Terrance Dicks at 80

Today we celebrate 80 years of the writer Terrance Dicks, who was born on the 14th April 1935.

Arguably the most prolific contributor to Doctor Who, as well as being script editor in the Pertwee era he also wrote a number of memorable adventures for the television series, including both the introductory story Robot for fourth Doctor Tom Baker and the series own 20th Anniversary celebration, The Five Doctors. His Target novelisations accounted for over sixty of the Doctor's adventures, and he was later invited to write a story for the launch of the Virgin New Adventures in 1991 (Timewyrm: Exodus), and then to launch the new official range of BBC Books in 1996 with The Eight Doctors. He has written for 21st Century Who, contributing the "Quick Reads" books Made of Steel and Revenge of the Judoon. He also wrote the novelisation of the Sarah Jane Adventures pilot, Invasion of the Bane.

Speaking of the Doctor's best friend, Dicks re-introduced the character for Big Finish, writing their first Sarah Jane Smith audio adventure Comeback.

He brought Doctor Who to the stage twice, with Doctor Who and the Daleks in Seven Keys to Doomsday in 1974 and then The Ultimate Adventure in 1989. He adapted both to be released on audio by Big Finish in 2008, and then wrote a followup to the latter, Beyond the Ultimate Adventure in 2011.

As well as fiction, he also co-wrote arguably the first ever reference book for the series, The Making of Doctor Who, first published in 1972 - a time long before the wealth of factual literature available to Doctor Who fans today! Other publications include The Doctor Who Monster Book and The Doctor Who Dinosaur Book.

For many of us of a certain age, however, he will always be *the* storyteller of the Doctor's early adventures.

Happy birthday, "uncle" Terrance!