Christopher Bailey
Encyclopedia
Christopher Bailey is a lecturer of English at the University of Brighton
and is an occasional screenwriter
for television
.
He wrote the script for the Doctor Who
serial Kinda
in 1982. This script drew heavily on his own Buddhist faith and incorporated classic Buddhist terms such as dukkha
, panna
, karuna
, devaloka
and Mara
— indeed, "the Mara
" was the name of the villain of the piece.
The strength of his script led to Bailey writing a second story for Doctor Who
in 1983. This serial, Snakedance
, was a sequel to Kinda. New script editor Eric Saward
requested that Bailey devise another story idea, but neither the submitted outline for May Time (later renamed Manwatch) for the show's twenty first season, nor the revised version of the submission for the twenty second, retitled The Children of Seth, were taken further. As a result, the two Mara scripts were Bailey's final broadcast work for both Doctor Who and television in general and he returned to a career in academia. The Children of Seth has since been adapted for audio by Big Finish.
University of Brighton
The University of Brighton is an English university of the United Kingdom, with a community of over 23,000 students and 2,600 staff based on campuses in Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings. It has one of the best teaching quality ratings in the UK and a strong research record, factors which...
and is an occasional screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
for television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
.
He wrote the script for the Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
serial Kinda
Kinda (Doctor Who)
Kinda is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 1 February to 9 February 1982.-Synopsis:...
in 1982. This script drew heavily on his own Buddhist faith and incorporated classic Buddhist terms such as dukkha
Dukkha
Dukkha is a Pali term roughly corresponding to a number of terms in English including suffering, pain, discontent, unsatisfactoriness, unhappiness, sorrow, affliction, social alienation, anxiety,...
, panna
Prajña
Prajñā or paññā is wisdom, understanding, discernment or cognitive acuity. Such wisdom is understood to exist in the universal flux of being and can be intuitively experienced through meditation...
, karuna
Karuna
Karuā is generally translated as "compassion" or "pity". It is part of the spiritual path of both Buddhism and Jainism.-Buddhism:...
, devaloka
Deva (Buddhism)
A deva in Buddhism is one of many different types of non-human beings who share the characteristics of being more powerful, longer-lived, and, in general, living more contentedly than the average human being....
and Mara
Mara (demon)
In Buddhism, Māra is the demon that tempted Gautama Buddha by trying to seduce him with the vision of beautiful women who, in various legends, are often said to be Mara's daughters. In Buddhist cosmology, Mara personifies unwholesome impulses, unskillfulness, the "death" of the spiritual life...
— indeed, "the Mara
Mara (Doctor Who)
The Mara is a fictional monster in the long-running British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. It is a being of pure hatred, anger and greed, and requires the fear of its victims to survive. It exists in the minds of its victims and can transmit itself telepathically, although it can...
" was the name of the villain of the piece.
The strength of his script led to Bailey writing a second story for Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
in 1983. This serial, Snakedance
Snakedance
*In post-production, episode four of this story overran very badly. As a result, it had to be completely restructured. Originally the door for a third Mara adventure was to be left open, with closing scenes discussing the ultimate fate of the Great Crystal. Furthermore, a sequence in which the...
, was a sequel to Kinda. New script editor Eric Saward
Eric Saward
Eric Saward was born on 9 December 1944 and became a scriptwriter and script editor for the BBC, resigning from the latter post on the TV programme Doctor Who in 1986....
requested that Bailey devise another story idea, but neither the submitted outline for May Time (later renamed Manwatch) for the show's twenty first season, nor the revised version of the submission for the twenty second, retitled The Children of Seth, were taken further. As a result, the two Mara scripts were Bailey's final broadcast work for both Doctor Who and television in general and he returned to a career in academia. The Children of Seth has since been adapted for audio by Big Finish.