Born: 10th December 1927 (as James Anthony Coburn)
Died: 28th April 1977 (aged 49 years)
Episodes Broadcast: 1963

Born in Melbourne, Australia, Anthony Coburn initially worked as a journalist in his home city. However, his aspirations for a career as an actor and dramatist led him to emigrate to the UK in 1950. While he worked to build up his resume, he also held jobs as a salesman, a fruit picker and a delivery driver, while his strong Catholic faith inspired him to preaching on the streets of London. It was through his religious pursuits that Coburn met Joan Bristow, whom he married in 1953. Their first child was born the following year.

By the late Fifties, Coburn had abandoned acting and was struggling to find work as a writer. That changed in 1960, when Coburn successfully broke into television: not only did he write an episode of Knight Errant Limited, but he also joined the BBC Script Department, where he was largely tasked with adapting existing stories and plays. When Sydney Newman became the BBC's Head of Drama in 1963, one of his first projects was a science-fiction series called Doctor Who, and Coburn was invited to offer suggestions. The notion that the Doctor's time machine would take the form of a police box appears to have been Coburn's.

Coburn provided companions Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright with their names

Later in 1963, Coburn was tasked with writing the first Doctor Who story, 100,000 BC, after earlier efforts failed to pan out. As such, Coburn further influenced key aspects of the programme, such as providing companions Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright with their names. Coburn was also assigned to write a second serial for Doctor Who. However, “The Masters Of Luxor”. would never make it into production. Coburn and the production team disagreed about various elements, including its religious overtones, and the writer became determined to have nothing more to do with Doctor Who.

By this time, Coburn had abruptly found himself working as a freelance writer, following Newman's decision to disband the Script Department. In this capacity, he contributed to shows such as Maigret, The Newcomers and Emergency Ward 10. In 1967, Coburn rejoined the BBC as a producer, where his projects included Vendetta, The Borderers and Warship. It also appears that he was offered the reins of Doctor Who as its ratings declined in the late Sixties, but Coburn turned down the assignment.

During the Seventies, a series of heart attacks left Coburn in diminishing health. Curtailing his television workload, he began writing a science-fiction novel called Gargantua, the first of a planned trilogy which was based on a rejected BBC pitch. In 1977, however, Coburn suffered another massive heart attack while producing Poldark, and passed away on April 28th. Gargantua was published posthumously later that year.