Born: 23rd February 1930 (as Gerald Davis)
Died: 31st August 1991 (aged 61 years)
Episodes Broadcast: 1966-1967, 1975

Gerry Davis was born in Bexhill, Sussex and was a lifelong lover of science-fiction, even running an HG Wells fan club in his youth. Davis spent time as a reporter before joining the merchant navy, during which he nurtured an interest in acting. Davis then relocated to the Canadian North, where he ran a store. During the long Arctic nights, Davis often listened to Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio programmes, and was inspired to write his own. A successful commission led to work with the National Film Board of Canada, and then with CBC Television in Toronto, Ontario. Originally hired as a stagehand, Davis was moved to the Script Department by Sydney Newman, who would be instrumental in creating Doctor Who several years later.

Davis finally moved back to the UK in 1960, following his wife's leukaemia diagnosis. Davis joined Granada Television, where he worked on the nascent Coronation Street. Following his wife's death, however, he travelled to Italy, where he worked as a translator in the cinema industry and trained as an opera singer before returning to England after eighteen months. Davis was then hired as the story editor of 199 Park Lane and became the head writer of United!, which was produced in the Midlands. Now married to Mary Jerwood, Davis requested a transfer to a London-based programme when she became pregnant. So it was that, in early 1966, Davis found himself the new story editor of Doctor Who, replacing Donald Tosh. Daughter Victoria was born later that year.

Together, Davis and Dr Kit Pedler created the Cybermen, who debuted in The Tenth Planet

Davis' first Doctor Who credit came on The Massacre Of St Bartholomew's Eve. He was forced to make substantial alterations to The Celestial Toymaker, infuriating Tosh, who had been heavily involved in its development. Davis formed an effective partnership with ophthalmologist Dr Kit Pedler, whom he and producer Innes Lloyd had invited to join Doctor Who as a scientific adviser. Together they created the Cybermen, who debuted in The Tenth Planet. This serial also marked the end of William Hartnell's tenure as the First Doctor. Davis helped shepherd the early development of Patrick Troughton's Second Doctor, particularly when he found himself having to script Troughton's second serial, The Highlanders, when the original writer, Elwyn Jones, became unavailable.

Davis remained on Doctor Who for more than a year. He was offered a promotion to producer when Lloyd decide to step down, but declined in favour of a script-editing assignment on The First Lady. Davis left Doctor Who during the making of The Evil Of The Daleks, but had already co-written the next serial, The Tomb Of The Cybermen, with Pedler. Another Davis/Pedler collaboration was the eco-thriller Doomwatch, which debuted in 1970. Davis then worked as the script editor of Softly Softly: Task Force before returning to Doctor Who for its 1975 season. However, this experience wound up being frustrating for Davis, whose Revenge Of The Cybermen was heavily rewritten by script editor Robert Holmes. An audio adaptation of Davis' original scripts was later released by Big Finish Productions in 2021 as Return Of The Cybermen, part of The Lost Stories range.

Davis returned to North America in the mid-Seventies, working first in Canada and then in Hollywood. He lectured on screenwriting at UCLA and wrote for The Bionic Woman and Vega$. He contributed to the screenplay for the 1980 time travel movie The Final Countdown, starring Kirk Douglas and Martin Sheen. Around 1981, he submitted an idea for a Doctor Who story called “Genesis Of The Cybermen”, but was met with disinterest from the production team of the day. In 1986, Davis wrote the last of five Doctor Who novelisations for Target Books. Amongst his final credits, in the late Eighties, were episodes of The Hitchhiker and the toy tie-in Captain Power And The Soldiers Of The Future.

Doctor Who was cancelled by the BBC in 1989. Several parties sought the rights to make the programme independently, amongst them a group spearheaded by Davis and Dalek creator Terry Nation. Nothing came of these efforts and, around the same time, Davis was diagnosed with an aggressive form of stomach cancer. He died on August 31st, 1991.