Trailblazer behind the Time Lords
Terrance Dicks Doctor Who scriptwriter
BORN APRIL 14, 1935 – DIED AUGUST 29, 2019, AGED 84
MILLIONS of children cowered behind their sofas when the creations of scriptwriter Terrance Dicks were brought to life in memorable series of the sci-fi classic DoctorWho.
As an assistant script editor from 1968, he co-wrote with Malcolm Hulke the second Doctor Patrick Troughton’s 10-part classic, The War Games.
The series ran in 1969 and introduced key elements in the programme, including the Time Lords and the Doctor’s people.
In 1970, with incoming producer Barry Letts, there was a major relaunch of the series, with Jon Pertwee taking the lead role.
Clever writing attracted a wider audience who liked the “psychedelic” brightening up of the props and more flamboyant characters.
Political correctness reared its head even in those days.
Dicks was not happy with the anti-imperial tone of The Mutants in 1972 because he was very much for the British Empire.
With the rise of feminism, he
fought attempts to move away from the “damsel in distress” themes because he regarded himself as a self-confessed and unreconstructed male chauvinist.
He found time to adapt many of the episodes into novelisations, which proved hugely popular, especially with children.
He also wrote two spin-off stage plays, The Seven Keys to Doomsday in 1974 and The Ultimate Adventure in 1989.
Next month his final short story, Save Yourself, will be published in BBC Books’ Doctor Who: The Target Storybook.
Born in East Ham, London, Dicks was proud of his roots.
The son of a tailor’s salesman and a waitress, he went to grammar school before winning a scholarship to Cambridge University, followed by National Service.
Once, when asked what inspired him to write, he replied: “An advance and a contract.”
Before Doctor Who he worked with Malcolm Hulke on The Avengers and ITV’s Crossroads.
He also wrote mysteries, including The Baker Street Irregulars.
When Dr Who was revived in 2005, he said he enjoyed the shows but found the plots too fastmoving and could not bear EastEnders because everyone in the programme seemed to be enduring a rotten time.
He married teacher Elsa Germaney in 1963 and she survives him along with their sons, Oliver, Jonathan and Stephen, and two granddaughters.