Born: 11th June 1927 (as Christopher Magnus Howard Pedler)
Died: 27th May 1981 (aged 53 years)
Episodes Broadcast: 1966-1968

Kit Pedler was born in Hampstead, London. Like his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, Pedler pursued a career in medicine, training at King's College Hospital. In 1949, he married psychiatrist Una De Freeston; they would have four children. Deciding that he preferred research, Pedler completed a second doctorate in experimental pathology. In 1961, he became the Head of the Department of Anatomy at the University of London's Institute of Ophthalmology. Having published a variety of papers, Pedler was asked to contribute to BBC science programmes like Tomorrow's World and Horizon.

When producer Innes Lloyd and story editor Gerry Davis began looking for someone who could suggest ideas for Doctor Who adventures grounded in scientific fact, they identified Pedler as a potential candidate. Meeting in early 1966, Pedler and Davis got along well, and their discussions provided the foundations of The War Machines. Since Pedler was not a professional scriptwriter, his ideas were always developed by others -- in this instance, Ian Stuart Black.

Pedler's fascination with the then-new field of “spare part surgery” inspired the Cybermen

One of Pedler's particular fascinations was the then-new field of medical transplants or “spare part surgery”. Pedler was keen to acknowledge that science was not inherently good, and that it could easily be perverted by the evil or misguided. These ideas inspired the Cybermen, who made their debut in The Tenth Planet, co-written with Davis. The popular monsters became Pedler's focus during the remainder of his association with Doctor Who, and he suggested the premises of all five Cyberman stories made while Patrick Troughton was the Second Doctor. In September 1967, Pedler found himself defending the disturbing content of The Tomb Of The Cybermen on an edition of the BBC's Talkback.

Following The Invasion in late 1968, Pedler left Doctor Who to work with Davis on the development of Doomwatch. The cautionary eco-thriller ran for three seasons, although neither Pedler nor Davis was involved in its final year, following a dispute with producer Terence Dudley. Pedler and Davis also collaborated on a series of Doomwatch spin-off books, as well as an original science-fiction novel called The Dynostar Menace, published in 1975.

During the Seventies, Pedler became increasingly concerned with ecological and environmental issues, culminating in his 1979 book The Quest For Gaia. Having divorced his wife, Pedler was engaged to actress Cherry Gilliam in 1981 when he published Mind Over Matter: A Scientist's View Of The Paranormal, intended to be a serious study of the supernatural. Pedler was working on a related television series when he died of a heart attack on May 27th, 1981. Michael Seely's biography, The Quest For Pedler: The Life And Ideas Of Dr Kit Pedler, was released by Miwk Publishing in 2014.