Robert Holmes ( scriptwriter ) " This entry is about the television scriptwriter . For other people with the same name , see Robert Holmes ( disambiguation ) . " Robert Colin Holmes ( 2 April 1926 in Hertfordshire – 24 May 1986 ) was an English television scriptwriter , who for over twenty - five years contributed to some of the most popular programmes screened in the UK . He is particularly remembered for his work on science fiction programmes , most notably his extensive contributions to " Doctor Who " . Holmes suffered ill - health from the early - 1980s and died in mid - 1986 . Early career . In 1944 , at the age of eighteen , Holmes joined the army , fighting with the Queen ' s Own Cameron Highlanders regiment in Burma . He rapidly earned a commission , and as such became the youngest commissioned officer in the entire British army during the Second World War . The fact that he lied about his age to get into the army was discovered at his commissioning , but apparently the only reaction was by a general who praised him , adding that he had done the same thing himself . Soon after the end of the war , Holmes returned to England and left the army , deciding to join the police . He trained at Hendon Police College , graduating the top of his year and joining the Metropolitan Police in London , serving at Bow Street Police Station . It was whilst serving as a Police officer that Holmes first began to develop an interest in writing as a career . When giving evidence in court for prosecutions against offenders , he would often note the excitement and frantic work of the journalists reporting on the cases , and decided that he would like to do similar work . To this end , he taught himself shorthand in his spare time and eventually resigned from the Police force . He quickly found work writing for both local and national newspapers , initially in London and later in the Midlands . He also filed reports for the Press Association , which could be syndicated to a variety of sources , such as local or foreign newspapers . In the late 1950s he worked for a time writing and editing short stories for magazines , before receiving his first break in television when he contributed an episode to the famous medical series " Emergency Ward 10 " ( 1957 ) . Television . Holmes found himself working almost exclusively in television drama after 1957 . He began contributing episodes regularly to the adventure series " Knight Errant " before becoming that programme ' s story editor in 1959 . He wrote several episodes of another medical drama , " Dr . Finlay ' s Casebook " , before in the early 1960s writing for a range of crime - related dramas : " Dixon of Dock Green " , " The Saint " , " Ghost Squad " , " Public Eye " and " Intrigue " all dealt with law enforcement , and benefiting from Holmes ' real - life experiences . It was in 1965 that he first began writing in the science - fiction genre , when he contributed scripts to " Undermind " , a body - snatching drama from ITV . He also worked in film for the only time , storylining the movie " Invasion " , several elements from which would later crop up in his 1970 " Doctor Who " serial " Spearhead from Space " , and which had also been inspired by Nigel Kneale ' s 1955 " Quatermass II " serial . " Doctor Who " . The same year , he wrote on - spec an idea for a stand - alone science - fiction serial entitled " The Trap " , which he submitted to the BBC . There , the Head of Drama Serials wrote back to Holmes , informing him that they were no longer interested in producing such serials , but that he might have better luck if he tried submitting it to the " Doctor Who " production office . This he did , and had a fruitful meeting with the show ' s then story editor Donald Tosh ; but when Tosh left the programme shortly afterwards , the script was forgotten and Holmes moved on to other projects . In 1968 , after some work on other projects appeared to be falling through , Holmes decided on the off - chance to re - submit " The Trap " ( now entitled " The Space Trap " ) to the " Doctor Who " office , and again found a favourable response , this time from Assistant Script Editor Terrance Dicks , who developed it with Holmes to cover the eventuality of an agreed script falling through . At the beginning of the sixth season , there was no slot available for Holmes ' script , but the production staff began experiencing a number of problems with scheduled scripts . " The Dominators " , the first story in the season , ended one episode earlier , resulting in an extra episode being tacked onto the following story , " The Mind Robber " . When the fourth six - part storyline fell through , the story before was extended by two episodes while Dicks worked with Holmes to adapt the " The Krotons " to fill the rest of the gap in the schedule . The story was regarded as a success by the production team , who quickly commissioned Holmes to write a second story for the season , " The Space Pirates " . Holmes and Dicks got on very well , so when Dicks officially took over as script editor he frequently turned to Holmes for contributions . Holmes wrote Jon Pertwee ' s debut serial as the Third Doctor , " Spearhead from Space " , in 1970 . During the early 1970s he also wrote for another BBC science - fiction show , " Doomwatch " , as well as other programmes such as the ATV series " Spyder ' s Web " . Holmes was commissioned to write the first story of season eight in 1971 , " Terror of the Autons " . The story was considered a great success . Holmes would go on to contribute two more stories in 1973 and 1974 . Holmes introduced two recurring alien races to " Doctor Who " : the Auton s and the Sontaran s . Terrance Dicks intended to have Holmes replace him as script editor after he left . Holmes accepted the offer while the season was still in production , editing ( uncredited ) " Death to the Daleks " . Holmes was known for his morbid sense of humour and his inclination to write material that was often dark and disturbing . The previous producer Barry Letts often had Holmes tone down his writing , but Letts ' s successor Philip Hinchcliffe wanted to take the programme in a darker and more dynamic direction along with the introduction of its new star Tom Baker . Holmes continued as script editor for the next three years , seeing " Doctor Who " through one of its most successful eras in terms of both viewing figures and critical acclaim . Despite this , a number of stories came under fire from Mary Whitehouse of the National Viewers ' and Listeners ' Association for their alleged excessive violence or frightening tone . Some of the most controversial stories were written by Holmes himself . A scene from Holmes ' story " The Deadly Assassin " , in which the Fourth Doctor ' s head is held under water as the cliffhanger , caused what is commonly regarded as the noticeable controversy of the time . On 11 February 1977 , the " Daily Express " published an interview with Holmes by Jean Rook under the title " Who do you think you are , scaring my innocent child ? " , in which Holmes said " Parents would be terribly irresponsible to leave a six - year - old to watch it alone . It ' s geared to the intelligent fourteen - year - old , and I wouldn ' t let any child under ten see it . " During this time , Holmes wrote three of his own credited stories for the programme , performed complete ground - up rewrites on at least two other stories ( which were broadcast under pseudonyms ) and had a strong hand in almost every other script . It was very much his era of the show , although by 1977 he felt that he had done all he could for the programme . He had intended to leave at the end of the fourteenth season , but was persuaded to stay on for a short while by the new producer Graham Williams . While he script - edited the first two stories he commissioned for season 15 , he left the third to his successor , Anthony Read . He also requested a last minute re - write so that K - 9 would become an ongoing character . The difficult task of working him in was left to Read . Nonetheless , Read was quick to turn to Holmes when it came to commissioning scripts for the sixteenth season , being keen to use writers who knew how the " Doctor Who " format was best used and could be relied upon to come up with usable scripts in good time . Holmes wrote two stories for the season , but after its broadcast in 1978 , Holmes felt that he needed to distance himself from the programme . It would be six years before he wrote for " Doctor Who " again . During this time he wrote for various series , such as the BBC science - fiction show " Blake ' s 7 " , on which he had been offered the Script Editor ' s post when it began in 1978 , but declined as he had only just finished his role as such on " Doctor Who " and was not keen to go back to such strenuous work so quickly . Instead , he recommended writer Chris Boucher , who he had used on " Doctor Who " , to the Producer , and thus it was Boucher who in turn commissioned Holmes to write for the show . One of the most notorious moments in the series occurred in Holmes ' episode " Orbit " in the fourth season of " Blake ' s 7 " , when Avon stalks Vila in a shuttle wanting to throw him off the ship . Other programmes Holmes worked on in the late seventies and early eighties included the police series " Juliet Bravo " and an adaptation of the science - fiction novel " Child of the Vodyoni " , which was screened as " The Nightmare Man " in 1981 . He also script - edited detective series " TV series " . In 1983 , the then - current " Doctor Who " production team of producer John Nathan - Turner and script editor Eric Saward contacted Holmes about returning to script the planned twentieth anniversary special , due for broadcast that November . Holmes agreed and began writing the script . However , he found it increasingly difficult to include the many elements from the show ' s past that Nathan - Turner had insisted on . After the rejection of his first outline , he eventually gave up on the assignment ( the special was eventually scripted by Terrance Dicks ) . The ordeal did lead to a friendship between Saward and Holmes that would eventually lead to Holmes return to the series for the following season . When it came to writing the final story for the Fifth Doctor ( played by Peter Davison ) , Saward commissioned Holmes to write the storyline as he felt that Holmes ' s experience would allow him to create an epic departure for Davison and introduction of the Sixth Doctor . " The Caves of Androzani " , as the 1984 story came to be titled , is generally regarded by fans as being one of the best in the programme ' s entire run from 1963 onwards , being voted " all - time number one " story in a 2009 poll . Holmes felt that Davison ' s adventures had been too easy , and decided to " put him through hell " . John Nathan - Turner wanted to shoot a story abroad for season 22 , similar to previous seasons . The show ' s then US distributor Lionheart initially offered to co - fund filming in America . Holmes was commissioned to write the story . However , Lionheart suddenly backed out , and a number of other locations were considered . The production team settled on shooting in Seville . Holmes found " The Two Doctors " a difficult story , as Nathan - Turner had insisted that the Sontarans appear in it . Like much of season 22 , the story came under fire for violence and disturbing content . Holmes was a vegetarian , so many themes in the story were deliberately intended to represent his views about eating meat and slaughtering animals for consumption . When " Doctor Who " returned from hiatus in 1986 , a new 14 - episode story entitled " The Trial of a Time Lord " was conceived to span the entire length of the season . Holmes was asked to write the first four - part segment of the season , which he subtitled " The Mysterious Planet " . Production of the season was far from smooth – the growing tension between Nathan - Turner and Saward , a lack of faith in the production from BBC executives and Holmes ' s own poor health made the process difficult . Holmes was particularly upset at comments made by BBC drama executive Jonathan Powell regarding his opening four episodes . He eventually agreed to write the closing two episodes of the season . Holmes began writing the first episode , but died in May 1986 after a short illness . Eric Saward intervened and completed episode 13 . Saward had agreed to write the final episode , but quickly left the production when he and Nathan - Turner were unable to agree on the ending . Nathan - Turner was forced to stand in as script editor while Pip and Jane Baker ( who had written episodes nine through twelve ) wrote episode 14 . His last work to be broadcast was an episode of the detective series " Bergerac " , another show script - edited by Chris Boucher , transmitted in 1987 . He did little work outside of television , although he did novelize his script of " The Two Doctors " for Target Books in 1986 . It was the 100th " Doctor Who " novelization published by Target Books . Robert Holmes ' work on " Doctor Who " has been discussed in numerous DVD documentaries , most notably " Behind the Sofa " , produced by Richard Molesworth , and which appears on the DVD release of " The Two Doctors " . Holmes ' friend , fellow TV writer Roger Marshall , claimed Holmes ' work never received the acclaim it deserved because Holmes did most of his work in series television as opposed to television plays or serials . " In retrospect , he spent too much time tinkering around with lesser writers ' work rather than getting on with his own " . Russell T Davies , writer / producer for " Doctor Who " ' s 21st - century revival , praised Holmes ' talents , saying " Take " The Talons of Weng - Chiang " , for example . Watch episode one . It ' s the best dialogue ever written . It ' s up there with Dennis Potter . By a man called Robert Holmes . When the history of television drama comes to be written , Robert Holmes won ' t be remembered at all because he only wrote genre stuff . And that , I reckon , is a real tragedy . " Davies has also mentioned that Holmes ' story " The Ark in Space " is his favourite story from the original series .