Gerry Davis – Co-Creator of the Cybermen

A brief biographical sketch of Gerry Davis, who with Kit Pedlar created the Cybermen.

Gerry Davis

Gerry Davis (23 February 1930 – 31 August 1991) was a British television writer, best known for his contributions to the science-fiction genre. He also wrote for the soap operas Coronation Street and United!.

From 1966 until the following year he was the script editor on the popular BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who, for which he co-created the popular cybernetic monsters the Cybermen, who returned to the series on several occasions over the following twenty-two years. His fellow co-creator of these creatures was the programme’s unofficial scientific adviser Dr. Kit Pedler, and following their work on Doctor Who, the pair teamed up again in 1970 when they created a science-fiction programme of their own, Doomwatch. Doomwatch ran for three seasons on BBC One from 1970 to 1972, and also spawned a novel written by Davis and Pedler, and later a cinema film and a 1999 revival on Channel 5.

Davis briefly returned to writing Doctor Who, penning the original script for Revenge of the Cybermen, in 1975, though the transmitted version was heavily rewritten by the then script-editor Robert Holmes. He also adapted several of his scripts into novelisations for Target Books. With Kit Pedler, he wrote the science-fiction novels Mutant 59: The Plastic Eaters (1971), Brainrack (1974) and The Dynostar Menace (1975).

In the 1980s Davis worked in America both in television and on feature films such as The Final Countdown (1980). In late 1989 he and Terry Nation made a joint but unsuccessful bid to take over production of Doctor Who and reformat the series mainly for the American market.

Some of Gerry Davis’ work :

• Doctor Who: The Celestial Toymaker (2 April 1966 – 23 April 1966) (script edtor)
• Doctor Who: The Gunfighters (30 April 1966 – 21 May 1966) (script editor)
• Doctor Who: The Savages (28 May 1966 – 18 June 1966) (script editor)
• Doctor Who: The War Machines (25 June 1966 – 16 July 1966) (script editor)
• Doctor Who: The Smugglers (10 September 1966 – 1 October 1966) (script editor)
• Doctor Who: The Tenth Planet (8 October 1966 – 29 October 1966) (script, script editor)
• Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks (5 November 1966 – 10 December 1966) (script editor)
• Doctor Who: The Highlanders (17 December 1966 – 7 January 1967) (script, script editor)
• Doctor Who: The Underwater Menace (14 January 1967 – 4 February 1967) (script editor)
• Doctor Who: The Moonbase (11 February 1967 – 4 March 1967) (script (uncredited), script editor)
• Doctor Who: The Macra Terror (11 March 1967 – 1 April 1967) (script editor)
• Doctor Who: The Faceless Ones (8 April 1967 – 13 May 1967) (script editor)
• Doctor Who: The Evil of the Daleks parts 1 – 3 (20 May 1967 – 3 June 1967) (script editor)
• Doctor Who: The Tomb of the Cybermen (2 September 1967 – 23 September 1967) (script)
• Doomwatch (creator, story editor)
• Doomwatch: The Plastic Eaters (9 February 1970) (script)
• Doomwatch: Project Sahara (9 March 1970) (script)
• Doomwatch: The Red Sky (6 April 1970) (script)
• Doomwatch: Hear No Evil (4 May 1970) (script)
• Doomwatch: Survival Code (11 May 1970) (script)
• Doomwatch: The Web of Fear (8 February 1971) (script)
• Doomwatch (script)
• Doctor Who: Revenge of the Cybermen (19 April 1975 – 10 May 1975) (script)
• The Final Countdown (script)
• Cybermen: The Early Years (Cybermen creator)
• Doomwatch: Winter Angel (script (as Gerry Davies))

June 11, 2010 | Categories: Cybermen | Tags: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, Cybermen, Gerry Davis | Leave a comment