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Robert Sloman (18 July 1926 – 24 October 2005) was an English screenwriter and actor who later worked at ''
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...
'' circulation department for more than 20 years, becoming distribution manager; but is best known for his work on British television.
Early life
Sloman was born in
Oldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham ...
, Lancashire, but his family moved to
Plymouth when he was two years old. He gained a degree from the
University of Exeter
, mottoeng = "We Follow the Light"
, established = 1838 - St Luke's College1855 - Exeter School of Art1863 - Exeter School of Science 1955 - University of Exeter (received royal charter)
, type = Public
, ...
.
Writing
In the early 1970s he made a significant contribution to the
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
programme ''
Doctor Who'' on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. Together with then
producer Barry Letts
Barry Leopold Letts (26 March 1925 – 9 October 2009) was an English actor, television director, writer and producer, best known for being the producer of ''Doctor Who'' from 1969 to 1974.
Born in Leicester, he worked as an actor in theatre, ...
, he wrote four stories for the
Jon Pertwee era on the programme: ''
The Dæmons'' (credited as Guy Leopold);
''
The Time Monster
''The Time Monster'' is the fifth and final 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 20 May to 24 June 1972.
The serial is set in a vi ...
''; ''
The Green Death
''The Green Death'' is the fifth and final serial of the tenth season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 19 May to 23 June 1973. It was the last regular appe ...
''; and ''
Planet of the Spiders
''Planet of the Spiders'' is the fifth and final serial of the 11th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 4 May to 8 June 1974. It was Jon Pertwee's fina ...
'', which was Pertwee's final serial.
''The Dæmons'' was cited by Pertwee as his favourite story, while the others contained strong moral messages, especially the focus on pollution and globalisation in ''The Green Death''. When ''The Green Death'' was released on DVD in 2004, Sloman contributed a feature on the writing of the story.
Sloman had also planned to bring the
Dalek
The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrials in fiction, extraterrestrial race of mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction on television, science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by write ...
s back at the end of the third Pertwee season, Season 9, in a serial called ''The Daleks in London''. This plan was dropped when the production staff realised that the show wouldn't have a hook for the start of the season to entice viewers, and Sloman's serial was allegedly shaping up to be too similar to ''
The Dalek Invasion of Earth
''The Dalek Invasion of Earth'' is the second Serial (radio and television), serial of the Doctor Who (season 2), second season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Written by Terry Nation and directed by Richard Ma ...
''. Instead, writer
Louis Marks Louis may refer to:
* Louis (coin)
* Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name
* Louis (surname)
* Louis (singer), Serbian singer
* HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy
See also
Derived or associated terms
* Lewis ( ...
was asked to alter his serial to include the Daleks – which became ''
Day of the Daleks
''Day of the Daleks'' is the first serial of the ninth season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 1 to 22 January 1972. It was the first of four Third Doctor serials ...
''.
Robert Sloman also co-wrote two plays in the
West End, both co-written with
Laurence Dobie: ''The Golden Rivet'', and ''The Tinker''; the latter was later turned into a film, ''
The Wild and the Willing'', in 1962.
References
External links
*
The Guardian obituary by Doctor Who producer Barry Letts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sloman, Robert
1926 births
2005 deaths
20th-century English screenwriters
20th-century English male writers
Alumni of the University of Exeter
British male stage actors
British male television writers
British science fiction writers
English dramatists and playwrights
English male dramatists and playwrights
English male screenwriters
People from Oldham