The late Johnny Byrne had big ambitions for Doctor Who.
Although best remembered for his prolific contributions to cosy dramas such as All Creatures Great and Small (1978-90) and Heartbeat (1992-2010) he enjoyed a parallel career in science-fiction. He wrote numerous episodes of Gerry Anderson’s Space: 1999 (1975-77) before applying his typically thought-provoking approach to the Doctor Who stories The Keeper of Traken (1981) and Arc of Infinity (1983). On paper his third and final story, Warriors of the Deep (1984), was an edge-of-your-seat thriller, with vengeful Silurians and Sea Devils seeking to reclaim the Earth by prompting the planet’s superpowers to wipe each other out.