The son of a shipyard worker, Mitchell also wrote under the pseudonyms James Munro and Patrick O. McGuire. He received BA and MA degrees from Oxford. After graduating he tried numerous jobs, including shipyard worker and civil servant before taking up teaching, in his own words he taught, "for some 15 years in almost every kind of institution from secondary modern school to college of art". In 1968 Mitchell moved to London to concentrate on writing. Mitchell created the ITV spy thriller
Callan, starring
Edward Woodward as a remorseful secret service assassin, and the BBC period drama
When the Boat Comes In, starring
James Bolam as a
World War I veteran returning to his
Tyneside hometown. These programmes proved to be his most notable, and acclaimed work. He also wrote many other television scripts, including episodes of
The Troubleshooters, the legal drama
Justice and
The Avengers. ==Personal life and death==