David Phillips is a screenwriter, producer, and actor whose film and television career spanned the early to mid-1970s through until ca. 2005. Among the early series he worked on were The Young Doctors (1976), Secret Valley (1980), Sons and Daughters (1982), Special Squad (1984), and Prisoner (1984-85). After writing the mini-series The Challenge (1986) about Alan Bond's successful bid to win the America's Cup in 1983, he wrote the telemovie Shark's Paradise (1986) and then six episodes of Return to Eden (1986). Phillips also wrote the 1989 telemovie The Rainbow Warrior Conspiracy and episodes for Neighbours (1986-1991) and G.P. (1989-95).
Since 1990, Phillips has written scripts for such series as A County Practice (1992-1993), Snowy River: The McGregor Saga (1994), Mission Top Secret (1994-1995), Blue Heelers (1996-1997), Wildside (1998-1999), Murder Call (1997-2000), All Saints (1998-2002), Above the Law (2000), Water Rats (2000-2002), Something in the Air (2000-2002), McLeod's Daughters (2002), and White Collar Blue (2002-2003). He also wrote Sahara (ca. 1995), the story of a ragtag battalion stranded in the great African desert after the fall of Tobruk. Rick Searle's Butterfly Island (1986) is based on several of his screenplays.
In addition to his television screenplays, Phillips wrote the novel Devil's Hill, which is inspired by the novel of the same name by Nan Chauncy. He later adapted the story for an episode in the children's television anthology series Touch the Sun.