His father was economist Aubrey Silberston, and his mother, Dorothy, was a founder member of the National Schizophrenia Fellowship.
After training at the BBC as a production director in the late 1970s (he was recruited for his ability to speak French) he worked in a range of TV popular drama programmes such as Casualty and The Bill.
In 1979 he was an assistant floor manager on the BBC's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
He became a good friend of writer Anthony Horowitz and they jointly developed Midsomer Murders (1997) and Foyle's War (2002).
He directed episodes of a wide range of TV popular drama including: He was married to Catherine Napier, a correspondent for the BBC World Service.