Vale: Alan Coleman

TV producer Alan Coleman, a pioneer in Australian soapies, has died, aged 76.

Coleman died on the NSW Central Coast on Tuesday, AAP reports.

Born in England, he worked as the first director on Crossroads, but later became a pioneer of Australian soap opera.

In 1974, he was headhunted to help establish the Grundy Organisation’s drama department.

He was considered the driving force on The Young Doctors and also worked on Class of ’74, Punishment and Prisoner.

After running his own production company making corporate videos for a few years he returned to Grundy’s as executive producer of Neighbours. He was also appointed as executive producer on NZ soap Shortland Street.

Soap historian Andrew Mercado told TV Tonight “So many actors who worked with him on The Young Doctors talked about how easy he was to work with. Joanne Samuel told me how Alan Coleman had not hesitated to let her out of her contract immediately so that she could do the first Mad Max movie after Rosie Bailey was injured in a smash.

“When I mentioned it to Alan, he told me that opportunities like that don’t come up often and he would rather work out a solution than hold an actor back. He was definitely one of the good guys and a gentleman.”

Photo: smh.com.au