Born: 26th April 1928 (as Donald Henry Cotton)
Died: 28th December 1999 (aged 71 years)
Episodes Broadcast: 1965-1966

Zoology was nearly Donald Cotton's metier, but his interests at the University of Nottingham gravitated instead towards English and philosophy. Cotton then abandoned his studies altogether, and attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama to train as an actor. He also began writing for the stage, concentrating on musical revues; this led to his first television work, on a tuneful version of A Christmas Carol entitled The Merry Christmas, broadcast in 1955. Although theatre remained Cotton's focus, he also began working in radio while contributing to Better Late! on television.

In 1963, Cotton met Hilary Wright, who tended bar at London's popular Kismet Club. The following year, they were married after learning that she had become pregnant; their son, Perry, was born soon thereafter. Cotton had previously been engaged to the sister of Donald Tosh, who took the story editor's post on Doctor Who in 1965. He invited Cotton to write for the programme, resulting in two historical serials for its third season: The Myth Makers and The Gunfighters. Around the same time, Cotton was instrumental in helping to bring the adventure series Adam Adamant Lives! to the screen. However, he then found himself excluded from further work on the show, while a third Doctor Who submission, “The Herdsmen Of Aquarius”, was rejected by Tosh's successor, Gerry Davis.

These developments prompted Cotton to abandon television and rededicate himself to the stage. However, financial pressures led to the end of his first marriage; he and Eileen Shaw were wed in 1971, but this relationship also ended in divorce. Cotton retired from acting in the early Eighties, but he continued writing, becoming a prolific columnist. He accepted an invitation to novelise both of his Doctor Who stories for Target Books, and agreed to do the same for the late Dennis Spooner's The Romans. In 1986, Target Books also published an original children's novel by Cotton, called The Bodkin Papers. Cotton died on December 28th, 1999.