The best writers of "Doctor Who"
In order from greatest to least.
(The writers had to have at least written more than one episode. With that said, there are plenty of writers who only wrote one story that I think deserve a special mention: Peter Harness, Robert Shearman, Richard Curtis, Barbara Clegg, Matt Jones, Marc Platt and Derrick Sherwin. All seven of them did a brilliant job with their one story.)
(The first 15 writers on my list are the ones MOST deserving of the title in my opinion, but the others all had their own brilliant episodes and unique style as well.)
(The writers had to have at least written more than one episode. With that said, there are plenty of writers who only wrote one story that I think deserve a special mention: Peter Harness, Robert Shearman, Richard Curtis, Barbara Clegg, Matt Jones, Marc Platt and Derrick Sherwin. All seven of them did a brilliant job with their one story.)
(The first 15 writers on my list are the ones MOST deserving of the title in my opinion, but the others all had their own brilliant episodes and unique style as well.)
List activity
6.4K views
• 18 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
19 people
- Writer
- Producer
- Script and Continuity Department
Steven Moffat was born on 18 November 1961 in Paisley, Scotland, UK. He is a writer and producer, known for Doctor Who (2005), Sherlock (2010) and The Adventures of Tintin (2011). He has been married to Sue Vertue since 1999. They have two children. He was previously married to Maggie.Episodes:
Forest of the Dead (10/10)
Blink (10/10)
Listen (10/10)
Asylum of the Daleks (10/10)
Dark Water (10/10)
The Time of the Doctor (9.5/10)
The Girl in the Fireplace (9.5/10)
The Day of the Doctor (9.5/10)
The Name of the Doctor (9.5/10)
The Pandorica Opens (9.5/10)
Silence in the Library (9.5/10)
Last Christmas (9/10)
The Night of the Doctor (9/10)
A Christmas Carol (9/10)
The Doctor Dances (9/10)
Deep Breath (9/10)
The Empty Child (9/10)
The Big Bang (9/10)
Into the Dalek (9/10) with Phil Ford
A Good Man Goes to War (9/10)
The Time of Angels (9/10)
The Snowmen (9/10)
Death in Heaven (9/10)
The Wedding of River Song (8.5/10)
The Impossible Astronaut (8.5/10)
Let's Kill Hitler (8.5/10)
Flesh and Stone (8.5/10)
The Eleventh Hour (8.5/10)
The Angels Take Manhattan (8.5/10)
Day of the Moon (8.5/10)
The Bells of Saint John (8.5/10)
The Beast Below (8.5/10)
The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe (8/10)
The Caretaker (8/10) with Gareth Roberts
Time Heist (8/10) with Stephen Thompson- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
- Additional Crew
In 1944, at the age of eighteen, Holmes joined the army, fighting with the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders regiment in Burma. He rapidly earned a commission, and as such became the youngest commissioned officer in the entire British army during the Second World War. The fact that he lied about his age to get into the army was discovered at his commissioning, but apparently the only reaction was by a general who praised him, adding that he had done the same thing himself. Soon after the end of the war, Holmes returned to England and left the army, deciding to join the police. He trained at Hendon Police College, graduating the top of his year and joining the Metropolitan Police in London, serving at Bow Street Police Station.
It was whilst serving as a Police officer that Holmes first began to develop an interest in writing as a career. When giving evidence in court for prosecutions against offenders, he would often note the excitement and frantic work of the journalists reporting on the cases, and decided that he would like to do similar work. To this end, he taught himself shorthand in his spare time and eventually resigned from the Police force. He quickly found work writing for both local and national newspapers, initially in London and later in the Midlands. He also filed reports for the Press Association, which could be syndicated to a variety of sources, such as local or foreign newspapers. In the late 1950s he worked for a time writing and editing short stories for magazines, before receiving his first break in television when he contributed an episode to the famous medical series Emergency-Ward 10 (1957).
His work as a sports reporter took him to the Midlands, where he became the final editor of "John Bull Magazine," at the same time submitting material to Grenada TV for Knight Errant Limited (1959). Other early TV work included The Saint (1962) Ghost Squad (1961), Public Eye (1965), Undermind (1965) (his first science fiction) and Intrigue (1966) His first work for Doctor Who (1963) was a commission to write "The Space Trap," later retitled "The Krotons." Subsequently he went on to become one of the series' most popular writers, responsible for more than a dozen televised stories. He also had a successful period as Doctor Who (1963)'s script editor between 1974 and 1977. He scripted much TV drama during the seventies and eighties, including a The Wednesday Play (1964) and episodes of Doomwatch (1970), Dr. Finlay's Casebook (1962), Dead of Night (1972), The Regiment (1972), Warship (1973), Spy Trap (1972)" and Dixon of Dock Green (1955)," and he adapted the BBC's 1981 science-fiction thriller serial The Nightmare Man (1981)," from David Wiltshire's novel. He was working on further Doctor Who (1963) episodes when he died, after a short illness, on 24 May 1986.Serials:
The Caves of Androzani (10/10)
The Ark in Space (9.5/10)
The Talons of Weng-Chiang (9.5/10)
Pyramids of Mars (9.5/10)
The Deadly Assassin (9.5/10)
The Brain of Morbius (9/10) with Terrance Dicks
Spearhead from Space (9/10)
The Ribos Operation (9/10)
Carnival of Monsters (9/10)
The Mysterious Planet (9/10)
The Time Warrior (8.5/10)
The Sun Makers (8.5/10)
The Krotons (8.5/10)
Terror of the Autons (8.5/10)
The Two Doctors (8/10)
The Space Pirates (8/10)
The Power of Kroll (8/10)
Episodes:
The Caves of Androzani: Part Four (10/10)
The Talons of Weng-Chiang: Part Two (10/10)
The Ark in Space: Part Three (10/10)
The Caves of Androzani: Part One (10/10)
The Caves of Androzani: Part Three (10/10)
The Caves of Androzani: Part Two (9.5/10)
The Talons of Weng-Chiang: Part One (9.5/10)
The Deadly Assassin: Part Two (9.5/10)
The Talons of Weng-Chiang: Part Four (9.5/10)
Pyramids of Mars: Part One (9.5/10)
The Ark in Space: Part Four (9.5/10)
The Talons of Weng-Chiang: Part Six (9.5/10)
The Brain of Morbius: Part Three (9.5/10)
The Brain of Morbius: Part One (9.5/10)
The Deadly Assassin: Part Four (9.5/10)
Pyramids of Mars: Part Two (9.5/10)
The Ark in Space: Part Two (9.5/10)
The Ark in Space: Part One (9.5/10)
Spearhead from Space: Episode 4 (9.5/10)
Pyramids of Mars: Part Four (9.5/10)
The Talons of Weng-Chiang: Part Five (9.5/10)
The Deadly Assassin: Part Three (9.5/10)
Pyramids of Mars: Part Three (9.5/10)
The Ribos Operation: Part Three (9.5/10)
Spearhead from Space: Episode 3 (9/10)
Spearhead from Space: Episode 2 (9/10)
The Time Warrior: Part Two (9/10)
Carnival of Monsters: Episode Four (9/10)
Carnival of Monsters: Episode Three (9/10)
The Deadly Assassin: Part One (9/10)
The Brain of Morbius: Part Two (9/10)
Spearhead from Space: Episode 1 (9/10)
The Ribos Operation: Part Four (9/10)
The Ribos Operation: Part One (9/10)
The Ribos Operation: Part Two (9/10)
The Mysterious Planet: Part Three (9/10)
Carnival of Monsters: Episode One (9/10)
The Mysterious Planet: Part One (9/10)
The Mysterious Planet: Part Four (9/10)
The Brain of Morbius: Part Four (8.5/10)
The Mysterious Planet: Part Two (8.5/10)
The Time Warrior: Part Three (8.5/10)
The Time Warrior: Part One (8.5/10)
Carnival of Monsters: Episode Two (8.5/10)
Terror of the Autons: Episode Three (8.5/10)
The Krotons: Episode Four (8.5/10)
The Krotons: Episode Two (8.5/10)
The Sun Makers: Episode Three (8.5/10)
The Two Doctors: Part Two (8.5/10)
The Time Warrior: Part Four (8.5/10)
The Sun Makers: Episode One (8.5/10)
Terror of the Autons: Episode Four (8.5/10)
The Two Doctors: Part Three (8/10)
Terror of the Autons: Episode One (8/10)
The Sun Makers: Episode Two (8/10)
The Sun Makers: Episode Four (8/10)
The Two Doctors: Part One (8/10)
The Space Pirates: Episode 3 (8/10)
The Space Pirates: Episode 1 (8/10)
The Space Pirates: Episode 4 (8/10)
The Space Pirates: Episode 2 (8/10)
The Krotons: Episode One (8/10)
The Krotons: Episode Three (8/10)
The Space Pirates: Episode 5 (8/10)
Terror of the Autons: Episode Two (8/10)
The Power of Kroll: Part One (8/10)
The Power of Kroll: Part Four (8/10)
The Space Pirates: Episode 6 (7.5/10)
The Power of Kroll: Part Two (7.5/10)
The Power of Kroll: Part Three (7.5/10)- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Script and Continuity Department
David Whitaker was born on 18 April 1928 in Knebworth, Hertfordshire, England. He was a writer, known for Doctor Who (1963), Homicide (1964) and Doctor Who: The Evil of the Daleks (2021). He was married to June Barry. He died on 4 February 1980 in Fulham, London, England, UK.Serials:
The Power of the Daleks (9/10)
The Evil of the Daleks (9/10)
The Crusade (9/10)
The Enemy of the World (9/10)
The Wheel in Space (8.5/10)
The Rescue (8.5/10)
The Edge of Destruction (8.5/10)
Episodes:
The Wheel of Fortune (10/10)
The Power of the Daleks: Episode 5 (9.5/10)
The Power of the Daleks: Episode 2 (9.5/10)
The Enemy of the World: Episode 6 (9.5/10)
The Power of the Daleks: Episode 6 (9/10)
Desperate Measures (9/10)
The Evil of the Daleks: Episode 7 (9/10)
The Evil of the Daleks: Episode 2 (9/10)
The Evil of the Daleks: Episode 6 (9/10)
The Evil of the Daleks: Episode 5 (9/10)
The Power of the Daleks: Episode 1 (9/10)
The Wheel in Space: Episode 5 (9/10)
The Power of the Daleks: Episode 4 (9/10)
The Power of the Daleks: Episode 3 (9/10)
The Enemy of the World: Episode 1 (9/10)
The Lion (9/10)
The Evil of the Daleks: Episode 4 (8.5/10)
The Evil of the Daleks: Episode 1 (8.5/10)
The Knight of Jaffa (8.5/10)
The Wheel in Space: Episode 2 (8.5/10)
The Wheel in Space: Episode 6 (8.5/10)
The Wheel in Space: Episode 3 (8.5/10)
The Wheel in Space: Episode 1 (8.5/10)
The Enemy of the World: Episode 5 (8.5/10)
The Enemy of the World: Episode 3 (8.5/10)
The Enemy of the World: Episode 2 (8.5/10)
The Evil of the Daleks: Episode 3 (8.5/10)
The Edge of Destruction (8.5/10)
The Wheel in Space: Episode 4 (8.5/10)
The Enemy of the World: Episode 4 (8.5/10)
The Brink of Disaster (8.5/10)
The Powerful Enemy (8/10)
The Warlords (8/10)
(Without a doubt, the best writer from 60s Doctor Who.)- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
- Actor
Born Douglas Noel Adams on March 11, 1952 in Cambridge. From 1959 until 1970 he went to Brentwood school in Essex, and his main interest was science. As a student in Cambridge he decided to hitch-hike through Europe to Istanbul, and in order to raise funds for this he took a lot of small jobs. In 1970 he left school to become a writer, certain that success was just around the corner. But nothing happened. He worked with the late Monty Python member Graham Chapman and John Lloyd, but hardly anything they did was published.
On February 4 1977 he met Simon Brett, who then was doing Radio 4's 'The Burkiss Way'. They agreed to produce a science fiction comedy show on radio. This was the birth of the Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy.
Douglas Adams married Jane Belson on November 24 1991 and they have a daughter by the name Polly Jane, born on June 22, 1994. They lived in Islington, but in 1999 they moved to California, USA. In 1997 Douglas signed a deal with Disney to make a feature movie, and he immediately started working on the screenplay. Jay Roach, of Austin Powers fame, was signed as director.
On the morning of May 11 2001, Adams went to the local gym to work out. There he suffered a massive heart attack and all attempts to revive him were unsuccessful. He died, and left his 6 year old daughter Polly, his wife Jane, his mother Jan Thrift, brother James and countless other family members and friends, not to mention thousands and thousands of fans all over the world, in shock and mourning.
Author of the hysterically funny series of books, summarized as "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", which also include a radio series, a TV series, stage play, record albums, computer game, graphic novels and a bath towel.
He also wrote the Dirk Gently novels and a non fiction book, "Last Chance to See", about endangered species. Apart from being a writer, he was also a chicken shed cleaner, bodyguard for an Arab royal family and he actually at one time played guitar for Pink Floyd (42nd birthday gift from David Gilmour, an old friend).
Douglas co-founded the company The Digital Village (now h2g2), producing nearly everything that has to do with media: TV, movies, computer games etc. He was one of the creators of Starship Titanic, a combined book (co-written with Terry Jones of the Monty Python bunch) and computer game.
It was often claimed that P.G. Wodehouse had influence on him and his work, and when once asked about this he replied: "Yes, a huge impact. But not an early impact. I didn't start reading Wodehouse until I was writing 'Restaurant at the end of the universe'. I can see the impact starting almost immediately. I think that Wodehouse, without exaggeration, was a genius on the English language."Serials:
The Pirate Planet (9.5/10)
City of Death (9/10)
Episodes:
City of Death: Part One (10/10)
The Pirate Planet: Part Two (9.5/10)
The Pirate Planet: Part Three (9.5/10)
The Pirate Planet: Part Four (9/10)
City of Death: Part Four (9/10)
The Pirate Planet: Part One (9/10)
City of Death: Part Two (9/10)
City of Death: Part Three (8.5/10)- Writer
- Producer
- Actor
Neil Gaiman is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre, and films. He is best known for the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book.
As a child and a teenager, Gaiman read the works of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Lewis Carroll, Mary Shelley, Rudyard Kipling, Edgar Allan Poe, and Alan Moore.
Gaiman also wrote episodes of the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who, during Matt Smith's as the Doctor.Episodes:
The Doctor's Wife (9.5/10)
Nightmare in Silver (8.5/10)- Script and Continuity Department
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Chris Boucher was best known as a scriptwriter for Doctor Who (1963) during seasons 14 and 15. After grammar school, Boucher spent a year in Australia working on a railway before returning to Britain. His proper working life began as a management trainee for Calor Gas, a key company supplying liquefied petroleum gas to the UK. Boucher's employers were eager for him to attain further qualifications and sent him to Essex University, from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. At this juncture, he turned to writing as a means to gain extra income. He began by supplying short stories to women's magazines. His first forays into writing for television were for the series Braden's Week (1968) and as a creator of gags for Dave Allen's show .
As a youngster, Boucher had been fascinated with science fiction, avidly devouring magazines like Amazing Stories and New Worlds. He was thus quick to act on his agent's advice that he submit some of his own ideas to Doctor Who writer/script editor Robert Holmes and producer Philip Hinchcliffe. This resulted in Boucher being commissioned to write the episodes The Face of Evil, The Robots of Death and Image of the Fendahl, in the process bringing to life Tom Baker 's companion character Leela (played by Louise Jameson). Having by now quit his job at Calor Gas, Boucher went on to work as a script editor and writer for Blake's 7 (1978), Juliet Bravo (1980) and Bergerac (1981), as well as devising his own short-lived sci-fi series Star Cops (1987). Boucher attributed the rather brief run of Star Cops on the BBC to a poor time slot. Later in his career, he turned to writing several Doctor Who novelisations which featured the character of Leela.Serials:
The Robots of Death (9.5/10)
The Face of Evil (9/10)
Image of the Fendahl (9/10)
Episodes:
The Robots of Death: Part Two (9.5/10)
The Face of Evil: Part One (9.5/10)
The Robots of Death: Part One (9.5/10)
The Robots of Death: Part Four (9/10)
Image of the Fendahl: Part One (9/10)
The Robots of Death: Part Three (9/10)
Image of the Fendahl: Part Two (9/10)
The Face of Evil: Part Two (9/10)
The Face of Evil: Part Four (9/10)
The Face of Evil: Part Three (9/10)
Image of the Fendahl: Part Three (8.5/10)
Image of the Fendahl: Part Four (8.5/10)- Script and Continuity Department
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Eric Saward was born in December 1944 and attended school until the age of 18. After working for a short time as an estate agent he moved to Holland, where he lived for three years and was briefly married. On his return to England he took a succession of jobs, including as a publisher's proof editor and as a bookshop sales assistant. He then trained and worked for a while as an English teacher. He also started to write and found some success with drama scripts for radio, the first he had accepted being a play entitled "The Fall and Fall of David Moore."
At around the age of 30 he gave up teaching in order to pursue a full-time writing career. To supplement his income he also filled in with some odd jobs, including a stint in the theatre as a self-taught electrician working on productions such as "Hair" and "The Canterbury Tales" at the Phoneix in Shaftesbury Avenue. He was then approached by Doctor Who script editor Christopher H. Bidmead to submit some ideas to the series, having been recommended to him by the senior drama script editor at BBC radio. This led to a commission to write the season nineteen story "The Visitation," on the strength of which he was subsequently appointed as Bidmead's successor.
Since his acrimonious and controversial departure from the series some five years later he has continued to pursue a career as a freelance writer, including for German radio (his scripts being translated into German for production.)Serials:
Earthshock (9.5/10)
Revelation of the Daleks (9/10)
The Visitation (9/10)
Resurrection of the Daleks (8.5/10)
Episodes:
Earthshock: Part One (9.5/10)
Earthshock: Part Two (9.5/10)
Earthshock: Part Four (9.5/10)
Resurrection of the Daleks: Part One (9/10)
Revelation of the Daleks: Part Two (9/10)
Revelation of the Daleks: Part One (9/10)
Earthshock: Part Three (9/10)
The Visitation: Part Four (9/10)
The Visitation: Part One (9/10)
The Visitation: Part Two (8.5/10)
The Visitation: Part Three (8.5/10)
Resurrection of the Daleks: Part Two (8/10)- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Robert Banks Stewart had an incredible career in British television drama, becoming one of its greatest ever writers, story editors and producers. He started writing in primary school, winning a Burns essay prize and contributing stories to local newspapers. At age 15, he left school to become an office boy at the Edinburgh Evening Dispatch. He did his National Service with Field Marshal Montgomery's peacetime staff. He then worked as a newspaper editor. By this time he had written several plays and done a stint as a radio commentator. He eventually left Scotland for a post as foreign corespondent for Illustrated magazine. When that publication folded, he joined the Rank Organisation, providing rewrites and producing movie and TV scripts.Serials:
The Seeds of Doom (9/10)
Terror of the Zygons (9/10)
Episodes:
The Seeds of Doom: Part Five (9.5/10)
The Seeds of Doom: Part Four (9/10)
Terror of the Zygons: Part Three (9/10)
Terror of the Zygons: Part Two (9/10)
Terror of the Zygons: Part One (9/10)
The Seeds of Doom: Part Six (9/10)
The Seeds of Doom: Part One (9/10)
Terror of the Zygons: Part Four (9/10)
The Seeds of Doom: Part Two (9/10)
The Seeds of Doom: Part Three (8.5/10)- Writer and academic Christopher Bailey was resident in the Farringdon area of London during the period of his association with DOCTOR WHO. Strongly interested in aspects of religion and philosophy, particularly Buddhism, her drew inspiration from these for his scripts for the series. His later work included lecturing at Brighton Polytechnic.Serials:
Snakedance (9/10)
Kinda (9/10)
Episodes:
Snakedance: Part One (9.5/10)
Kinda: Part Three (9.5/10)
Snakedance: Part Three (9/10)
Snakedance: Part Two (9/10)
Kinda: Part Four (9/10)
Kinda: Part One (8.5/10)
Kinda: Part Two (8.5/10)
Snakedance: Part Four (8.5/10) - Writer
- Producer
- Script and Continuity Department
Sometimes described as a genius and sometimes as a talentless hack, Russell T. Davies is one of the most prominent - and polarising - British television writers of his generation, who specializes in emotional dramas, frequently with gay and sex-related adult themes. He was born in Swansea, Wales (UK) in 1963. After initially taking a BBC Television director's course in the 1980s, he briefly moved in front of the cameras to present a single episode of the BBC's version of Play School (1964) in 1987, before deciding that his abilities lay in production rather than presenting.
Working for the children's department at BBC Manchester, from 1988 to 1992 he was the producer of summertime activity show Why Don't You Just Switch Off Your Television Set and Go and Do Something Less Boring Instead? (1973) which ironically showcased various things children could be doing rather than sitting at home watching the television. While serving as the producer of "Why Don't You?" he also made his first forays into writing for television, creating a children's sketch show for early Saturday mornings on BBC One called Breakfast Serials (1990).
In 1991, he wrote his first television drama, a six-part serial for children entitled Dark Season (1991) for BBC One, which effectively comprised of two different three-part stories based around a science-fiction / adventure theme. The production was very low budget but nevertheless successful, and noteworthy for showcasing the acting talents of a young Kate Winslet. Two years later he wrote another equally well-received science-fiction drama in the same vein, entitled Century Falls (1993).
In 1992, he moved to Granada Television, producing and writing for their successful children's hospital drama Children's Ward (1989). One of the episodes Davies wrote for this series won a BAFTA Children's Award for Best Drama in 1996. At Granada he also began to break into working for adult television, contributing an episode to the ITV crime quiz show Cluedo (1990), a programme based on the popular board game of the same name, in 1993, and also working on the daytime soap opera Families (1990). He continued working on "Children's Ward" until 1995, by which time he was already consolidating his position outside of children's programming with the comedy The House of Windsor (1994) and camp soap opera Revelations (1994).
After a brief stint as a storyliner on ITV's flagship soap opera Coronation Street (1960) (for which he later wrote the straight-to-video spin-off Coronation Street: Viva Las Vegas! (1997)) and contributions to Channel 4's Springhill (1996), the following year he wrote and created the hotel-set mainstream period drama The Grand (1997) for prime time ITV, winning a reputation for good writing and high audience figures. He contributed to the first series of the acclaimed ITV drama Touching Evil (1997), before beginning his fruitful collaboration with the independent Red Productions company.
His first series for Red was the ground-breaking adult gay drama Queer as Folk (1999), which caused much comment and drew much praise when screened on Channel 4 in early 1999. A sequel followed in 2000 and a US version, which still runs successfully in that country to this day, was commissioned by the Showtime cable network there. In 2001 he followed this up with another popular mini-series with a gay theme for Red, Bob & Rose (2001), this time screened on the mainstream ITV channel in prime time. After writing an episode for a Red series he had not created, Linda Green (2001) (shown on BBC1) in early 2003 he wrote the religious telefantasy drama The Second Coming (2003) starring Christopher Eccleston, which cemented his position as one of the UK's foremost writers of TV drama.
His other work includes another Red mini series for ITV, Mine All Mine (2004), a series about the life of Casanova (2005) which made a star of David Tennant and the screenplay for a film version of the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (1998) cheating scandal. Most famously, he is the chief writer and executive producer of the BBC's big budget revival of Doctor Who (2005), as well as the spin-offs Torchwood (2006), The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007) and Wizards vs. Aliens (2012). He subsequently created more gay drama with Cucumber (2015) and the sex-themed documentary series Tofu (2015). He has also written A Very English Scandal (2018), which stars the legendary Hugh Grant as gay Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe, whose political career was destroyed by conspiracy to murder allegations. He then won further acclaim with his serial It's a Sin (2021), written about the HIV/AIDS crisis which swept through the gay community in the 1980s.
Outside of television and film, his prose work has included the novelization of Dark Season (1991) and an original "Doctor Who" novel, "Damaged Goods", for Virgin Publishing in 1996.
He lives in Manchester, UK.Episodes:
The Parting of the Ways (9.5/10)
The Stolen Earth (9.5/10)
Gridlock (9.5/10)
Journey's End (9/10)
Voyage of the Damned (9/10)
Doomsday (9/10)
Utopia (9/10)
The Waters of Mars (9/10) with Phil Ford
The End of Time: Part Two (9/10)
Smith and Jones (9/10)
Midnight (8.5/10)
The End of Time: Part One (8.5/10)
Bad Wolf (8.5/10)
Army of Ghosts (8.5/10)
Boom Town (8.5/10)
Last of the Time Lords (8.5/10)
Turn Left (8.5/10)
Tooth and Claw (8.5/10)
The Sound of Drums (8.5/10)
The Next Doctor (8/10)
Planet of the Dead (8/10) with Gareth Roberts
The Runaway Bride (8/10)
New Earth (8/10)
The End of the World (8/10)
Rose (8/10)
The Christmas invasion (8/10)
The Long Game (8/10)
Love & Monsters (7.5/10)
Partners in Crime (7.5/10)
World War Three (7.5/10)
Aliens of London (7/10)- Ian Briggs studied drama at Manchester University and after that worked in the theatre on lighting and design, including on some jazz shows. Following that he worked at the BBC's Script Unit reading unsolicited scripts and also freelanced for the Royal Court and some film companies. He was commissioned by Andrew Cartmel first to write "Dragonfire" and then season twenty-six's "The Curse of Fenric." He was also commissioned by the BBC to write a pilot for a new series and has written some plays for the theatre as well as working on "Casualty." In 1994 he returned to acting and appeared in "The Derniers" on television.Serials:
The Curse of Fenric (9/10)
Dragonfire (8.5/10)
Episodes:
The Curse of Fenric: Part One (9.5/10)
The Curse of Fenric: Part Four (9/10)
The Curse of Fenric: Part Two (9/10)
Dragonfire: Part Two (9/10)
The Curse of Fenric: Part Three (9/10)
Dragonfire: Part Three (8.5/10)
Dragonfire: Part One (8/10) - Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
Malcolm Hulke was born on 21 November 1924 in London, England, UK. He was a writer, known for Doctor Who (1963), The Avengers (1961) and Secret Agent (1964). He died on 6 June 1979 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK.Serials:
The Silurians (9/10)
The Sea Devils (9/10)
The War Games (8.5/10) with Terrance Dicks
The Faceless Ones (8.5/10) with David Ellis
Invasion of the Dinosaurs (8.5/10)
The Ambassadors of Death (8/10) with Dicks/Whitaker/Trevor Ray
Frontier in Space (8/10)
Colony in Space (8/10)
Episodes:
The Silurians: Episode 6 (9.5/10)
The Sea Devils: Episode Four (9/10)
The Silurians: Episode 5 (9/10)
The Sea Devils: Episode Two (9/10)
The Silurians: Episode 3 (9/10)
The Sea Devils: Episode Six (9/10)
The War Games: Episode Nine (9/10) with Terrance Dicks
The Silurians: Episode 2 (9/10)
The Silurians: Episode 7 (9/10)
The War Games: Episode Eight (9/10) with Terrance Dicks
The War Games: Episode Ten (8.5/10) with Terrance Dicks
The Sea Devils: Episode Five (8.5/10)
The War Games: Episode Seven (8.5/10) with Terrance Dicks
The War Games: Episode Three (8.5/10) with Terrance Dicks
The Silurians: Episode 4 (8.5/10)
The War Games: Episode One (8.5/10) with Terrance Dicks
The War Games: Episode Six (8.5/10) with Terrance Dicks
The War Games: Episode Five (8.5/10) with Terrance Dicks
The Faceless Ones: Episode 2 (8.5/10) with David Ellis
The Faceless Ones: Episode 3 (8.5/10) with David Ellis
The Ambassadors of Death: Episode 5 (8.5/10) with Terrance Dicks
Frontier in Space: Episode One (8.5/10)
The Silurians: Episode 1 (8.5/10)
The Sea Devils: Episode One (8.5/10)
The War Games: Episode Two (8.5/10) with Terrance Dicks
The Faceless Ones: Episode 5 (8.5/10) with David Ellis
The Faceless Ones: Episode 4 (8.5/10) with David Ellis
Colony in Space: Episode Six (8.5/10)
The Ambassadors of Death: Episode 4 (8.5/10) with Terrance Dicks
Invasion of the Dinosaurs: Part Six (8.5/10)
Invasion of the Dinosaurs: Part One (8.5/10)
The War Games: Episode Four (8.5/10) with Terrance Dicks
The Sea Devils: Episode Three (8.5/10)
Invasion of the Dinosaurs: Part Two (8.5/10)
Frontier in Space: Episode Five (8.5/10)
Invasion of the Dinosaurs: Part Five (8.5/10)
The Ambassadors of Death: Episode 1 (8/10) with Terrance Dicks
Frontier in Space: Episode Four (8/10)
Colony in Space: Episode Four (8/10)
Colony in Space: Episode Three (8/10)
The Faceless Ones: Episode 6 (8/10) with David Ellis
The Ambassadors of Death: Episode 7 (8/10) with Terrance Dicks
The Ambassadors of Death: Episode 6 (8/10) with Terrance Dicks
The Faceless Ones: Episode 1 (8/10) with David Ellis
Colony in Space: Episode Two (8/10)
Colony in Space: Episode Five (8/10)
The Ambassadors of Death: Episode 2 (8/10) with Terrance Dicks
Frontier in Space: Episode Six (8/10)
The Ambassadors of Death: Episode 3 (8/10) with Terrance Dicks
Colony in Space: Episode One (8/10)
Invasion of the Dinosaurs: Part Three (8/10)
Frontier in Space: Episode Three (8/10)
Frontier in Space: Episode Two (8/10)
Invasion of the Dinosaurs: Part Four (7.5/10)- Writer
- Producer
- Actor
Episodes:
A Town Called Mercy (9/10)
School Reunion (9/10)
The God Complex (8/10)
The Vampires of Venice (8/10)- John Lucarotti was born on 20 May 1926 in Aldershot, Hampshire, England, UK. He was a writer, known for The Avengers (1961), Doctor Who (1963) and City Beneath the Sea (1962). He was married to Rose-Marie Sandy and Lorna Blaney. He died on 20 November 1994 in Paris, France.Serials:
Marco Polo (8.5/10)
The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve (8.5/10) with Donald Tosh
The Aztecs (8.5/10)
Episodes:
Bell of Doom (9/10) with Donald Tosh
The Singing Sands (9/10)
Assassin at Peaking (9/10)
Rider From Shang-Tu (9/10)
The Wall of Lies (9/10)
The Day of Darkness (8.5/10)
The Bride of Sacrifice (8.5/10)
The Roof of the World (8.5/10)
The Sea Beggar (8.5/10)
Mighty Kublai Khan (8.5/10)
Five Hundred Eyes (8/10)
Priest of Death (8.5/10)
War of God (8/10)
The Temple of Evil (8/10)
The Warriors of Death (8/10) - Writer
- Additional Crew
Robert Sloman was born in Oldham, Lancashire, and brought up in Plymouth, Devon. After an education at St Boniface, a Catholic school, he attended Exeter University. Here he became involved in dramatics and after graduating he joined the repertory company at Newton Poppleford.
However, acting was not his long term ambition, he really wanted to be a writer. He joined the Sunday Times, while he also had success as a playwright. Two of his plays, The Golden Rivet and The Tinker, made it to London's prestigious West End. The Tinker was also adapted for the big screen as Young and Willing (1962). Directed by the British film stalwart Ralph Thomas, it featured early screen performances by John Hurt, Ian McShane and Jeremy Brett.
In 1970, his friend Barry Letts, producer of the popular BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who (1963), asked him to co-write a serial with him. The result, The Dæmons: Episode One (1971), was an unusual story mixing English tradition with the occult and set in a picturesque English village. Enjoyed by everyone who worked on it, the story was considered a great success. As a result, Sloman became part of the regular repertory of writers for the series, contributing a story for each of Jon Pertwee's following three seasons.
Sloman fitted in well with Barry Letts's approach to Doctor Who (1963), where the stories were intended to be more than just science-fiction adventures for children. Like Malcolm Hulke, one of his contemporary writers on the series, his stories were intelligently written character dramas, often with a moral message. The Green Death: Episode One (1973) addressed the issues of corporate greed and pollution to make an ecological statement, while Planet of the Spiders: Part One (1974) had a strong Buddhist content. His association with the series ended when Letts left as producer in 1974.
Towards the end of his life, Sloman shared his time between England and Spain and indulged his passion for sailing.Serials:
The Daemons (9/10)
The Green Death (9/10)
Planet of the Spiders (8/10)
The Time Monster (8/10)
Episodes:
The Daemons: Episode Two (9.5/10)
The Daemons: Episode One (9.5/10)
The Green Death: Episode Six (9/10)
The Green Death: Episode Five (9/10)
The Green Death: Episode One (9/10)
The Daemons: Episode Three (8.5/10)
Planet of the Spiders: Part Six (8.5/10)
The Green Death: Episode Four (8.5/10)
The Green Death: Episode Three (8.5/10)
The Daemons: Episode Five (8.5/10)
Planet of the Spiders: Part Two (8.5/10)
The Green Death: Episode Two (8.5/10)
The Time Monster: Episode One (8.5/10)
The Daemons: Episode Four (8.5/10)
Planet of the Spiders: Part One (8/10)
Planet of the Spiders: Part Four (8/10)
The Time Monster: Episode Four (8/10)
The Time Monster: Episode Six (8/10)
The Time Monster: Episode Five (8/10)
Planet of the Spiders: Part Five (7.5/10)
The Time Monster: Episode Two (7.5/10)
The Time Monster: Episode Three (7.5/10)
Planet of the Spiders: Part Three (7.5/10)- Producer
- Actor
- Director
Barry Letts started his career as an actor. He began in repertory in York whilst also working for a local radio station in Leeds. After a chance meeting with BBC producer/director Rex Tucker, he started working with him first on radio and then on television. His first television appearance was in a 1950 production of "Gunpowder Guy," about Guy Fawkes.
He eventually decided he wanted to go into directing and in 1967 attended the BBC directors' course. He worked on episodes of "Z Cars" and "The Newcomers" before directing the six-part Doctor Who story "The Enemy of the World" in 1967. He became producer of Doctor Who in 1969 and remained in that post until 1974. During this period he also co-created and produced the six-part BBC science-fiction drama series "Moonbase 3," transmitted in 1973.
After leaving Doctor Who, he marked time for a while by acting as an assistant of sorts to department head Ronnie Marsh. He then decided to make a return to directing and approached various producers for work. One of the assignments he landed was "The Android Invasion" for Doctor Who in 1975.
Straight after that came a production of "The Prince and the Pauper" for John McCrae. However McCrae was promoted to Head of Drama for a New Zealand TV station, so Letts was asked to take over as producer of the classical serials on BBC1. Amongst those for which he was responsible were "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" (1978), "The Mill of the Floss" (1979) and "The Old Curiosity Shop" (1980).
Following his stint as Doctor Who's executive producer at the beginning of the eighties he continued to work as a director, particularly on the classic serials. In the 1990s, he wrote (and subsequently novelised) two Doctor Who radio serials, "The Paradise of Death" and "Doctor Who and the Ghosts of N-Space," both starring Jon Pertwee.Serials:
The Daemons (9/10)
The Green Death (9/10)
Planet of the Spiders (8/10)
The Time Monster (8/10)
Episodes:
The Daemons: Episode Two (9.5/10)
The Daemons: Episode One (9.5/10)
The Green Death: Episode Six (9/10)
The Green Death: Episode Five (9/10)
The Green Death: Episode One (9/10)
Planet of the Spiders: Part Six (8.5/10)
The Daemons: Episode Three (8.5/10)
The Green Death: Episode Four (8.5/10)
The Green Death: Episode Three (8.5/10)
The Daemons: Episode Five (8.5/10)
Planet of the Spiders: Part Two (8.5/10)
The Green Death: Episode Two (8.5/10)
The Time Monster: Episode One (8.5/10)
The Daemons: Episode Four (8.5/10)
Planet of the Spiders: Part One (8/10)
Planet of the Spiders: Part Four (8/10)
The Time Monster: Episode Four (8/10)
The Time Monster: Episode Six (8/10)
The Time Monster: Episode Five (8/10)
Planet of the Spiders: Part Five (7.5/10)
The Time Monster: Episode Two (7.5/10)
The Time Monster: Episode Three (7.5/10)
Planet of the Spiders: Part Three (7.5/10)- Script and Continuity Department
- Writer
- Producer
Born in East Ham, London, England in 1935, Terrance Dicks was educated at the local grammar school and went on to study English at Downing College, Cambridge. After two years' National Service in the British Army, he got a job as an advertising copywriter. This lasted for five years, during which time he started writing radio scripts as a sideline. Eventually he switched to full-time freelance writing, first on plays and comedy series for radio and then in television on programmes including The Avengers (1961) and Crossroads (1964).
He became a junior script editor on Doctor Who (1963) towards the end of the Patrick Troughton era, working under producer Peter Bryant and script editor Derrick Sherwin. During this period he has said that he felt like "something of a spare part", although he would make a very significant contribution in bringing Robert Holmes to the series, who would go on to become the series' most popular writer. Dicks also co-wrote (with Malcolm Hulke) Troughton's final story, the epic The War Games: Episode One (1969). Following the departure from the series of Bryant and Sherwin in 1969, Dicks formed a close working relationship with the next producer, Barry Letts, and they were responsible for the five popular seasons which starred Jon Pertwee as the Doctor. During this period they also co-created the science fiction flop Moonbase 3 (1973), which lasted just one series.
After writing Tom Baker's debut story Robot: Part One (1974), Dicks returned to a freelance writing career. He also script-edited some of the BBC's classic serials, which reunited him with Letts as producer on the likes of Great Expectations (1981) and Jane Eyre (1983). He was also made a producer for the first time on the highly popular Oliver Twist (1985), which according to Dicks saved the classic serial strand from Michael Grade's axe when he was controller of BBC One.
Dicks made two contributions to Doctor Who (1963) during the John Nathan-Turner years in the 1980s despite the producer's reluctance to use established writers. He wrote State of Decay: Part One (1980) and agreed to pen the 20th anniversary special The Five Doctors (1983) when Robert Holmes turned it down. He has also written two spin-off plays, "Doctor Who and the Daleks in Seven Keys to Doomsday" in 1974 and "Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure" in 1989. He has written well over fifty novelizations of televised serials and several original Doctor Who (1963) novels for Virgin's "The New Adventures" range. Today he is, among his other writing projects, one of the UK's most prolific authors of children's fiction.Serials:
The Horror of Fang Rock (9.5/10)
The Brain of Morbius (9/10) with Robert Holmes
The War Games (8.5/10) with Malcolm Hulke
The Seeds of Death (8.5/10) with Brian Hayles
The Five Doctors (8.5/10)
State of Decay (8.5/10)
The Ambassadors of Death (8/10) with Hulke/Whitaker/Trevor Ray
Robot (8/10)
Episodes:
The Brain of Morbius: Part Three (9.5/10)
The Horror of Fang Rock: Part One (9.5/10)
The Brain of Morbius: Part One (9.5/10)
The Horror of Fang Rock: Part Two (9.5/10)
The Horror of Fang Rock: Part Three (9/10)
The War Games: Episode Nine (9/10)
The Seeds of Death: Episode Four (9/10)
The Brain of Morbius: Part Two (9/10)
The Horror of Fang Rock: Part Four (9/10)
State of Decay: Part One (9/10)
The War Games: Episode Eight (9/10)
The War Games: Episode Ten (8.5/10)
The Brain of Morbius: Part Four (8.5/10)
The War Games: Episode Seven (8.5/10)
Robot: Part One (8.5/10)
The War Games: Episode Three (8.5/10)
The War Games: Episode One (8.5/10)
The Ambassadors of Death: Episode 5 (8.5/10)
State of Decay: Part Two (8.5/10)
The War Games: Episode Six (8.5/10)
The War Games: Episode Five (8.5/10)
The Five Doctors (8.5/10)
The Ambassadors of Death: Episode 4 (8.5/10)
The War Games: Episode Two (8.5/10)
The War Games: Episode Four (8.5/10)
The Seeds of Death: Episode Five (8/10)
The Ambassadors of Death: Episode 1 (8/10)
The Ambassadors of Death: Episode 7 (8/10)
The Seeds of Death: Episode Three (8/10)
Robot: Part Two (8/10)
State of Decay: Part Three (8/10)
The Ambassadors of Death: Episode 6 (8/10)
The Seeds of Death: Episode Six (8/10)
The Ambassadors of Death: Episode 2 (8/10)
The Ambassadors of Death: Episode 3 (8/10)
Robot: Part Four (8/10)
Robot: Part Three (7.5/10)
State of Decay: Part Four (7.5/10)- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Script and Continuity Department
Dennis Spooner was born on 1 December 1932 in Tottenham, London, England, UK. He was a writer, known for Department S (1969), The Champions (1968) and Champions. He was married to Pauline E. Hosking. He died on 20 September 1986 in Hertfordshire, England, UK.Serials:
The Daleks' Master Plan (8.5/10) with Terry Nation
The Time Meddler (8.5/10)
The Romans (8.5/10)
The Reign of Terror (8/10)
Episodes:
The Destruction of Time (9.5/10)
Volcano (9/10)
Inferno (9/10)
The Watcher (9/10)
Checkmate (8.5/10)
Escape Switch (8.5/10)
Coronas of the Sun (8.5/10)
Golden Death (8.5/10)
All Roads Lead to Rome (8.5/10)
The Abandoned Planet (8.5/10)
Guests of Madame Guillotine (8.5/10)
Prisoners of Conciergerie (8.5/10)
A Battle of Wits (8.5/10)
Conspiracy (8.5/10)
A Bargain of Necessity (8/10)
The Slave Traders (8/10)
The Meddling Monk (8/10)
A Land of Fear (7.5/10)
A Change of Identity (7.5/10)
The Tyrant of France (7/10)