an archetype of modern...
's
Amblin EntertainmentAmblin Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded by director, Steven Spielberg, film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in 1981. Amblin is only a production company, and has never distributed its own movies, nor has it fully financed its productions,...
, where he quickly became Vice President of Amblin Television, overseeing the production of
seaQuest DSVseaQuest DSV is an American science fiction television series created by Rockne S. O'Bannon. It originally aired on NBC between 1993 and 1996. In its final season, it was renamed seaQuest 2032....
,
Earth 2Earth 2 is a short-lived science fiction television series which aired on NBC from November 6, 1994 to June 4, 1995. The show was canceled after one season of 22 episodes...
and
The Young Indiana Jones ChroniclesThe Young Indiana Jones Chronicles is an American television series that ran from 1992 to 1996. The series explores the childhood and youth of the fictional character Indiana Jones...
.
It was while he was at Amblin that he first gained control over the creation of a new series of
Doctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a mysterious alien time-traveller known as "the Doctor" who travels in his space and time-ship, the TARDIS, which normally appears from the exterior to be a blue 1950s police box...
, working in conjunction with fellow English expatriate Peter Wagg (Producer of
Max HeadroomMax Headroom is a short-lived but ground-breaking American science fiction television series which aired on Cinemax, then on ABC. The series was developed from a British television movie, 20 Minutes into the Future, that was developed to provide background for the Max Headroom character,...
) to create the early drafts of what eventually became the
Doctor Who television movieDoctor Who is a television movie based on the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Developed as a co-production amongst Universal Television, BBC Television, BBC Worldwide, and the Fox Network, the 1996 television film premiered on 12 May 1996 on CITV in Edmonton, Alberta —...
in 1996.
A fan since the age of five, when
Doctor Who first began in 1963, it had long been his dream to produce his own version. While still wishing to juggle the needs of the various parties, his love of the programme still informed such decisions as the casting of a British actor as the Doctor, Liverpudlian actor
Paul McGannPaul McGann is an English actor who made his name on the BBC serial The Monocled Mutineer, in which he played the lead role...
. It was also ultimately his decision to bring back
Sylvester McCoySylvester McCoy is a Scottish actor. He is best known for playing the seventh incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who from 1987 to 1989 and a brief return in a television movie in 1996.-Early life:McCoy was born in Dunoon, on the Cowal peninsula,...
as the seventh incarnation.
In 2000, Segal co-wrote the book
Doctor Who: Regeneration with
Gary RussellGary Russell is a freelance writer and former child actor. As a writer, he is best known for his work in connection with the television series Doctor Who and its spin-offs in other media.-Biography:...
(HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-710591-6), the making-of book of the 1996
Doctor Who television movieDoctor Who is a television movie based on the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Developed as a co-production amongst Universal Television, BBC Television, BBC Worldwide, and the Fox Network, the 1996 television film premiered on 12 May 1996 on CITV in Edmonton, Alberta —...
.
Segal won the best director of a short film award from the NY International Film & Video Festival in 2000 for his short story The Other Side of Monday. Other directing credits include: Multiple episodes of
Mutant XMutant X is a television series that first aired October 6, 2001. Created by Marvel Studios , the story centers around Mutant X, a team of "New Mutants" who possess extraordinary powers as a result of genetic engineering...
and
AndromedaGene Roddenberry's Andromeda was a Canadian/American science fiction television series, based on unused material by the late Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, developed by Robert Hewitt Wolfe, and produced by Roddenberry's widow, Majel Roddenberry. It starred Kevin Sorbo as High Guard Captain...
for the Tribune Action Hours, and the feature film
Hobbs EndHobbs End is a 2002 film, directed by Philip Segal....
which he also co-wrote with Eric Truheart.
Philip Segal is currently President of Original Productions the creators of
Deadliest CatchDeadliest Catch is a documentary television series produced by Original Productions for the Discovery Channel. The series documents the events aboard fishing boats in the Bering Sea during the Alaskan king crab and Opilio crab fishing seasons...
and
Monster GarageMonster Garage was a popular television show for the Discovery Channel hosted by Jesse G. James. Each episode was an hour in length and was conceived and produced by reality automotive show mastermind Thom Beers....
for Discovery Channel - after a brief stint at Bunim-Murray Productions as Executive Vice-President - Segal joined Original in May '06. His most recent credits include
Ice Road TruckersIce Road Truckers is a documentary-style reality television series that premiered on The History Channel on June 17, 2007....
for
The History ChannelHistory, formerly known as The History Channel, is an international satellite and cable TV channel that broadcasts programs regarding historical events and persons, as well as various metaphysical, pseudoscientific, and paranormal phenomena—-often with observations and explanations by noted...
,
Deadliest SeaDeadliest Sea is a fictional made-for-TV movie that originally aired on the Discovery Channel on July 19, 2009. It is about the crew of the Kodiak, Alaska-based scallop fishing vessel St. Christopher. It was produced by the producers of the popular Discovery Channel series Deadliest Catch...
for
Discovery ChannelDiscovery Channel is an American satellite and cable TV channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It provides documentary programming focused primarily on popular science, technology, and history...
,
Resolutionaries for
TLCTLC is an American cable TV network which carries a variety of informational and reality-based programming. Since 1991 TLC has been owned by Discovery Communications, the same company that operates the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and The Science Channel, as well as other learning-themed...
and
Ocean Force for
Court TVtruTV is an American cable television network owned by Time Warner through its subsidiary, Turner Broadcasting. Named Court TV before 2008 , the basis of the network's programming has traditionally been live homicide trial coverage and other criminal justice programming; however, the network has...
.