Malcolm Hulke
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Malcolm Hulke (born 1924, died July 6, 1979) was a British television writer and author of the industry 'bible' [1] "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.
His scripts for Doctor Who were noted for avoiding black-and-white characterisation and simplistic plotting. Military figures are usually presented unfavourably - Invasion of the Dinosaurs and The Ambassadors of Death both have a general as the ultimate villain. One of his best-known contributions to the series is Doctor Who and the Silurians, which depicts an encounter between the human race and the remnants of a technological reptilian race that ruled Earth in prehistoric times in a way that avoids casting either side as heroes or monsters. Hulke's "Silurians" are the first alien creatures to be presented as having individual personalities in Doctor Who since the unamed antagonists of his own The Faceless Ones more than three years before. Outside of Hulke's work they are the first since the Menoptra in 1965's The Web Planet.
The novelisation of the serial was translated into Finnish as Tohtori KUKA ja luolahirviöt in 1976.
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 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.
He was at one point a member of the British Communist Party.
[edit] Doctor Who stories written by Malcolm Hulke
Starring Patrick Troughton:
- The Faceless Ones (with David Ellis, 1967)
- The War Games (with Terrance Dicks, 1969)
Starring Jon Pertwee:
- Doctor Who and the Silurians (1970)
- The Ambassadors of Death (with David Whitaker, Terrance Dicks and Trevor Ray, 1970)
- Colony in Space (1971)
- The Sea Devils (1972)
- Frontier in Space (1973)
- Invasion of the Dinosaurs (1974)
[edit] Doctor Who novelizations by Malcom Hulke
- Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters (1974) (adapted from Doctor Who and the Silurians)
- Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon (1974) (adapted from Colony In Space)
- Doctor Who and the Sea Devils (1974)
- Doctor Who and the Green Death (1975) (adapted from The Green Death, written by Robert Sloman)
- Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion (1976)
- Doctor Who and the Space War (1976) (adapted from Frontier in Space)
- Doctor Who and the War Games (1979)
