David Ralph Martin (1 January 1935 – 30 March 2007) was an English television and film writer. He was born in Handsworth,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and attended

Handsworth Grammar School King Edward VI Handsworth Grammar School for Boys, formerly and commonly Handsworth Grammar School, is a grammar school that admits boys from the age of eleven (as well as girls in the sixth form, since September 1997). The school was founded i ...

Doctor Who

David contributed numerous scripts for the ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'' television series between 1971 and 1979 including: * ''

The Claws of Axos ''The Claws of Axos'' is the third serial of the eighth season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 13 March to 3 April 1971. In the serial, set in Britain, ...

'' (1971) * ''

The Mutants ''The Mutants'' is the fourth serial of the ninth season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 8 April to 13 May 1972. The serial is set on and high above the ...

'' (1972) * '' The Three Doctors'' (1973) * ''

The Sontaran Experiment ''The Sontaran Experiment'' is the third serial of the Doctor Who (season 12), 12th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was originally broadcast on BBC1 on 22 February and 1 March 1975. The serial is se ...

'' (1975) * ''

The Hand of Fear ''The Hand of Fear'' is the second serial of the 14th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 2 to 23 October 1976. The serial was the last regular appe ...

'' (1976) * '' The Invisible Enemy'' (1977) * ''

Underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

'' (1978) * ''

The Armageddon Factor ''The Armageddon Factor'' is the sixth and final serial of the 16th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 20 January to 24 February 1979. It was the las ...

'' (1979) For all of these, Martin collaborated with Bob Baker. Together they were nicknamed "The Bristol Boys" by the ''Doctor Who'' production teams with whom they worked. Baker and Martin's most notable contributions to the ''Doctor Who''

mythos Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrati ...

were the robotic hound K-9 (created for ''The Invisible Enemy'') and the renegade

Time Lord The Time Lords are a fictional ancient race of extraterrestrial life, extraterrestrial people in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', of which the series' main protagonist, The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor, is a memb ...

Omega Omega (; capital: Ω, lowercase: ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and final letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numeric system/isopsephy (gematria), it has a value of 800. The wo ...

(created for '' The Three Doctors'', ''Doctor Whos tenth anniversary story). They also worked together on the 1975 children's

science fantasy Science fantasy is a hybrid genre within speculative fiction that simultaneously draws upon or combines tropes and elements from both science fiction and fantasy. In a conventional science fiction story, the world is presented as being scientif ...

television serial ''

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

'' and '' Into the Labyrinth''. In 1986, he wrote the Doctor Who Make Your Own Adventure book ''

Search for the Doctor Lists of books based on ''Doctor Who'' cover different types of book in the ''Doctor Who'' media franchise. These include novels, audiobooks, and short story anthologies. The lists are organized by publisher and imprint. ''Doctor Who'' novelis ...

''.

Death

At the beginning of 2007 Martin, a smoker, was diagnosed with

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

; he died of the disease in March.David Martin - Classic series writer passes away
(published and accessed 12 April 2007) He and his wife Celia (née Constanduros, born 1944),Bridport partner of TV chef Keith Floyd in shock at his sudden death
/ref> had two children, Leo and Thea; he also had a daughter, Anna, from his first marriage.

References

External links

*
Guardian obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Dave (Screenwriter) 1935 births 2007 deaths Deaths from lung cancer in England British science fiction writers English science fiction writers English television writers Writers from Birmingham, West Midlands People from Handsworth, West Midlands British male television writers 20th-century English screenwriters