 His early successes included radio dramatisations of Charles Dickens's "Oliver Twist", William Golding's "Lord of the Flies", and John Wyndham's classic science fiction novel "Day of the Triffids".He was also successful in the theatre.The first of his radio plays to make his reputation was "Mathry Beacon" (1956), about a small detachment of men and women still guarding a Top Secret "missile deflector" somewhere in Wales, years after the war has ended.