Doctor Who: The Second History Collection

Donald Cotton became interested in writing and acting after he joined the drama society at Nottingham University, where he had studied zoology before transferring to English and philosophy. During the Fifties he wrote for and appeared in numerous stage revues. His first television work – a musical adaptation of A Christmas Carol – came in 1955 for ITV. His BBC debut was in 1958, as a contributor to a late-night revue show, Better Late! This was followed by a period of radio work as a writer for the BBC’s Third Programme. It was story editor Donald Tosh who contacted Cotton about writing for Doctor Who and this resulted in his penning two scripts for the show: The Myth Makers (1965) and The Gunfighters (1966). At this point Tosh left the show, and the new production team wished to steer away from adventures in history, so Cotton’s association with the programme ended. Having helped to develop the BBC series Adam Adamant Lives!, he grew disillusioned with television and concentrated instead on the theatre, where he had continued success as a playwright and actor throughout the Sixties and Seventies. He retired from acting in 1981, but continued his writing career into the Eighties. He novelised his two Doctor Who scripts for the Target range, and also novelised Dennis Spooner’s similarly themed The Romans. Target Books also produced an original novel called The Bodkin Papers: Being the Memoirs of Josiah Bodkin, Bird about Town and Parrot of the World (1986), the bird in question being the 150-year-old parrot companion to Charles Darwin. Cotton died in January 2000. Author biography by David J. Howe, author of The Target Book, the complete illustrated guide to the Target Doctor Who novelisations.

Gerry Davis became a BBC story editor in 1965 at the invitation of Head of Serials Donald Wilson, who had been impressed by a course he had written on TV scriptwriting. He had previously been a newspaper reporter, a merchant seaman and a writer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and had studied opera and worked as a cinema translator in Italy. His first BBC assignments were on 199 Park Lane and United! and he was then given the chance to take over from Donald Tosh on Doctor Who. Although he never saw entirely eye to eye with producer Innes Lloyd, he remained in this post for over a year before moving on to edit another show, First Lady. He later returned to freelance writing, his greatest success coming in the early Seventies with the BBC's ecological drama Doomwatch, which he co-created with Kit Pedler. From the mid-Seventies he spent most of his time in Hollywood, writing for American films and TV series and teaching screen-writing courses at the UCLA Film School. He died on 31 August 1991, aged sixty-four.

Malcolm Hulke was a prolific and respected television writer from the 1950s until the 1970s. His writing credits included the early science fiction Pathfinders series, as well as The Avengers. Hulke was first approached to write for Doctor Who when the series first started, but his idea for The Hidden Planet was not pursued. In 1967 he wrote The Faceless Ones (with David Ellis) for the Second Doctor. By 1969, Hulke's friend and occasional writing partner Terrance Dicks was Script Editor for Doctor Who and needed a ten part story to replace other scripts and write out Patrick Troughton's Doctor. Together, they wrote The War Games, which for the first time explained the Doctor's origins and introduced his people, the Time Lords. Hulke continued to write for Doctor Who, providing a story for each of the Third Doctor's series. Malcolm Hulke died in 1979, soon after completing his novelisation of The War Games.

Terrance Dicks became Script Editor of Doctor Who in 1968, co-writing Patrick Troughton’s classic final serial, The War Games, and editing the show throughout the entire Jon Pertwee era to 1974. He wrote many iconic episodes and serials for the show after, including Tom Baker's first episode as the Fourth Doctor, Robot; Horror at Fang Rock in 1977; State of Decay in 1980; and the 20th anniversary special, The Five Doctors in 1983. Terrance novelised over sixty of the original Doctor Who stories for Target books, including classics like Doctor Who and the Abominable Snowmen and Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion, inspiring a generation of children to become readers and writers. He died in August 2019, only weeks before the publication of his final Doctor Who short story, ‘Save Yourself’, in The Target Storybook.

Terence Dudley was already a seasoned TV professional by the time he came to work on Doctor Who.

He started out in the 1950s as a playwright and soon went into scriptwriting, his early credits including The River Flows East for the BBC in 1962. He became a BBC staff producer/director in the early 1960s and thereafter pursued parallel writing and directing careers. In 1963 he was invited by Doctor Who's original producer, Verity Lambert, to write the series' very first story (as a replacement for Antony Coburn's 100,000 BC) but declined. Directing credits included Maigret (1963), Dr Finlay's Casebook, The Troublemakers (1966), Vendetta (1966-67), Softly, Softly (1967-68) and The First Lady (1968).

Directing led on to producing, and he spend periods of time in charge of series such as Cluff (1964), The Mask of Janus (1965), Doomwatch (1970-72), The Regiment (1973) and Survivors (1975-1977) - for some of which he also wrote and directed. After Survivors he left the BBC to become a freelancesdirector. Apart from Doctor Who, other productions on which he worked in that capacity included Flesh and Blood (1980) and All Creatures Great and Small.

He died on Christmas Day 1988.

(Author biography by David J. Howe, author of The Target Book, the complete illustrate guide to the Target Doctor Who novelisations.)