 By 1971, he had mostly given up acting and began to devote all of his energies to turning out teleplays.One of his first successes in the historical genre was 1972's "The Strauss Family" followed by many other productions, including "The Duchess of Duke Street" in 1976–77, 1978's "Disraeli", starring Ian McShane and his 1986 Primetime Emmy Award-winning "" with Nicol Williamson in the title role.Circumstances also permitted an occasional return to acting, as in his own teleplays of the 1974–78 prison television series "Within These Walls", in some episodes of which he played the penal institution chaplain, Rev.