Dave Martin (screenwriter)

David Ralph Martin (1 January 1935 – 30 March 2007)^[1] was an accomplished television and film writer. He was born in Handsworth, Birmingham, England and attended Handsworth Grammar School.

David contributed numerous scripts for the Doctor Who television series between 1971 and 1979 including:

• The Claws of Axos (1971)
• The Mutants (1972)
• The Three Doctors (1973)
• The Sontaran Experiment (1975)
• The Hand of Fear (1976)
• The Invisible Enemy (1977)
• Underworld (1978)
• The Armageddon Factor (1979)

For all of these, Martin collaborated with Bob Baker. Together they were nicknamed "The Bristol Boys" by the Doctor Who production teams with whom they worked.

Baker and Martin's most notable contributions to the Doctor Who mythos were probably the robot computer K-9 (created for The Invisible Enemy) and the renegade Time Lord Omega (created for The Three Doctors, Doctor Who's tenth anniversary story).

They also worked together on the 1975 children's science fantasy television serial Sky and Into the Labyrinth.

In 1986, he wrote the Doctor Who Make Your Own Adventure book Search for the Doctor.

At the beginning of 2007 Martin, a smoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer; he died of the disease in March.^[2] He is survived by his wife Celia (née Constanduros, born 1944),^[3] their children, Leo and Thea, and his daughter, Anna, from his first marriage.

References

1. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/jul/03/guardianobituaries.media
2. ↑ David Martin - Classic series writer passes away (published and accessed 12 April 2007)
3. ↑ Bridport partner of TV chef Keith Floyd in shock at his sudden death

External links

• Dave Martin on IMDb
• Guardian obituary