David Ackroyd extended his all-stage career into film and television in the early 1970s, beginning with daytime leading man outings in The Secret Storm and Another World. He progressed to prime time work as Gary Ewing in Dallas until Ted Shackelford successfully took over the role when the character moved front and center with the spin-off drama Knots Landing, though Ackroyd himself would later appear on Knots Landing as a guest star, playing a different character. Coincidentally, Shackelford's last recurring role prior to Dallas was on Another World. David's prime on-camera work occurred in the late 1970s with a series of strong co-star roles in the miniseries The Dark Secret of Harvest Home as Nick Constantine; The Word and the TV-movies And I Alone Survived, Exo-Man and Women in White. He also costarred in the short-lived series AfterMASH and A Peaceable Kingdom.