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Terrance Dicks | |
|---|---|
 Dicks in 2013 | |
| Born | Terrance William Dicks (1935-04-14)14 April 1935 |
| Died | 29 August 2019(2019-08-29) (aged 84) London, England |
| Alma mater | Downing College, Cambridge |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1962–2019 |
| Known for | Doctor Who TV scripts, novelisations and novels |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
Terrance William Dicks (14 April 1935 – 29 August 2019)[1] was an English author and television screenwriter, script editor and producer. In television, he had a long association with theBBC science-fiction seriesDoctor Who, working as a writer and also serving as the programme's script editor from 1968 to 1974. TheDoctor Who News Page described him as "arguably the most prolific contributor toDoctor Who".[2] He later became a script editor and producer of classic serials for the BBC.
Dicks wrote many children's books during the 1970s and 1980s. He also maintained his association withDoctor Who by adapting televised stories intonovelisations forTarget Books and in later years contributing to many documentaries and DVD commentaries for the series.
Born inEast Ham,[3] Essex (now part ofGreater London), Dicks was the only son of William, a tailor's salesman and Nellie (née Ambler), a waitress. His parents later ran apub, the Fox and Hounds, inForest Gate.[4] He excelled in English atEast Ham Grammar School and consumed literature ranging from classics to pulp thrillers and adventure stories. He won a scholarship to study English atDowning College, Cambridge, and later performed two years ofnational service in theBritish Army with theRoyal Fusiliers. Following his discharge from the armed forces, he worked for five years as an advertisingcopywriter, and started to write radio play scripts for theBBC in his spare time.[4]
His breakthrough into television came when friendMalcolm Hulke, whom he met when he rented a room from him,[4] asked for his help with the scripting of "The Mauritius Penny", an episode of the second series ofABC's action-adventureThe Avengers, for which Dicks was awarded a co-writer's credit. Dicks went on to co-write a further twoAvengers episodes with Hulke:[3] the second, "Intercrime", was later re-worked for the sixth and final series.
In 1968, Dicks was hired as assistantscript editor on the BBCscience-fiction TV seriesDoctor Who.[5] He was appointed head script editor the following year and earned his first writing credit for the programme when he and Hulke co-wrote the 10-part serialThe War Games, which concluded the series' sixth season and theSecond Doctor's (Patrick Troughton) tenure. The serial introduced the concept of theTime Lords and initiated the Doctor's exile to Earth, which would be a major theme of theThird Doctor's tenure. Dicks had been the uncredited co-writer of the earlier serialThe Seeds of Death (1969), having extensively re-writtenBrian Hayles' original scripts.[6]
Dicks formed a highly productive working relationship with incomingDoctor Who producerBarry Letts, serving as script editor on all of Letts's five seasons as series producer from 1970 to 1974.[7] During his tenure as script editor onDoctor Who, Dicks oversaw a number of additions to the series' mythology that still exist in the modern era, including the following:[8]
During Dicks' tenure, the series also delved into social and political concepts. Sometimes these were straightforward and other times they were metaphors. Concepts and topics included the respect for all life (The Silurians), Great Britain joining the European Economic Community (in metaphor inThe Curse of Peladon),[9] apartheid (The Mutants),[10] global pollution (The Green Death) and equality for women (with the inclusion of Sarah Jane Smith as companion).
In 1972, Dicks embarked on a parallel career as an author with the publication of his first book,The Making of Doctor Who (a history of the production of the TV series), which was co-written by Hulke.[4]
After stepping down as script editor, Dicks continued his association withDoctor Who, writing four scripts for his successor,Robert Holmes: these wereRobot (1975,Tom Baker's first outing as theFourth Doctor),The Brain of Morbius (1976, for which Dicks was credited under the pseudonym Robin Bland after his displeasure at Holmes' re-writes prompted him to request that it be shown "under some bland pseudonym"),[11]Horror of Fang Rock (1977) andState of Decay (1980), a re-written version of a story originally titledThe Vampire Mutations,[11] which had been due for production duringseason 15. The BBC decided that the vampiric theme would clash with the plot of its new adaptation ofBram Stoker'sCount Dracula, which was due for transmission at roughly the same time, and replaced it withHorror of Fang Rock. His finalDoctor Who script was "The Five Doctors" (1983), a feature-length episode for the programme's 20th anniversary.
Dicks' other work forDoctor Who included two stage plays,Doctor Who and the Daleks in the Seven Keys to Doomsday (1974) andDoctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure (1989), and anaudio drama forBig Finish Productions titledComeback (2002), which was the first to feature former Doctor's companionSarah Jane Smith in a significant capacity. He went on to contribute several additional scripts to Big Finish including audio adaptations of his two-stage plays, aSixth Doctor-era story for the "Companion Chronicle" range, and aBernice Summerfield story, in 2011, which was the final script of his career.[12][13]
The first serial aired after Dicks' death, the 2020Thirteenth Doctor-era story "Spyfall", was dedicated to him.[14]
Dicks contributed heavily toTarget Books' series ofnovelisations of theDoctor Who TV serials, writing 67 of the titles published by the company. As Dicks explains in an interview in the documentaryBuilt for War (included on the 2006 DVD release ofThe Sontaran Experiment), he served as the unofficial editor of the Target Books range.[11] In this role, he would attempt to enlist the author of the original scripts to write the novelisation whenever possible, but if they refused or had other commitments, Dicks would usually undertake the work himself (although he also recruited other writers, including formerDoctor Who actorIan Marter and former series producerPhilip Hinchcliffe).
On one occasion, he enlistedRobert Holmes to novelise his script forThe Time Warrior, but when Holmes gave up after writing only one chapter, it was left to Dicks to complete the work. Dicks had better success in recruiting the original writers for the laterDoctor Who serials, and was required to adapt only oneSixth Doctor story himself (The Mysterious Planet; he again replaced Holmes, who had died in 1986). Dicks' name appears on the cover of noSeventh Doctor novelisations. His plans to publish a novelisation of his stage playDoctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure were not realised.
As of September, 1980, Terrance Dicks'Doctor Who novelisations had sold three-and-a-half million copies and had been translated into ten different languages.[15]
During the 1990s, Dicks contributed toVirgin Publishing's line of full-length, officially licensed, originalDoctor Who novels,New Adventures, which continued the series' storyline following the TV cancellation in 1989. Dicks wrote threeDoctor Who novels for Virgin, and continued to write occasionally for the franchise afterBBC Books assumed the licence in 1997. He wrote the first of theEighth Doctor Adventures, titledThe Eight Doctors, which was, for a time, the best-selling originalDoctor Who novel.World Game, featuring theSecond Doctor, is set during "Season 6B". Later contributions to the range were theQuick Reads booksMade of Steel[16] andRevenge of the Judoon, both featuring theTenth Doctor andMartha Jones.
His finalDoctor Who short story, "Save Yourself", was published posthumously by BBC Books in October 2019.[4]
A compilation of his work chosen by fans,The Essential Terrance Dicks, was published in two volumes in August 2021.[17]
Dicks also wrote for theATV soap operaCrossroads.[11] He co-created and wrote for the short-lived BBC science-fiction TV seriesMoonbase 3 (1973),[18] and wrote for theITC science-fiction seriesSpace: 1999 (1976).[19] During the early 1980s, Dicks served once more as script editor to producerBarry Letts on the BBC'sSunday Classics strand ofperiod dramas and literary adaptations.
When Letts returned to directing in 1985, Dicks succeeded him as the producer of theSunday Classics, overseeing productions such asOliver Twist (1985),David Copperfield (1986) andVanity Fair (1987),[20] before retiring from the BBC in 1988 to resume his career as a novelist.
It was through his work onDoctor Who books that Dicks became a writer of children's fiction, penning many successful titles during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1976, he wrote a trilogy forTarget Books,The Mounties, concerning aRoyal Canadian Mounted Police recruit. They were followed from 1979 to 1983 another trilogy,Star Quest, which was later re-printed byBig Finish Productions.
Beginning in 1978, Dicks pennedThe Baker Street Irregulars inspired bythe Sherlock Holmes characters; the series eventually ran to 10 books,[3] the last published in 1987. In 1981, he commenced work on a series of six children's horror novels withCry Vampire. In 1987, Dicks started a new series for very young children titledT. R. Bear, resulting in a further seven books. There followed theSally Ann series, about aragdoll,Magnificent Max, about a cat, andThe Adventures of Goliath (Dicks' longest series, at 18 books), about agolden retriever. Another five books concerning aSt. Bernard dog make up theHarvey series.
Jonathan's Ghost and its three sequels were published in 1988, and the three-partMacMagic series followed in 1990.The Littlest Dinosaur was published in 1993 andThe Littlest on Guard in 1994. Other works that Dicks published in 1994 includeWoof! The Never Ending Tale, theCold Blood series and theChronicles of a Computer Game Addict series (both in four parts). Between 1998 and 2000, Dicks pennedChanging Universe trilogy. In 2000 and 2001, Dicks produced the 12-book series,The Unexplained.
As well as his numerous fictional works, Dicks also penned several non-fiction books for children,[20] includingEurope United,A Riot of Writers,Uproar in the House,A Right Royal History andThe Good, the Bad and the Ghastly.
Dicks lived inHampstead, London. In 1963, he married Elsa Germaney, a teacher and later aQuaker recording clerk.[4] They had three sons: Stephen, Jonathan and Oliver.[21] They also had three grandchildren: Amy, Nelly Rose, and Rufus.[22]
Dicks died in London on 29 August 2019 after a short illness.[4][23][24][25]
Most of Dicks'Doctor Who novelisations incorporated the prefix "Doctor Who and..." before the title, as did most of the series' novelisations prior to 1981. Several of his novels were subsequently re-printed in omnibus editions, such asThe Adventures of Doctor Who andThe Dalek Omnibus. In the late 1980s,Star Books issued "2-in-1" collections of selectedTarget Books novelisations, which included several of Dicks' works.
| Production | Notes | Broadcaster |
|---|---|---|
| The Avengers | Writer, 5 episodes:
| ITV |
| Crossroads |
| ITV |
| Doctor Who | Writer, 35 episodes (1968–1969; 1974–1977; 1980, 1983):
Script Editor, 156 episodes (1968–74):
| BBC1 |
| Moonbase 3 | Co-Creator and uncredited Script Editor, 6 episodes:
| BBC1 |
| Space: 1999 | Writer, 1 episode:
| ITV |
| The Classic Serial | Script Editor, 134 episodes (1981-8):
| BBC1 |
| Doctor Who:Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans |
| N/A |
| Doctor Who:Mindgame |
| N/A |
| Doctor Who:Mindgame Trilogy |
| N/A |
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Result | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | British Academy Television Awards | David Copperfield(shared withBarry Letts) | Best Children's Programme (Entertainment/Drama) | Nominated | |
| 1988 | CableACE Award | The Diary of Anne Frank | Children's Entertainment Special or Series - 9 and Older | Nominated |
| Preceded by | Doctor Who Script Editor 1968–69 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Doctor Who Script Editor 1969–74 | Succeeded by |
