Philip Saville, (sometimes credited as Philip Savile) (born October 28 1930, London, England, United Kingdom), is a British actor turned television director/screenwriter, active in the genre since the late 1950s.
During the 1960s he directed several important television plays, such as Harold Pinter's A Night Out (1960) for ABC's Armchair Theatre anthology series, and The Madhouse on Castle Street (1963) for the BBC. The later production became famous as the first acting appearance of the American folk singer Bob Dylan, whom Saville had flown over to the UK specifically to take part in the play.
Other notable programmes on which Saville worked included Out of the Unknown (1965) and Boys from the Blackstuff (1982).
In film Saville directed The Fruit Machine (1988, released as Wonderland in the USA), Metroland (1997) and The Gospel of John (2003). Saville has been called one of the UK's top 100 directors of all time.
