Robert Holmes (scriptwriter)
Encyclopedia
This entry is about the television scriptwriter. For other people with the same name, see Robert Holmes (disambiguation).
Robert Colin Holmes (2 April 1926 in Hertfordshire
– 24 May 1986) was an English television scriptwriter, who for over twenty-five years contributed to some of the most popular programmes screened in the UK. He is particularly remembered for his work on science fiction programmes
, most notably his extensive contributions to Doctor Who
. Holmes suffered ill-health from the early-1980s and died in mid-1986.
regiment in Burma. He rapidly earned a commission, and as such became the youngest commissioned officer in the entire British army during the Second World War. The fact that he lied about his age to get into the army was discovered at his commissioning, but apparently the only reaction was by a general who praised him, adding that he had done the same thing himself.
Soon after the end of the war, Holmes returned to England and left the army, deciding to join the police. He trained at Hendon Police College
, graduating the top of his year and joining the Metropolitan Police
in London, serving at Bow Street
Police Station.
It was whilst serving at a Police officer that Holmes first began to develop an interest in writing as a career. When giving evidence in court for prosecutions against offenders, he would often note the excitement and frantic work of the journalists reporting on the cases, and decided that he would like to do similar work. To this end, he taught himself shorthand
in his spare time and eventually resigned from the Police force.
He quickly found work writing for both local and national newspapers, initially in London and later in the Midlands
. He also filed reports for the Press Association
, which could be syndicated to a variety of sources, such as local or foreign newspapers. In the late 1950s he worked for a time writing and editing short stories for magazines, before receiving his first break in television when he contributed an episode to the famous medical series Emergency Ward 10
(1957).
, before in the early 1960s writing for a range of crime-related dramas: Dixon of Dock Green
, The Saint
, Ghost Squad
, Public Eye
and Intrigue all dealt with law enforcement, and benefiting from Holmes' real-life experiences.
It was in 1965 that he first began writing in the science-fiction genre, when he contributed scripts to Undermind
, a body-snatching drama from ITV
. He also worked in film for the only time, storylining the movie
Invasion
, several elements from which would later crop up in his 1970 Doctor Who serial Spearhead from Space
, and which had also been inspired by Nigel Kneale
's 1955 Quatermass II
serial.
. There, the Head of Drama Serials wrote back to Holmes, informing him that they were no longer interested in producing such serials, but that he might have better luck if he tried submitting it to the Doctor Who production office. This he did, and had a fruitful meeting with the show's then story editor Donald Tosh
; but when Tosh left the programme shortly afterwards, the script was forgotten and Holmes moved on to other projects.
In 1968, after some work on other projects appeared to be falling through, Holmes decided on the off-chance to re-submit The Trap (now entitled The Space Trap) to the Doctor Who office, and again found a favourable response, this time from Assistant Script Editor Terrance Dicks
, who developed it with Holmes to cover the eventuality of an agreed script falling through. At the beginning of the sixth season, there was no slot available for Holmes' script, but the production staff began experiencing a number of problems with scheduled scripts. The Dominators
, the first story in the season, ended one episode earlier, resulting in an extra episode being tacked onto the following story, The Mind Robber
. When the fourth six-part storyline fell through, the story before
was extended by two episodes while Dicks worked with Holmes to adapt the The Krotons
to fill the rest of the gap in the schedule.
The story was regarded as a success by the production team, who quickly commissioned Holmes to write a second story for the season, The Space Pirates
. Holmes and Dicks got on very well, so when Dicks officially took over as script editor he frequently turned to Holmes for contributions.
Holmes wrote Jon Pertwee
's debut serial as the Third Doctor, Spearhead from Space, in 1970. During the early 1970s he also wrote for another BBC science-fiction show, Doomwatch
, as well as other programmes such as the ATV
series Spyder's Web
.
Holmes was commissioned to write the first story of season eight in 1971, Terror of the Autons
. The story was considered a great success. Holmes would go on to contribute two more stories in 1973 and 1974. Holmes introduced two recurring alien races to Doctor Who: the Auton
s and the Sontaran
s. Terrance Dicks intended to have Holmes replace him as script editor after he left. Holmes accepted the offer while the season was still in production, editing (uncredited) Death to the Daleks
.
Holmes was known for his morbid sense of humour and his inclination to write material that was often dark and disturbing. The previous producer Barry Letts often had Holmes tone down his writing, but Letts's successor Philip Hinchcliffe
wanted to take the programme in a darker and more dynamic direction along with the introduction of its new star Tom Baker
.
Holmes continued as script editor for the next three years, seeing Doctor Who through one of its most successful eras in terms of both viewing figures and critical acclaim. Despite this, a number of stories came under fire for being excessively violent or too frightening in tone by Mary Whitehouse
and her National Viewers' and Listeners' Association. Some of the most controversial stories were written by Holmes himself. A scene from Holmes's story, The Deadly Assassin
, in which the Fourth Doctor's head is held under water as the cliffhanger, caused what is commonly regarded as the noticeable controversy of the time. On 11 February 1977, the Daily Express
published an interview with Holmes by Jean Rook
under the title "Who do you think you are, scaring my innocent child?", in which Holmes said "Parents would be terribly irresponsible to leave a six-year-old to watch it alone. It's geared to the intelligent fourteen-year-old, and I wouldn't let any child under ten see it."
During this time, Holmes wrote three of his own credited stories for the programme, performed complete ground-up rewrites on at least two other stories (which were broadcast under pseudonyms) and had a strong hand in almost every other script. It was very much his era of the show, although by 1977 he felt that he had done all he could for the programme. He had intended to leave at the end of the fourteenth season, but was persuaded to stay on for a short while by the new producer Graham Williams
. While he script-edited the first two stories he commissioned for season 15, he left the third to his successor, Anthony Read. He also requested a last minute re-write so that K-9 would become an ongoing character. The difficult task of working him in was left to Read.
Nonetheless, Read was quick to turn to Holmes when it came to commissioning scripts for the sixteenth season, being keen to use writers who knew how the Doctor Who format was best used and could be relied upon to come up with usable scripts in good time. Holmes wrote two stories for the season, but after its broadcast in 1978, Holmes felt that he needed to distance himself from the programme. It would be six years before he wrote for Doctor Who again.
During this time he wrote for various series, such as the BBC science-fiction show Blake's 7
, on which he had been offered the Script Editor's post when it began in 1978, but declined as he had only just finished his role as such on Doctor Who and was not keen to go back to such strenuous work so quickly. Instead, he recommended writer Chris Boucher
, who he had used on Doctor Who, to the Producer, and thus it was Boucher who in turn commissioned Holmes to write for the show. One of the most notorious moments in the series occurred in Holmes' episode "Orbit" in the fourth season of Blake's 7, when Avon stalks Vila in a shuttle wanting to throw him off the ship. Other programmes Holmes worked on in the late seventies and early eighties included the police series Juliet Bravo
and an adaptation of the science-fiction novel Child of the Vodyoni, which was screened as The Nightmare Man
in 1981. He also script-edited detective series Shoestring (TV series).
In 1983, the then-current Doctor Who production team of producer John Nathan-Turner
and script editor Eric Saward
contacted Holmes about returning to script the planned twentieth anniversary special, due for broadcast that November. Holmes agreed and began writing the script. However, he found it increasingly difficult to include the many elements from the show's past that Nathan-Turner had insisted on. After the rejection of his first outline, he eventually gave up on the assignment (the special was eventually scripted by Terrance Dicks). The ordeal did lead to a friendship between Saward and Holmes that would eventually lead to Holmes return to the series for the following season.
When it came to writing the final story for the Fifth Doctor (played by Peter Davison
), Saward commissioned Holmes to write the storyline as he felt that Holmes's experience would allow him to create an epic departure for Davison and introduction of the Sixth Doctor
. The Caves of Androzani
, as the 1984 story came to be titled, is generally regarded by fans as being one of the best in the programme's entire run from 1963 onwards, being voted "all-time number one" story in a 2009 poll.
Holmes felt that Davison's adventures had been too easy, and decided to "put him through hell".
John Nathan-Turner wanted to shoot a story abroad for season 22, similar to previous seasons. The show's then US distributor Lionheart initially offered to co-fund filming in America. Holmes was commissioned to write the story. However, Lionheart suddenly backed out, and a number of other locations were considered. The production team settled on shooting in Seville
. Holmes found The Two Doctors
a difficult story, as Nathan-Turner had insisted that the Sontarans appear in it. Like much of season 22, the story came under fire for violence and disturbing content. Holmes was a vegetarian, so many themes in the story were deliberately intended to represent his views about eating meat and slaughtering animals for consumption.
When Doctor Who returned from hiatus in 1986, a new 14-episode story entitled The Trial of a Time Lord
was conceived to span the entire length of the season. Holmes was asked to write the first four-part segment of the season, which he subtitled "The Mysterious Planet". Production of the season was far from smooth – the growing tension between Nathan-Turner and Saward, a lack of faith in the production from BBC executives and Holmes's own poor health made the process difficult.
Holmes was particularly upset at comments made by BBC drama executive Jonathan Powell regarding his opening four episodes. He eventually agreed to write the closing two episodes of the season. Holmes began writing the first episode, but died in May 1986 after a short illness. Eric Saward
intervened and completed episode 13. Saward had agreed to write the final episode, but quickly left the production when he and Nathan-Turner were unable to agree on the ending. Nathan-Turner was forced to stand in as script editor while Pip and Jane Baker
(who had written episodes nine through twelve) wrote episode 14.
His last work to be broadcast was an episode of the detective series Bergerac, another show script-edited by Chris Boucher, transmitted in 1987. He did little work outside of television, although he did novelize his script of The Two Doctors for Target Books
in 1986. It was the 100th Doctor Who novelization published by Target Books.
Robert Holmes' work on Doctor Who has been discussed in numerous DVD documentaries, most notably Behind the Sofa, produced by Richard Molesworth, and which appears on the DVD release of The Two Doctors
.
Holmes' friend, fellow TV writer Roger Marshall
, claimed Holmes' work never received the acclaim it deserved because Holmes did most of his work in series television as opposed to television plays or serials. "In retrospect,he spent too much time tinkering around with lesser writers' work rather than getting on with his own".
Russell T Davies, writer/producer for Doctor Whos 21st-century revival, praised Holmes' talents, saying "Take The Talons of Weng Chiang, for example. Watch episode one. It's the best dialogue ever written. It's up there with Dennis Potter
. By a man called Robert Holmes. When the history of television drama comes to be written, Robert Holmes won't be remembered at all because he only wrote genre stuff. And that, I reckon, is a real tragedy."
Davies has also mentioned that Holmes' story The Ark in Space
is his favourite story from the original series.
Robert Colin Holmes (2 April 1926 in Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
– 24 May 1986) was an English television scriptwriter, who for over twenty-five years contributed to some of the most popular programmes screened in the UK. He is particularly remembered for his work on science fiction programmes
Science fiction on television
Science fiction first appeared on a television program during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality; this makes television an excellent medium...
, most notably his extensive contributions to 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...
. Holmes suffered ill-health from the early-1980s and died in mid-1986.
Early career
In 1944, at the age of eighteen, Holmes joined the army, fighting with the Queen's Own Cameron HighlandersQueen's Own Cameron Highlanders
The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders was an infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1793. In 1961 it was merged with the Seaforth Highlanders to form the Queen's Own Highlanders...
regiment in Burma. He rapidly earned a commission, and as such became the youngest commissioned officer in the entire British army during the Second World War. The fact that he lied about his age to get into the army was discovered at his commissioning, but apparently the only reaction was by a general who praised him, adding that he had done the same thing himself.
Soon after the end of the war, Holmes returned to England and left the army, deciding to join the police. He trained at Hendon Police College
Hendon Police College
Hendon Police College is the principal training centre for London's Metropolitan Police Service. Founded with the official name of the Metropolitan Police College, the college is today officially called the Peel Centre, although its original name is still used frequently...
, graduating the top of his year and joining the Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan police
Metropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...
in London, serving at Bow Street
Bow Street
Bow Street is a thoroughfare in Covent Garden, Westminster, London. It features as one of the streets on the standard London Monopoly board....
Police Station.
It was whilst serving at a Police officer that Holmes first began to develop an interest in writing as a career. When giving evidence in court for prosecutions against offenders, he would often note the excitement and frantic work of the journalists reporting on the cases, and decided that he would like to do similar work. To this end, he taught himself shorthand
Shorthand
Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed or brevity of writing as compared to a normal method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek stenos and graphē or graphie...
in his spare time and eventually resigned from the Police force.
He quickly found work writing for both local and national newspapers, initially in London and later in the Midlands
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
. He also filed reports for the Press Association
Press Association
The Press Association is the national news agency of the United Kingdom and Ireland, supplying multimedia news content to almost all national and regional newspapers, television and radio news, as well as many websites with text, pictures, video and data content globally...
, which could be syndicated to a variety of sources, such as local or foreign newspapers. In the late 1950s he worked for a time writing and editing short stories for magazines, before receiving his first break in television when he contributed an episode to the famous medical series Emergency Ward 10
Emergency Ward 10
Emergency – Ward 10 is a British television series shown on ITV between 1957 and 1967. Like The Grove Family, a series shown by the BBC between 1954 and 1957, Emergency – Ward 10 is considered to be one of British television's first major soap operas.-Overview:The series was made by the ITV...
(1957).
Television
Holmes found himself working almost exclusively in television drama after 1957. He began contributing episodes regularly to the adventure series Knight Errant before becoming that programme's Story Editor in 1959. He wrote several episodes of another medical drama, Dr. Finlay's CasebookDr. Finlay's Casebook (TV & radio)
Dr. Finlay's Casebook is a television series that was broadcast on the BBC from 1962 until 1971. Based on A. J. Cronin's novella entitled Country Doctor, the storylines centred on a general medical practice in the fictional Scottish town of Tannochbrae during the late 1920s...
, before in the early 1960s writing for a range of crime-related dramas: Dixon of Dock Green
Dixon of Dock Green
Dixon of Dock Green was a popular BBC television series that ran from 1955 to 1976, and later a radio series. Despite being a drama series, it was initially produced by the BBC's light entertainment department.-Overview:...
, The Saint
The Saint (TV series)
The Saint was an ITC mystery spy thriller television series that aired in the UK on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It centred on the Leslie Charteris literary character, Simon Templar, a Robin Hood-like adventurer with a penchant for disguise. The character may be nicknamed The Saint because the...
, Ghost Squad
Ghost Squad
Ghost Squad and Ghost Squad: Evolution are light gun rail shooter arcade game developed and published by Sega. A home version of the original Ghost Squad was developed for Nintendo's Wii game console.-Ghost Squad :...
, Public Eye
Public Eye
Public Eye is a British television series that ran from 1965 to 1975 . It was produced by ABC Television for three series, and Thames Television for a further four series...
and Intrigue all dealt with law enforcement, and benefiting from Holmes' real-life experiences.
It was in 1965 that he first began writing in the science-fiction genre, when he contributed scripts to Undermind
Undermind (TV series)
Undermind is a science fiction television drama produced by ABC Weekend Television in 1965. It ran for eleven episodes of sixty minutes each, of which only three survive...
, a body-snatching drama from ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
. He also worked in film for the only time, storylining the movie
Invasion
Invasion (1965 film)
Invasion is a 1965 low-budget British sci-fi film, directed by Alan Bridges for producer Jack Greenwood of Merton Park Studios.The film was written by Roger Marshall from a storyline by Robert Holmes who later re-used the story for the Jon Pertwee Doctor Who episode Spearhead from Space.It tells...
, several elements from which would later crop up in his 1970 Doctor Who serial Spearhead from Space
Spearhead from Space
Spearhead from Space is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 3 January to 24 January 1970. The serial opened Series 7 of the show and was the first to be produced in colour. The serial introduced Jon Pertwee as the...
, and which had also been inspired by Nigel Kneale
Nigel Kneale
Nigel Kneale was a British screenwriter from the Isle of Man. Active in television, film, radio drama and prose fiction, he wrote professionally for over fifty years, was a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award and was twice nominated for the British Film Award for Best Screenplay...
's 1955 Quatermass II
Quatermass II
Quatermass II is a British science-fiction serial, originally broadcast by BBC Television in the autumn of 1955. It is the second in the Quatermass series by writer Nigel Kneale, and the first of those serials to survive in its entirety in the BBC archives...
serial.
Doctor Who
The same year, he wrote on-spec an idea for a stand-alone science-fiction serial entitled The Trap, which he submitted to the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
. There, the Head of Drama Serials wrote back to Holmes, informing him that they were no longer interested in producing such serials, but that he might have better luck if he tried submitting it to the Doctor Who production office. This he did, and had a fruitful meeting with the show's then story editor Donald Tosh
Donald Tosh
Donald Tosh was a BBC screenwriter during the 1960s who contributed to the Doctor Who programme in 1965.Before working on Doctor Who Tosh was briefly script editor on the series Compact, and had helped to develop the show that eventually became Coronation Street.Tosh was the story editor for the...
; but when Tosh left the programme shortly afterwards, the script was forgotten and Holmes moved on to other projects.
In 1968, after some work on other projects appeared to be falling through, Holmes decided on the off-chance to re-submit The Trap (now entitled The Space Trap) to the Doctor Who office, and again found a favourable response, this time from Assistant Script Editor Terrance Dicks
Terrance Dicks
Terrance Dicks is an English writer, best known for his work in television and for writing a large number of popular children's books during the 1970s and 80s.- Early career :...
, who developed it with Holmes to cover the eventuality of an agreed script falling through. At the beginning of the sixth season, there was no slot available for Holmes' script, but the production staff began experiencing a number of problems with scheduled scripts. The Dominators
The Dominators
The Dominators is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in five weekly parts from 10 August to 7 September 1968.-Plot:...
, the first story in the season, ended one episode earlier, resulting in an extra episode being tacked onto the following story, The Mind Robber
The Mind Robber
The Mind Robber is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in five weekly parts from September 14 to October 12, 1968...
. When the fourth six-part storyline fell through, the story before
The Invasion (Doctor Who)
The Invasion is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in eight weekly parts from 2 November to 21 December 1968...
was extended by two episodes while Dicks worked with Holmes to adapt the The Krotons
The Krotons
The Krotons is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from December 28, 1968 to January 18, 1969...
to fill the rest of the gap in the schedule.
The story was regarded as a success by the production team, who quickly commissioned Holmes to write a second story for the season, The Space Pirates
The Space Pirates
The Space Pirates is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in six weekly parts from 8 March to 12 April 1969.-Plot:...
. Holmes and Dicks got on very well, so when Dicks officially took over as script editor he frequently turned to Holmes for contributions.
Holmes wrote Jon Pertwee
Jon Pertwee
John Devon Roland Pertwee , was an English actor. Pertwee is best known for his role in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, in which he played the third incarnation of the Doctor from 1970 to 1974, and as the title character in the series Worzel Gummidge...
's debut serial as the Third Doctor, Spearhead from Space, in 1970. During the early 1970s he also wrote for another BBC science-fiction show, Doomwatch
Doomwatch
Doomwatch is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC, which ran on BBC One between 1970 and 1972. The series was set in the then present-day, and dealt with a scientific government agency led by Doctor Spencer Quist , responsible for investigating and combating various...
, as well as other programmes such as the ATV
Associated TeleVision
Associated Television, often referred to as ATV, was a British television company, holder of various licences to broadcast on the ITV network from 24 September 1955 until 00:34 on 1 January 1982...
series Spyder's Web
Spyder's Web
Spyder's Web was a British crime drama television series aired in 1972. It starred Anthony Ainley as Clive Hawksworth and Patricia Cutts as Charlotte "Lottie" Dean as two secret agents working for the mysterious Spyder organisation in the interests of the British government.-Cast:* Patricia Cutts –...
.
Holmes was commissioned to write the first story of season eight in 1971, Terror of the Autons
Terror of the Autons
Terror of the Autons is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, broadcast in four weekly parts from 2 to 23 January 1971...
. The story was considered a great success. Holmes would go on to contribute two more stories in 1973 and 1974. Holmes introduced two recurring alien races to Doctor Who: the Auton
Auton
The Autons are an artificial life form from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and adversaries of the Doctor. First appearing in Jon Pertwee's first serial as the Doctor, Spearhead from Space in 1970, they were the first monsters on the show to be presented in colour.Autons...
s and the Sontaran
Sontaran
The Sontarans are a fictional extraterrestrial race of humanoids from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and also seen in spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures. They were created by writer Robert Holmes.-Culture:...
s. Terrance Dicks intended to have Holmes replace him as script editor after he left. Holmes accepted the offer while the season was still in production, editing (uncredited) Death to the Daleks
Death to the Daleks
Death to the Daleks is a four-part serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. First broadcast from February 23 to March 16, 1974, it comprises four 25-minute episodes. The narrative begins as the TARDIS suffers an energy drain and crash-lands on the planet Exxilon...
.
Holmes was known for his morbid sense of humour and his inclination to write material that was often dark and disturbing. The previous producer Barry Letts often had Holmes tone down his writing, but Letts's successor Philip Hinchcliffe
Philip Hinchcliffe
Philip Hinchcliffe is a British television producer, who brought shows including Private Schulz and The Charmer to the screen, probably best known for the overseeing of British television series Doctor Who from 1974-1977...
wanted to take the programme in a darker and more dynamic direction along with the introduction of its new star Tom Baker
Tom Baker
Thomas Stewart "Tom" Baker is a British actor. He is best known for playing the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series Doctor Who, a role he played from 1974 to 1981.-Early life:...
.
Holmes continued as script editor for the next three years, seeing Doctor Who through one of its most successful eras in terms of both viewing figures and critical acclaim. Despite this, a number of stories came under fire for being excessively violent or too frightening in tone by Mary Whitehouse
Mary Whitehouse
Mary Whitehouse, CBE was a British campaigner against the permissive society particularly as the media portrayed and reflected it...
and her National Viewers' and Listeners' Association. Some of the most controversial stories were written by Holmes himself. A scene from Holmes's story, The Deadly Assassin
The Deadly Assassin
The Deadly Assassin is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 30 October to 20 November 1976...
, in which the Fourth Doctor's head is held under water as the cliffhanger, caused what is commonly regarded as the noticeable controversy of the time. On 11 February 1977, the Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
published an interview with Holmes by Jean Rook
Jean Rook
Jean Kathleen Rook was an English journalist dubbed The First Lady of Fleet Street for her regular opinion column in the Daily Express...
under the title "Who do you think you are, scaring my innocent child?", in which Holmes said "Parents would be terribly irresponsible to leave a six-year-old to watch it alone. It's geared to the intelligent fourteen-year-old, and I wouldn't let any child under ten see it."
During this time, Holmes wrote three of his own credited stories for the programme, performed complete ground-up rewrites on at least two other stories (which were broadcast under pseudonyms) and had a strong hand in almost every other script. It was very much his era of the show, although by 1977 he felt that he had done all he could for the programme. He had intended to leave at the end of the fourteenth season, but was persuaded to stay on for a short while by the new producer Graham Williams
Graham Williams
Graham Williams was a British television producer and script editor, whose best known work was on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who....
. While he script-edited the first two stories he commissioned for season 15, he left the third to his successor, Anthony Read. He also requested a last minute re-write so that K-9 would become an ongoing character. The difficult task of working him in was left to Read.
Nonetheless, Read was quick to turn to Holmes when it came to commissioning scripts for the sixteenth season, being keen to use writers who knew how the Doctor Who format was best used and could be relied upon to come up with usable scripts in good time. Holmes wrote two stories for the season, but after its broadcast in 1978, Holmes felt that he needed to distance himself from the programme. It would be six years before he wrote for Doctor Who again.
During this time he wrote for various series, such as the BBC science-fiction show Blake's 7
Blake's 7
Blake's 7 is a British science fiction television series produced by the BBC for its BBC1 channel. The series was created by Terry Nation, a prolific television writer and creator of the Daleks for the television series Doctor Who. Four series of Blake's 7 were produced and broadcast between 1978...
, on which he had been offered the Script Editor's post when it began in 1978, but declined as he had only just finished his role as such on Doctor Who and was not keen to go back to such strenuous work so quickly. Instead, he recommended writer Chris Boucher
Chris Boucher
Chris Boucher is a British television writer, best known for his frequent contributions to two genres, science fiction and crime dramas.-Biography:...
, who he had used on Doctor Who, to the Producer, and thus it was Boucher who in turn commissioned Holmes to write for the show. One of the most notorious moments in the series occurred in Holmes' episode "Orbit" in the fourth season of Blake's 7, when Avon stalks Vila in a shuttle wanting to throw him off the ship. Other programmes Holmes worked on in the late seventies and early eighties included the police series Juliet Bravo
Juliet Bravo
Juliet Bravo is a British television series, which ran on BBC1 between 1980 and 1985. The theme of the series concerned a female police inspector who took over control of a police station in the fictional town of Hartley in Lancashire.-Programme name:...
and an adaptation of the science-fiction novel Child of the Vodyoni, which was screened as The Nightmare Man
The Nightmare Man
The Nightmare Man is a science fiction and horror television serial, produced by the BBC in 1981.An adaptation of the novel Child of Vodyanoi by David Wiltshire, The Nightmare Man is set on a small Scottish island with the population gripped by fear following a series of savage murders and the...
in 1981. He also script-edited detective series Shoestring (TV series).
In 1983, the then-current Doctor Who production team of producer John Nathan-Turner
John Nathan-Turner
John Nathan-Turner was the ninth producer of the long-running BBC science fiction series Doctor Who, from 1980 until it was effectively cancelled in 1989...
and 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....
contacted Holmes about returning to script the planned twentieth anniversary special, due for broadcast that November. Holmes agreed and began writing the script. However, he found it increasingly difficult to include the many elements from the show's past that Nathan-Turner had insisted on. After the rejection of his first outline, he eventually gave up on the assignment (the special was eventually scripted by Terrance Dicks). The ordeal did lead to a friendship between Saward and Holmes that would eventually lead to Holmes return to the series for the following season.
When it came to writing the final story for the Fifth Doctor (played by Peter Davison
Peter Davison
Peter Davison is a British actor, best known for his roles as Tristan Farnon in the television version of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small and the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, which he played from 1982 to 1984.-Early life:Davison was born Peter Moffett in Streatham,...
), Saward commissioned Holmes to write the storyline as he felt that Holmes's experience would allow him to create an epic departure for Davison and introduction of the Sixth Doctor
Sixth Doctor
The Sixth Doctor is the sixth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Colin Baker...
. The Caves of Androzani
The Caves of Androzani
The Caves of Androzani is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 8–16 March 1984. It was Peter Davison's last regular appearance as the Doctor, and marks the first appearance of Colin Baker in the role...
, as the 1984 story came to be titled, is generally regarded by fans as being one of the best in the programme's entire run from 1963 onwards, being voted "all-time number one" story in a 2009 poll.
Holmes felt that Davison's adventures had been too easy, and decided to "put him through hell".
John Nathan-Turner wanted to shoot a story abroad for season 22, similar to previous seasons. The show's then US distributor Lionheart initially offered to co-fund filming in America. Holmes was commissioned to write the story. However, Lionheart suddenly backed out, and a number of other locations were considered. The production team settled on shooting in Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
. Holmes found The Two Doctors
The Two Doctors
The Two Doctors is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in three weekly parts from 16 February to 2 March 1985. It starred Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant as the Sixth Doctor and his companion Peri, respectively...
a difficult story, as Nathan-Turner had insisted that the Sontarans appear in it. Like much of season 22, the story came under fire for violence and disturbing content. Holmes was a vegetarian, so many themes in the story were deliberately intended to represent his views about eating meat and slaughtering animals for consumption.
When Doctor Who returned from hiatus in 1986, a new 14-episode story entitled The Trial of a Time Lord
The Trial of a Time Lord
The Trial of a Time Lord is a fourteen-part British science fiction serial of the long running BBC series Doctor Who. The serial, produced as the twenty-third season of the Doctor Who television series, aired in weekly episodes from 6 September to 6 December 1986...
was conceived to span the entire length of the season. Holmes was asked to write the first four-part segment of the season, which he subtitled "The Mysterious Planet". Production of the season was far from smooth – the growing tension between Nathan-Turner and Saward, a lack of faith in the production from BBC executives and Holmes's own poor health made the process difficult.
Holmes was particularly upset at comments made by BBC drama executive Jonathan Powell regarding his opening four episodes. He eventually agreed to write the closing two episodes of the season. Holmes began writing the first episode, but died in May 1986 after a short illness. 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....
intervened and completed episode 13. Saward had agreed to write the final episode, but quickly left the production when he and Nathan-Turner were unable to agree on the ending. Nathan-Turner was forced to stand in as script editor while Pip and Jane Baker
Pip and Jane Baker
"Pip" and Jane Baker are British television writers best known for their contributions to the long running science fiction series Doctor Who. A husband-and-wife writing team, they wrote four serials for the programme: The Mark of the Rani, Parts 9–12 and 14 of The Trial of a Time Lord and Time...
(who had written episodes nine through twelve) wrote episode 14.
His last work to be broadcast was an episode of the detective series Bergerac, another show script-edited by Chris Boucher, transmitted in 1987. He did little work outside of television, although he did novelize his script of The Two Doctors for Target Books
Target Books
Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became well known for their highly successful range of...
in 1986. It was the 100th Doctor Who novelization published by Target Books.
Robert Holmes' work on Doctor Who has been discussed in numerous DVD documentaries, most notably Behind the Sofa, produced by Richard Molesworth, and which appears on the DVD release of The Two Doctors
The Two Doctors
The Two Doctors is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in three weekly parts from 16 February to 2 March 1985. It starred Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant as the Sixth Doctor and his companion Peri, respectively...
.
Holmes' friend, fellow TV writer Roger Marshall
Roger Marshall
Roger Marshall is an English Writer. Born during March 1934 in Leicester in the UK he was educated at Cambridge before embarking on a writing career that included The Avengers, The Sweeney, Public Eye, The Gentle Touch, The Professionals, Lovejoy and London's Burning as well as many other...
, claimed Holmes' work never received the acclaim it deserved because Holmes did most of his work in series television as opposed to television plays or serials. "In retrospect,he spent too much time tinkering around with lesser writers' work rather than getting on with his own".
Russell T Davies, writer/producer for Doctor Whos 21st-century revival, praised Holmes' talents, saying "Take The Talons of Weng Chiang, for example. Watch episode one. It's the best dialogue ever written. It's up there with Dennis Potter
Dennis Potter
Dennis Christopher George Potter was an English dramatist, best known for The Singing Detective. His widely acclaimed television dramas mixed fantasy and reality, the personal and the social. He was particularly fond of using themes and images from popular culture.-Biography:Dennis Potter was born...
. By a man called Robert Holmes. When the history of television drama comes to be written, Robert Holmes won't be remembered at all because he only wrote genre stuff. And that, I reckon, is a real tragedy."
Davies has also mentioned that Holmes' story The Ark in Space
The Ark in Space
The Ark in Space is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 25 January to 15 February 1975.-Plot:The TARDIS materialises in a darkened room on board the station...
is his favourite story from the original series.
Doctor Who scripts
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The Deadly Assassin The Deadly Assassin is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 30 October to 20 November 1976... The Talons of Weng-Chiang The Talons of Weng-Chiang is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 26 February to 2 April 1977.-Synopsis:... The Sun Makers -Cast notes:*Michael Keating also appeared in the audio play The Twilight Kingdom as Major Koth and in Year of the Pig as Inspector Chardalot... The Ribos Operation The Ribos Operation is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from September 2 to September 23, 1978. This serial introduces Mary Tamm as the companion Romana. After finishing his first year as producer of Doctor Who,... The Power of Kroll *When script editor Anthony Read asked Robert Holmes to write the story, there were two requirements: that it include the largest monster in series history and that Holmes minimise the humour that many scripts from the era were known for. This second requirement was a request from higher up at the... The Caves of Androzani The Caves of Androzani is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 8–16 March 1984. It was Peter Davison's last regular appearance as the Doctor, and marks the first appearance of Colin Baker in the role... The Two Doctors The Two Doctors is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in three weekly parts from 16 February to 2 March 1985. It starred Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant as the Sixth Doctor and his companion Peri, respectively... The Mysterious Planet -Preproduction:In February 1985, the BBC announced that the planned twenty-third season of Doctor Who had been cancelled. After vocal protests by the press and Doctor Who fans , the BBC announced that the programme was merely on "hiatus", and would return in September 1986... The Ultimate Foe The Ultimate Foe is the generally accepted title for a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in two weekly parts from 29 November to 6 December 1986. It is part of the larger narrative known as The Trial of a Time Lord, encompassing the whole... (first episode only) |