Terrance Dicks’ letters to the writers of The Three Doctors and Planet of the Daleks reveal some fascinating insights into the work of the Doctor Who script editor.

By CHRIS BENTLEY

Script editor Terrance Dicks in the Doctor Who production office in 1970.

Letters from Dicks to writers Terry Nation, and Bob Baker and Dave Martin.

“No show can be a real success unless the script is sound. But numbers of freelance writers work on each show, each one writing a different serial. Someone is needed to find the best writers for the show, co-ordinate their efforts, evaluate different story ideas, help writers to develop their ideas and cope with various script crises. Scripts prove to be too long or too short at the last moment, actors have difficulty with a scene or a line, writers fall ill and can’t complete their assignments… All this is another full-time job. Although the final decisions are his, the Producer will delegate most of the work directly concerned with the writing of the show to his Script Editor.”

This was Terrance Dicks writing in the revised edition of The Making of Doctor Who (published by Target in 1976) about his own responsibilities on the series between 1968 and 1974. Although Doctor Who had been his very first script-editing assignment, by the time stories were being developed for Season 10 in 1971-72, Dicks had a keen understanding of how to write dramatic science fiction for multi-camera television.

He also enjoyed amiable and humorous interactions with the series’ writers, offering encouragement rather than criticism even when their scripts needed pretty drastic alteration. This comes across very clearly in his correspondence with the Season 10 writers, and particularly with the authors of The Three Doctors and Planet of the Daleks.