Gerald Davis (23 February 1930 – 31 August 1991)^[1] was a British television writer, best known for his contributions to the science-fiction genre. He also wrote for the soap operas Coronation Street and United!.

Career[edit]

Doctor Who[edit]

From 1966 until the following year, Davis was the story editor of the BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who,^[2] for which he created the character Jamie McCrimmon and co-created the popular cybernetic monsters known as the Cybermen, who continue to make appearances in the show, having been revived in the new run. His fellow co-creator of these creatures was the programme's unofficial scientific adviser, Dr. Kit Pedler.^[3]

Davis briefly returned to writing Doctor Who in 1975, penning the original script for Revenge of the Cybermen,^[4] though the transmitted version was heavily rewritten by then script-editor Robert Holmes.^[5] Davis also adapted several of his scripts into novelisations for Target Books' Doctor Who range.

Doomwatch[edit]

Following their work on Doctor Who, Davis and Pedler teamed up in 1970 to create the science-fiction programme Doomwatch.^[6] Doomwatch ran for three seasons on BBC1 from 1970 to 1972 and spawned a novel written by Davis and Pedler,^[7] a subsequent cinema film^[8] and a 1999 revival on Channel 5.^[9]

With Pedler he wrote the science-fiction novels Mutant 59: The Plastic Eater (1971), expanded from their script for the first episode of Doomwatch; Brainrack (1974); and The Dynostar Menace (1975).^[10]

Later work[edit]

In the 1980s Davis worked in America both in television and on feature films such as The Final Countdown (1980).^[11] In late 1989 he and Terry Nation made a joint but unsuccessful bid to take over production of Doctor Who and reformat the series mainly for the American market.

Death[edit]

Davis died on 31 August 1991.^[12]

Writing credits[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Gerry Davis at IMDb
• Filmography
• Gerry Davis at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database