ROBERT BANKS STEWART 1931-2016
In Part Four of The Brain of Morbius (1976) the Doctor challenges his opponent to what he calls a “mind-bending contest”. With grim determination the Doctor grasps one end of some rudimentary metal apparatus while Morbius grips the other. A screen in the middle of the device displays their mental struggle, as the Doctor tries to regress the psychotic Time Lord through his past incarnations. It’s not clear whether the unfamiliar faces that appear on the screen belong to Morbius or the Doctor, but fans have long been aware of their true identity: they include Doctor Who’s producer Philip Hinchcliffe, script editor Robert Holmes and the serial’s director Christopher Barry. One of the other faces belongs to Robert Banks Stewart. The writer had absolutely no connection to the serial, but was held in sufficiently high regard by his colleagues to merit a place in this mischievous roll of honour.
Robert Banks Stewart had written Terror of the Zygons, broadcast a few months earlier in autumn 1975, and The Seeds of Doom, the story that would immediately follow The Brain of Morbius. These would be his only televised contributions to the series, but they were enough to establish his lasting reputation as one of Doctor Who’s outstanding talents.