Gerry Davis

Who was Gerry Davis?

Gerry Davis was a British television writer, best known for his contributions to the science-fiction genre. He also wrote for the soap operas Coronation Street and United!.

From 1966 until the following year Davis was the script editor of the popular BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who, for which he created the character Jamie McCrimmon and co-created the popular cybernetic monsters known as the Cybermen, who made several appearances in the series over the following twenty-two years. His fellow co-creator of these creatures was the programme's unofficial scientific adviser Dr. Kit Pedler. Following their work on Doctor Who the pair teamed up in 1970 to create the science-fiction programme Doomwatch. Doomwatch ran for three seasons on BBC One from 1970 to 1972 and spawned a novel written by Davis and Pedler, a subsequent cinema film and a 1999 revival on Channel 5.

Davis briefly returned to writing Doctor Who in 1975, penning the original script for Revenge of the Cybermen, though the transmitted version was heavily rewritten by then script-editor Robert Holmes. Davis also adapted several of his scripts into novelisations for Target Books' Doctor Who imprint. With Kit Pedler he wrote the science-fiction novels Mutant 59: The Plastic Eaters, Brainrack and The Dynostar Menace.