Feature by ANDREW PIXLEY
“It was going down the pan,” said Derrick Sherwin, recalling the Doctor Who he joined in 1967. “It had to be changed, it had to be developed, it had to come alive… I wanted to get it out of this stupid thing of wandering around the universe… It’s got to be to some extent made for the adults viewing, so they will not only need to watch it because the kids are watching it, but because they enjoy it.”
Born in High Wycombe on 16 April 1936, Derrick George Sherwin was a tough, determined man. He was often blunt and outspoken – a means to an end in getting his visions onto the small screen. Weak scripts were quickly replaced and strategies were adopted to make meagre budgets appear vast. Originally an actor and scenic designer, he spent two years on Doctor Who, first as story/script editor, then writer, and finally as producer overseeing a major transition – in the process creating two enduring pieces of the narrative’s ongoing mythology.