George Markstein

George Markstein (29 August 1926 – 15 January 1987) was a British journalist and writer of thrillers and teleplays. He was the script editor of the British series The Prisoner for the first thirteen episodes, and appeared briefly in its title sequence. Markstein also wrote for or story-edited other television series, specialising in espionage stories, and jointly ran a successful literary agency for screenwriters. In 1926, according to his friend Sidney Allinson, writing in "George Markstein and The Prisoner", Markstein was born in Berlin, Germany, but emigrated with his Jewish family to England with the rise of Nazism. It is likely that he lived in the United States during his youth, then moved to Britain. Markstein worked as a newspaper reporter for the Southport Guardian of Southport England in 1947. Markstein later became a journalist for the American military tabloid, the Overseas Weekly. Due to its scandal-driven content, the paper's U.S. G.I. readership referred to the paper as...