Chris Boucher

1970s Doctor Who writer CHRIS BOUCHER died in December, aged 79. JONATHAN MORRIS tunes in his Time Scanner to remember the man who created the technical Tesh and the savage Sevateem, the creepy ‘Robots of Death’ and the hideous gestalt entity known as the Fendahl…

Screenwriter, script editor and novelist Chris Boucher.

Since he wrote just three Doctor Who storiesfor television, all shown in 1977, you could be forgiven for thinking that Chris Boucher only made a minor contribution to the series. But when you consider which three stories they were, it becomes immediately obvious that his contribution was far from insignificant. The Face of Evil introduced the knife-wielding Sevateem tribeswoman Leela, one of the most memorable companions ever. The creepy murder mystery The Robots of Death made such an impression that it was repeated within the year, and selected to be one of the very first serials released on video and again on DVD. Finally, the supernatural horror story Image of the Fendahl proved to be the last of the series’ great mid-1970s Gothic tales, gleefully rewriting the history of mankind’s origins.

Chris Boucher started writing to help support his young family while he was employed full-time at Calor Gas. His first success was in writing topical ‘quickie’ jokes for Braden’s Week (1968) and the variety show The Saturday Crowd (1969), followed by a sketch for Dave Allen At Large (1972) and further bits and pieces for the magazine programme That’s Life (1974). However, all of this was produced on a non-commissioned basis. Writing ‘on spec’ was enough to get him an ‘additional material’ credit on the programmes themselves but not enough to get a credit in the Radio Times. This work did, however, get him an agent, together with two writing credits on the sitcom Romany Jones (1973-75) and a comedy of his own, Slater’s Day, which sadly didn’t get further than a 1974 pilot.

Hinchcliffe and Holmes suggested that Boucher should write a story about a people ruled by a malfunctioning computer.

Boucher supplied gags to The Saturday Crowd (1969, above) and Dave Allen At Large (in 1972).

B oucher’s agent then suggested he try Doctor Who, so he submitted, again ‘on spec’, the opening episode of a four-parter, plus a storyline for the other three. These were strong enough to grant him a meeting with the series’ producer, Philip Hinchcliffe, and its script editor, Robert Holmes. Hinchcliffe and Holmes suggested Boucher should try writing a story about a people ruled by a malfunctioning computer; later briefs involved setting it on a jungle world and incorporating a carving of the Doctor’s face on a cliff, the consequence of an earlier visit. Boucher later recalled that they worked him very hard on the project; he spent about four months developing increasingly detailed storylines before Hinchcliffe and Holmes asked him to write a script.

Bert Jones (James Beck) and wife Betty (Jo Rowbottom) in the LWT caravan park sitcom Romany Jones (1973-75).

The rockface model bearing the Doctor’s visage from The Face of Evil (1977).

The Doctor (Tom Baker) surrounded by members of the Sevateem tribe in The Face of Evil – including Tomas (Brendan Price), Leela (Louise Jameson) and Calib (Leslie Schofield).

The Tribe of the Free, as seen in The Trial of a Time Lord (1986), were led by Katryca (Joan Sims).

The result, The Face of Evil (1977), has much to commend it – with some striking imagery, and an unusually high level of scientific and science-fiction literacy in the way it explores its concepts. One of the Doctor’s lines has even become a social media meme: “The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. They don’t alter their views to fit the facts. They alter the facts to fit their views, which can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering.”