Born: 8th August 1930 (as Terence Joseph Nation)
Died: 9th March 1997 (aged 66 years)
Episodes Broadcast: 1963-1965, 1973-1975, 1979

Terry Nation was born in Cardiff, Wales and spent much of his childhood reading and writing. He loved movies, and often skipped school to go to the cinema. Nation worked for a short time in his father's furniture business, but his goal was to write and perform comedy. His aspirations were encouraged when he was able to sell some material to BBC Radio's Welsh Rarebit and so, in 1955, he moved to London with his writing partner Dick Barry. Although Nation originally planned to work as a stand-up comic, he was soon convinced to move away from performance. Instead, he joined the Associated London Scripts co-operative, which had been co-founded by Spike Milligan of the popular radio comedy The Goon Show. Nation began contributing material to a wide variety of radio and television comedians, including Ted Ray and Jimmy Logan. In 1961, he wrote the screenplay for the Adam Faith movie What A Whopper. The following year, Nation tried his hand at more dramatic material, including an episode of the crime series No Hiding Place and three adaptations for the science-fiction anthology Out Of This World.

It was the latter work which led to Nation being approached in July 1963 by David Whitaker. Whitaker had just been appointed as the story editor of a new BBC science-fiction programme called Doctor Who, to which he hoped Nation might contribute. Nation, however, was disinclined to write for Doctor Who's target juvenile audience, and had no particular interest in genre work. Furthermore, he was already employed as a writer for comedian Tony Hancock. Having contributed to his TV series, Hancock, Nation crafted jokes for a 1963 stage tour, and agreed to go on the road. However, the volatile Hancock soon lost confidence in Nation's material, leading to an argument which culminated in the writer's termination. By now supporting wife Kate and two children, Joel and Rebecca, Nation suddenly found himself in urgent need of employment. He decided to inquire if Whitaker was still interested in ideas for Doctor Who.

Because Nation still held the rights to the Daleks, their popularity made the writer a very rich man

The result was a serial was called The Daleks, which provoked controversy within the BBC because it ventured into the more luridly monster-oriented realms of science-fiction which Head of Drama Sydney Newman had been keen to avoid. However, producer Verity Lambert stood up to Newman and kept The Daleks on the schedule. Her faith in Nation's scripts was justified when the eponymous monsters became a national sensation virtually overnight. Not only did the popularity of the Daleks ensure the continuation of Doctor Who but, because Nation still held the rights to his creation, they made the writer a very rich man.

Over the next two years, Nation contributed five further stories to Doctor Who, all but one of them featuring the Daleks. By the time of the epic twelve-part The Daleks' Master Plan in 1965, however, Nation's workload had grown so heavy that former story editor Dennis Spooner had to be brought aboard as co-author. Nation then declined any direct participation in two Dalek stories for Patrick Troughton's Second Doctor, instead authorising Whitaker to write them in his stead. The success of the Daleks meant that Nation was now in demand as a writer for action-adventure programmes such as The Saint. In 1965, he became the script supervisor of The Baron, which enabled him to forge connections with the American television industry. This prompted Nation to try to sell a standalone Dalek series to markets beyond the United Kingdom, although he was ultimately unsuccessful.

Nonetheless, Nation continued to be prolific, with credits including The Persuaders! and The Avengers. On the big screen, he wrote the 1970 thriller And Soon The Darkness, and co-wrote the more lighthearted The House In Nightmare Park (1973) starring Frankie Howerd and Ray Milland. In 1972, he returned to Doctor Who for Planet Of The Daleks, the first of two Dalek serials for Jon Pertwee's Third Doctor.

By the time he was asked to contribute to Tom Baker's debut season as the Fourth Doctor in 1974, the Doctor Who production team had grown wary of Nation's propensity to recycle his own ideas, and challenged him to explore new territory. The result was Genesis Of The Daleks, widely viewed as one of Doctor Who's most memorable stories. It also introduced another enduring character in the form of the mad scientist Davros, creator of the Daleks. Nation would write two more Doctor Who adventures during the Seventies, the last of these being another Dalek serial called Destiny Of The Daleks.

In 1975, Nation's post-apocalyptic series Survivors premiered

In 1975, Nation's post-apocalyptic series Survivors premiered, although conflicts with producer Terence Dudley meant that the writer had no involvement beyond the first season. The same year, he published a science-fiction novel for children called Rebecca's World: Journey To The Forbidden Planet, written for his daughter. Nation's next television project was the dystopian Blake's 7, first broadcast in 1978. By the time the adventures of insurrectionist Roj Blake and his crew concluded after four seasons, Nation had left the UK for Hollywood. Unfortunately, he spent the Eighties in America struggling to replicate his British success; his most notable contributions were to episodes of the adventure series MacGyver.

In the early Nineties, Nation and former story editor Gerry Davis were unsuccessful in a bid to independently produce Doctor Who, which the BBC had cancelled in 1989. He also explored the possibility of reviving Blake's 7. However, Nation's health had begun to decline, and he died of emphysema on March 9th, 1997.