Letter: Engineers need copyright and corruption

I MIGHT take issue with Nick Goodall on two points. He gives an impressive list of engineers in literature - most of them clean-cut, fairly macho but never particularly vulnerable, emotional or corrupt. Therein lies the problem in dramatic terms. The image of an engineer in the public mind hardly suggests itself as the stuff of drama. An exception might be made for the film Zulu, but Star Trek's Scotty would hardly convince as Scotty in Love.

Whenever an engineer features in literature or drama, the storyline rarely involves the profession. For example, Richard Hannay never gets around to any engineerng. Mr Goodall, like most engineers, is not very forthcoming about what an engineer actually does. If Mr Goodall is prepared to lose some of the 'play it with a straight bat' image of his profession, something could be done.

I have just written a television series in which all the characters bar one are engineers. They are the 'close-knit group of creative, ambitious people, working desperately against . . .' he writes about. They include all kinds of engineers, he might be pleased to know - construction, chemical, computer, mining, geological and a high-flying astro-biophysical genius. They are male and female, brave or cowardly, good, corrupt and bad in varying degrees.

When he sees it, I hope he will be satisfied.

Diane Roberts

Barnston, Wirral