David Whitaker

David Whitaker (Born 1928 in Knebworth, England - Died 4 February 1980 in Australia) helped create Doctor Who and served as the series' first script editor.

He wrote a number of Doctor Who serials himself, including The Power of the Daleks and The Evil of the Daleks, considered by many to be classics. Other Dalek work included writing the Dalek comic strip in the children's magazine, TV Century 21, and the 1965 stage play The Curse of the Daleks.

In 1964, Whitaker was commissioned to write two novels based on the series, which along with a third by Bill Strutton became the core of Target Books' long-running and popular series of Doctor Who novels. The second was an adaptation of his own Doctor Who serial,"The Crusade;" the first was, perhaps inevitably, an adaptation of the series' first Dalek story (The Daleks, written by Terry Nation). Whitaker's first Dalek story ("Dr Who in an exciting Adventure with the Daleks") was originally published by Armada Paperbacks for the kingly price of 2'6.