Bill Strutton was educated at the Adelaide School of Mines and Adelaide University. He enlisted in the AIF at the outbreak of the Second World War and fought in Crete, where he was captured and spent the rest of the war in a German prison camp. He was repatriated to England where he settled, first as a features writer for the London Bureau of Australian Consolidated Press from 1945 to 1958 and then as a freelance writer. Following the publication of Island of Terrible Friends (1961) Strutton concentrated on television and screen writing, including over 200 teleplays for such popular television series as The Saint, Dr Who, The Avengers, Dr Findlay's Casebook and Riptide. He has also written screenplays for British and US film companies.
Strutton said in 1977 correspondence with Quadrant that he had returned only twice to Australia, visits made 'courtesy of the Rank Organisation and Screen Gems International'. He had made his home in Surrey, England. He died in Spain on the day of Doctor Who's 40th anniversary.
