AustLit

Radio producer and writer.

The fifth child of Edward James Joyce, clerk, and his wife Edith Elizabeth (née Conder), Donovan Joyce was educated at Scotch College, Hawthorn. After leaving school at age 15 he initially found work with the Broken Hill Proprietary Co. Ltd. During his late teens and early twenties he performed in amateur theatricals in Melbourne and was stage manager for several productions of the Little Theatre Company. He began his association with commercial radio in 1932, briefly working with stations in three states - Broken Hill (NSW), Mildura, (Victoria) and Adelaide (South Australia). He later joined 3HS Horsham as manager and announcer and in 1934 transferred to 3KZ in Melbourne, where he produced among other programs "Spelling Bee" and "Radio Cinema." In 1939 he moved across to 3AW.

Joyce married Nance Lillian Collins at All Saints Church, St Kilda, on 31 July 1937. Although he was unable to enlist during World War II because a childhood injury to his right hand, he did serve as an air-raid warden. During the war he also wrote a regular and sometimes controversial column in Radio Times under the pseudonym, 'Slapper'. A large and imposing man (standing 6 ft 3 inches) with a big beard and forceful personality Joyce did not suffer fools easily. Those who knew him were aware that his demand for excellence often came at a price, but his talent for inventiveness was also central to his life. In 1944 he took 3AW to court over the terms of his contract and subsequently resigned as manager. The following year he established Donovan Joyce Productions (DJP).

Between 1944 and the early 1960s Joyce wrote and commissioned dramas and documentaries, which he subsequently produced in his Melbourne studios. Many of these were exported, particularly to South Africa, where he also advised on local radio production. At one stage his work was broadcast in sixteen countries. Joyce went into partnership with his elder brother Jim to bring leading actors, such as Lyndall Barbour and Dinah Shearing, from Sydney to perform in radio serials.

When television arrived in Australia Joyce found the new medium not to his liking. He wrote the script for one of Crawford Productions' episodes of Homicide in 1966, but did little else in that area. When he travelled to Israel in 1964 to investigate a scroll allegedly written by Christ, he was denied access to the archaeological site at Masada. he later published the controversial best-seller The Jesus Scroll (1972). An unorthodox story of the life of Christ, it led to death threats against Joyce and an on-going controversy.

Joyce died of hypertensive heart disease in 1980, and was survived by his wife and son. ran and was cremated.