The Rules:
Add 1 to your favourite
Subtract 2 from the story you don’t fancy quite as much.
20 hours between posts (if someone can turn that on please).
Preferrably bold your choices to make it easier to see the changes, try not to post over other people.
[5] Anthony Coburn
[5] Terry Nation
[5] David Whitaker
[5] John Lucarotti
[5] Peter R. Newman
[5] Dennis Spooner
[5] Louis Marks
[5] Bill Strutton
[5] Glyn Jones
[5] William Emms
[5] Donald Cotton
[5] Donald Tosh
[5] Paul Erickson/Lesley Scott
[5] Brian Hayles
[5] Ian Stuart Black
[5] Kit Pedler/Gerry Davis
[5] Anthony Coburn
[5] Terry Nation
[5] David Whitaker
[5] John Lucarotti [3] Peter R. Newman
[5] Dennis Spooner
[5] Louis Marks
[5] Bill Strutton
[5] Glyn Jones
[5] William Emms
[5] Donald Cotton
[5] Donald Tosh
[5] Paul Erickson/Lesley Scott
[5] Brian Hayles [6] Ian Stuart Black
[5] Kit Pedler/Gerry Davis
[5] Anthony Coburn
[5] Terry Nation
[5] David Whitaker
[5] John Lucarotti
[3] Peter R. Newman [6] Dennis Spooner
[5] Louis Marks [3] Bill Strutton - no surprise why!
[5] Glyn Jones
[5] William Emms
[5] Donald Cotton
[5] Donald Tosh
[5] Paul Erickson/Lesley Scott
[5] Brian Hayles
[6] Ian Stuart Black
[5] Kit Pedler/Gerry Davis
Okay, this is going to be interesting! Can’t remember which episode everyone has written by heart, but I’ll Google it when needed.
[5] Anthony Coburn
[5] Terry Nation [6] David Whitaker
[5] John Lucarotti
[3] Peter R. Newman
[6] Dennis Spooner
[5] Louis Marks
[3] Bill Strutton
[5] Glyn Jones
[5] William Emms
[5] Donald Cotton [3] Donald Tosh
[5] Paul Erickson/Lesley Scott
[5] Brian Hayles
[6] Ian Stuart Black
[5] Kit Pedler/Gerry Davis
[5] Anthony Coburn
[5] Terry Nation
[6] David Whitaker [6] John Lucarotti
[3] Peter R. Newman
[6] Dennis Spooner [3] Louis Marks
[3] Bill Strutton
[5] Glyn Jones
[5] William Emms
[5] Donald Cotton
[3] Donald Tosh
[5] Paul Erickson/Lesley Scott
[5] Brian Hayles
[6] Ian Stuart Black
[5] Kit Pedler/Gerry Davis
[5] Anthony Coburn
[5] Terry Nation
[6] David Whitaker [7] John Lucarotti
[3] Peter R. Newman
[6] Dennis Spooner
[3] Louis Marks [1] Bill Strutton
[5] Glyn Jones
[5] William Emms
[5] Donald Cotton
[3] Donald Tosh
[5] Paul Erickson/Lesley Scott
[5] Brian Hayles
[6] Ian Stuart Black
[5] Kit Pedler/Gerry Davis
Lucarotti being a writer on both the Aztecs and Massacre make him a favourite of mine, with Terry Nation just behind that.
I wouldn’t say Web Planet’s worst aspects are in its writing but out of the candidates here and what I’ve seen, Bill Strutton still has the weakest offering out of these.
[5] Anthony Coburn
[5] Terry Nation
[6] David Whitaker [8] John Lucarotti
[3] Peter R. Newman
[6] Dennis Spooner
[3] Louis Marks
[1] Bill Strutton
[5] Glyn Jones
[5] William Emms
[5] Donald Cotton
[3] Donald Tosh
[5] Paul Erickson/Lesley Scott [3] Brian Hayles
[6] Ian Stuart Black
[5] Kit Pedler/Gerry Davis
[5] Anthony Coburn
[5] Terry Nation
[6] David Whitaker
[8] John Lucarotti [1] Peter R. Newman [7] Dennis Spooner
[3] Louis Marks
[1] Bill Strutton
[5] Glyn Jones
[5] William Emms
[5] Donald Cotton
[3] Donald Tosh
[5] Paul Erickson/Lesley Scott
[3] Brian Hayles
[6] Ian Stuart Black
[5] Kit Pedler/Gerry Davis
Ok, it’s a toss-up between John Lucarotti and Dennis Spooner for me, but Spooner writing The Romans and The Time Meddler in the same season clinches it.
As for worst, Peter R. Newman wrote The Sensorites and only The Sensorites, so he’s out for me.
[5] Anthony Coburn [3] Terry Nation
[6] David Whitaker
[8] John Lucarotti
[1] Peter R. Newman [8] Dennis Spooner
[3] Louis Marks
[1] Bill Strutton
[5] Glyn Jones
[5] William Emms
[5] Donald Cotton
[3] Donald Tosh
[5] Paul Erickson/Lesley Scott
[3] Brian Hayles
[6] Ian Stuart Black
[5] Kit Pedler/Gerry Davis
[5] Anthony Coburn
[3] Terry Nation
[6] David Whitaker
[8] John Lucarotti
[1] Peter R. Newman
[8] Dennis Spooner
[3] Louis Marks [2] Bill Strutton
[5] Glyn Jones [3] William Emms
[5] Donald Cotton
[3] Donald Tosh
[5] Paul Erickson/Lesley Scott
[3] Brian Hayles
[6] Ian Stuart Black
[5] Kit Pedler/Gerry Davis
I will defend Strutton and Newman because actually their scripts have more going on than people give them credit for. Sadly, I can only upvote one so Strutton gets it because there is more poetry in what he writes.
Emms gets my downvote because Galaxy 4 really isn’t good (and it’s definitely worse than Sensorites or Web Planet).
The other tricky thing with this list though is how much the writing was influenced by Whitaker’s script editing.
[3] Anthony Coburn
[3] Terry Nation
[6] David Whitaker
[8] John Lucarotti
[1] Peter R. Newman
[8] Dennis Spooner
[3] Louis Marks
[2] Bill Strutton
[5] Glyn Jones
[3] William Emms [6] Donald Cotton
[3] Donald Tosh
[5] Paul Erickson/Lesley Scott
[3] Brian Hayles
[6] Ian Stuart Black
[5] Kit Pedler/Gerry Davis
My first instinct was to upvote Peter R. Newman as I love The Sensorites deeply, but instead I’m gonna focus on my actual favorite writer of the era, Donald Cotton.
For least favorite, I’m not sure I truly have a clear one, but Coburn, Marks, Emms, and Erickson/Scott (technically just Erickson as Scott was credited for behind-the-scenes reasons and did no actual work on the scripts) are all fairly equal least favorites (but not by a lot, I don’t hate any of their stories, just not a huge fan of them); Marks and Emms already have downvotes so I picked one of the other two.
[3] Anthony Coburn [1] Terry Nation
[6] David Whitaker
[8] John Lucarotti
[1] Peter R. Newman
[8] Dennis Spooner
[3] Louis Marks
[2] Bill Strutton
[5] Glyn Jones
[3] William Emms
[6] Donald Cotton
[3] Donald Tosh
[5] Paul Erickson/Lesley Scott
[3] Brian Hayles
[6] Ian Stuart Black [6] Kit Pedler/Gerry Davis
[3] Anthony Coburn [2] Terry Nation
[6] David Whitaker
[8] John Lucarotti
[1] Peter R. Newman
[8] Dennis Spooner
[3] Louis Marks
[2] Bill Strutton
[5] Glyn Jones
[3] William Emms
[6] Donald Cotton [1] Donald Tosh
[5] Paul Erickson/Lesley Scott
[3] Brian Hayles
[6] Ian Stuart Black
[6] Kit Pedler/Gerry Davis
Terry Nation is not the best but don’t deserve to go first.
[3] Anthony Coburn
[2] Terry Nation [7] David Whitaker
[8] John Lucarotti
[1] Peter R. Newman
[8] Dennis Spooner
[3] Louis Marks
[2] Bill Strutton
[5] Glyn Jones
[3] William Emms
[6] Donald Cotton
[1] Donald Tosh [3] Paul Erickson/Lesley Scott
[3] Brian Hayles
[6] Ian Stuart Black
[6] Kit Pedler/Gerry Davis
[3] Anthony Coburn
[7] David Whitaker
[8] John Lucarotti
[1] Peter R. Newman
[8] Dennis Spooner
[3] Louis Marks
[2] Bill Strutton
[5] Glyn Jones
[3] William Emms [7] Donald Cotton
[1] Donald Tosh
[3] Paul Erickson/Lesley Scott
[3] Brian Hayles
[6] Ian Stuart Black
[6] Kit Pedler/Gerry Davis
Can’t imagine how deliriously happy I am at being the one who gets to bin Nation in this game, I don’t even care if he doesn’t deserve to go first. I’m sure all the royalty checks will be a good consolation. Cotton gets my pick for being hilarious.
[3] Anthony Coburn [8] David Whitaker
[8] John Lucarotti
[1] Peter R. Newman
[8] Dennis Spooner
[3] Louis Marks
[2] Bill Strutton
[5] Glyn Jones
[3] William Emms
[7] Donald Cotton
[1] Donald Tosh
[3] Paul Erickson/Lesley Scott
[3] Brian Hayles
[6] Ian Stuart Black
[6] Kit Pedler/Gerry Davis
In no way, shape, or form do I think Terry Nation deserved to be the first one to go. He had such an instrumental hand in getting Doctor Who on the map in the first place.
[3] Anthony Coburn
[8] David Whitaker [9] John Lucarotti
[1] Peter R. Newman
[8] Dennis Spooner
[3] Louis Marks
[2] Bill Strutton
[5] Glyn Jones
[3] William Emms
[7] Donald Cotton
[3] Paul Erickson/Lesley Scott
[3] Brian Hayles
[6] Ian Stuart Black
[6] Kit Pedler/Gerry Davis
[-1] Donald Tosh
I feel a bit bad about that, I love The Massacre and he apparently did substantial rewrites on Lucarotti’s script, though Lucarotti contributed gold elsewhere to gain him his point. But The Celestial Toymaker, again heavily rewritten by Tosh I really, fundamentally dislike and feel he is more to blame than Hayles. Although Gerry Davis also had a big hand in that… I’m gunning for Davis and Pedler next btw.
[3] Anthony Coburn [9] David Whitaker
[9] John Lucarotti
[1] Peter R. Newman
[8] Dennis Spooner
[3] Louis Marks
[2] Bill Strutton
[5] Glyn Jones [1] William Emms
[7] Donald Cotton
[3] Paul Erickson/Lesley Scott
[3] Brian Hayles
[6] Ian Stuart Black
[6] Kit Pedler/Gerry Davis
David Whitaker is just one of the best to ever do it. Here’s a shout though, should we be judging based on their whole Who portfolio, or just their contributions during Hartnell’s tenure? In any case, my answer is unchanged.
[3] Anthony Coburn
[9] David Whitaker
[9] John Lucarotti
[1] Peter R. Newman
[8] Dennis Spooner
[3] Louis Marks
[2] Bill Strutton
[5] Glyn Jones [8] Donald Cotton
[3] Paul Erickson/Lesley Scott
[3] Brian Hayles
[6] Ian Stuart Black
[6] Kit Pedler/Gerry Davis
[3] Anthony Coburn
[9] David Whitaker
[9] John Lucarotti
[1] Peter R. Newman
[8] Dennis Spooner
[3] Louis Marks [3] Bill Strutton
[5] Glyn Jones
[8] Donald Cotton [1] Paul Erickson/Lesley Scott
[3] Brian Hayles
[6] Ian Stuart Black
[6] Kit Pedler/Gerry Davis
Upvoting the poetry of Strutton again and downvoting the slightly iffy politics of The Ark.
