I don't really like having to do these, but I really thought it necessary in this case. Yesterday Doctor Who fans around the world received the sad news that writer Terrance Dicks had passed away. He is a figure whose impact on the world of Doctor Who, and indeed on the youth of Britain for many years, cannot be overstated.
Terrance entered the world of Doctor Who as the assistant script editor in 1968, and the next year became the full time script editor, a role he held until 1974, which I think makes him the longest serving editor, certainly overseeing the most episodes. If you don't know what script editor means, you know how modern Doctor Who has a "showrunner"? Well, in the old days, that role was split between the producer (who oversaw the main outline of the series, commissioned scripts etc.) and the script editor (who did the nuts and bolts of, well, editing the scripts, making sure things fit the overall plan and such). During his time on the show, Terrance covered the end of the Troughton era (and therefore the end of Who in black-&-white), and all of the Pertwee era, a bit of a high water mark for the show. Amongst other things, he helped develop UNIT as a regular part of the show, laid down properly the lore around regeneration (which hadn't really been explained properly before), and introduced the character of The Master.
That alone would make him very notable in the show's history, but he also wrote many important episodes too. His first full script (after having to practically rewrite The Seeds of Death uncredited) was a collaboration with Malcolm Hulke (who'd also write many of Pertwee's best serials), and it was (and remains to be) one of the show's all time classics; The War Games. Not only was it significant in that it was Patrick Troughton's departure, it was also where we first learned about the Time Lords. Yes, a key part, perhaps The key part, of the show's lore, one that is still referenced today, was set up here. Now that's something special in itself, but the fact that it was in a damn fine story in its own right, an enormously entertaining anti-war tale, makes it truly special. Terrance would later also write Robot (Tom Baker's first serial), Horror of Fang Rock, State of Decay, and the Twentieth Anniversary special, The Five Doctors, all of which introduced ideas that many writers would later expand upon. He also did the first draft to another important serial The Brain of Morbius, but Robert Holmes rewrote so much Dicks insisted on a pseudonym for making the story "bland"; so that one was credited to "Robin Bland"!
But perhaps his biggest contribution was in the novelisation range produced by Target Books. Before VHS, this was how you experienced Doctor Who stories after you they had aired. Terrance adapted over sixty books to this format, which is over a third of all classic Doctor Who stories. In fact, the only bits of the Third Doctor era not written by him were Malcolm Hulke's serials, The Daemons, The Green Death, and for the really pedantic the very first bit of The Time Warrior (Thanks Nicholas Pegg for that little bit of trivia!). Dicks did a fantastic job bringing these stories to the page; yes, he was working from existing scripts, but his script editing skills worked wonders in here. We had versions of these stories to enjoy free from restrictions of a BBC budget. Dicks would later also contribute to the original novel ranges, and although his ones weren't all home runs, there were still some fun titles in there, like Blood Harvest and Timewyrm: Exodus from The New Adventures range.
I first really became aware of him finding a paperback copy of Doctor Who and the Dalek Invasion of Earth in my local library, just as I was being allowed to withdraw things from the young readers' section. I still remember how well I felt that story come alive on the page, with so many details that caught my young imagination. In fact, when I finally saw the actual serial years later, I was pretty let down (especially for how much I had built up The Slyther in my head based on what was in the book), though I do appreciate it these days. After that, I started checking out all of the books I could find, and even as I'm writing this I can remember little touches he added to various stories in these volumes. I remember him adding to The Deadly Assassin a moment just as The Master has prepared his staser rifle for his assassination plan, along the lines of "It amused the Master to think that with just a tiny movement of his finger, he could bring death to any of the little figures below". He added a good moment to The Sunmakers, when as the mob throws Gatherer Hade off the roof, they have a moment of guilt as what they just did sinks in. And perhaps his best one was in The Web of Fear (another one from my library) when he added an extra scene which in retrospect was a huge omission from the TV version; the moment when The Doctor and Lethbridge-Stewart (not the Brigadier yet) actually met for the first time. His Target books are practically how I learned to read at an adult level, and I doubt I'm the only one; it could be said he has an undersung legacy in terms of child literacy in this country.
Terrance Dicks was a great ambassador for the show, and his books meant a lot to a whole generation; I know for a fact that there are authors working today because of how they got into his Target books. What's more, he co-wrote with Malcolm Hulke The Making of Doctor Who, back in the 70s, which had multiple legacies, not least was giving many children an idea as to the practicality of TV production. Also in the book was one particular quote, which summed up the idea of the show perfectly, and it's that I'm going to leave this little homage post with. He did much work outside Doctor Who of course, working as a children's author, and other TV projects for years, but he wouldn't have minded at all that we will remember him best for his contributions to one of the greats of telefantasy, with these words that were memorably made part of the dialogue to the fiftieth anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor.
“He never gives in, and never gives up, however overwhelming the odds against him. The Doctor believes in good and fights evil. Though often caught up in violent situations, he is a man of peace. He is never cruel or cowardly.”
Terrance Dicks 1935 - 2019
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