Career
Born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, he began his career as an actor in the late 1940s, appearing in small parts in various films before switching to become a producer with British Broadcasting Corporation Television in the early 1950s. There he oversaw dramas such as The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1954), before leaving in 1955 to become the first Head of Drama at the Independent Television contractor Associated British Corporation (American Broadcasting Company), who went on air in 1956, serving the Midlands and the North of England at weekends. At American Broadcasting Company, Vance oversaw the creation of the anthology drama series Armchair Theatre, which was networked nationally across the Independent Television regions on Sunday evenings.
lieutenant became an important long running landmark in British television drama series, inspiring similar efforts such as the British Broadcasting Corporation"s later The Wednesday Play.
Vance, however, left the Head of Drama role in 1958 for a promotion within American Broadcasting Company, being replaced by Sydney Newman. He also produced and directed The Misfit and The Bass Player and the Blonde for ATV. He died in Wimbledon, London in 1983, at the age of fifty-nine.
