Alan Fennell

Alan Fennell (10 December 1936-10 December 2001 ) was the founder and original editor of the magazine TV Century 21. He wrote many of the early strips printed in TV21 and, sharing an agent with Terry Nation, was closely involved in plotting the first instalments of The Daleks with Nation and David Whitaker.

His TV21 strips included the Lady Penelope comic story Mr. Steelman, which was a crossover with the Doctor Who universe.

Career
Fennell wrote seventeen episodes for Fireball XL5, twenty-four episodes for Stingray and ten episodes for Thunderbirds, all three of which crossed over with the Doctor Who universe to varying degrees. These credits included the Thunderbirds episode The Man from MI.5, featuring an appearance by the Daleks through an in-universe version of TV21.

In 1970, Fennell wrote two episodes of the live-action which, like all his earlier credits, were also produced by Gerry Anderson. He had no further onscreen credits except for compilations or rereleases of his previous works. However, he did write a number of books including two original novels based on the television series, both published in 1972, and a novelisation of the film. He also created the children's magazine, which ran from 1971 to 1994.

In 1994, the short story The Dalek Chronicles Found!, which preceded a full collection of The Daleks reprints in The Dalek Chronicles, revealed the existence of an in-universe version of Fennell.