Malcolm Hulke

Malcolm Hulke was a British television writer and author of the industry 'bible' "Writing for Television in the 70s". He is remembered chiefly for his work on the science fiction series Doctor Who although he contributed to many popular television series of the era.

His first major television work was a series of 1950s children's science fiction serials - Target Luna, Pathfinders in Space, Pathfinders to Mars, and Pathfinders to Venus - which he co-wrote with Eric Paice for the British ABC network. The producer of the series was Sydney Newman, who was later responsible for the creation of Doctor Who as Head of Drama at BBC Television.

In addition to the Pathfinders series and Doctor Who (which he started writing for in 1967) Hulke contributed scripts to The Avengers, The Protectors, Danger Man, Crossroads, football soap United! and Gideon's Way.

He also contributed to Target Books' range of Doctor Who novelisations, adapting all but one of his scripts before his death, as well as 1973's The Green Death. Unlike many Target novelisations, which tended to offer little that wasn't in the camera script apart from the words "he said" and "she said" in the appropriate places, Hulke's novelisations were noted for providing a wealth of additional background detail and character depth.

He was a friend and mentor to Terrance Dicks, with whom he collaborated in 1962 on The Avengers episode "The Mauritius Penny", which was Dicks' first television credit; The War Games, Dicks' first Doctor Who script, and on the non-fiction book The Making of Doctor Who.