The Dalek Audio Annual

Terry Nation became interested in the theater after leaving school, writing and appearing in plays for his local theatrical society. In the early 1950s, he left home and moved to London, where he attempted to launch a career in stand-up comedy. However, he soon found that he lacked performing skills, and hearing that a local agency was looking for comedy scriptwriters he decided to take his material to them. Associated London Scripts liked his work, and hired him to write a 13-week comedy radio show called All My Eye And Kitty Blewitt. This launched his writing career, and throughout the 1950s he produced over 200 scripts for comedians such as Terry Scott, Eric Sykes, Harry Worth, and Frankie Howerd. His TV breakthrough came in 1963, when he wrote several episodes for Tony Hancock’s ITV series Hancock. The same year, he was asked to write the second serial for a newly-launched BBC science fiction series, Doctor Who, and the Daleks were born. He went on to write several more Dalek stories for Doctor Who, including ‘The Dalek Invasion of Earth’ (1964), The Chase' (1965), 'The Daleks' Master Plan' (with Dennis Spooner, 1965-1966) and 'Genesis of the Daleks' (1975), and also penned two non-Dalek episodes, 'The Keys of Marinus' (1964) and 'The Android Invasion' (1979). As well as Doctor Who, Terry Nation’s TV work also includes The Saint, Department S, The Persuaders and The Avengers. He also created two other sci-fi cult hits. Survivors began as a novel, published in 1970. It was televised five years later and ran for three series between 1975 and 1977, and a 2008 remake was broadcast by the BBC in 2008. Blake’s 7, described by Nation as ‘Robin Hood in space’, ran for four series from 1978-1981. It was an international success, and continues to have a huge fan following today. Terry Nation died in LA in 1997.