List of Doctor Who writers

This is a list of television writers for the science fiction television programme Doctor Who. It is sortable by a number of different criteria.^[1] The list defaults to ascending alphabetical order by writer's last name.

A "writer of Doctor Who" is defined as a person who received onscreen credit for a live action, non-parodic story. E.g. Terrance Dicks wrote four of the six episodes of The Seeds of Death in reality, but since Brian Hayles is the only name to appear on screen he receives the credit. The notes shed light on the work writers actually did on particular stories.

List of writers

Further details about the way in which this list was compiled can be found by clicking the footnote marker at the top of each column. Information on this list is current through to Series 14.

Writer^[2]	No. of stories^[3]	No. of episodes^[4]	List of stories	First Story Date (year)	Last Story Date (year)
Ben Aaronovitch	2	8	Remembrance of the Daleks (1988) Battlefield (1989)	1988	1989
Douglas Adams	1	4	The Pirate Planet (1978)	1978	1978
"David Agnew"	2	10	The Invasion of Time (1978) City of Death (1979)	1978	1979
Maxine Alderton	2	2	"The Haunting of Villa Diodati" (2020) "Village of the Angels" (2021)	2020	2021
"Norman Ashby" (Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln)	1	5	The Dominators (1968)	1968	1968
Christopher Bailey	2	8	Kinda (1982) Snakedance (1983)	1982	1983
Bob Baker	9	36	The Claws of Axos (1971, co-written with Dave Martin) The Mutants (1972, co-written with Dave Martin) The Three Doctors (1972–73, co-written with Dave Martin) The Sontaran Experiment (1975, co-written with Dave Martin) The Hand of Fear (1976, co-written with Dave Martin) The Invisible Enemy (1977, co-written with Dave Martin) Underworld (1978, co-written with Dave Martin) The Armageddon Factor (1979, co-written with Dave Martin) Nightmare of Eden (1979)	1971	1979
Pip and Jane Baker	3.5	11	The Mark of the Rani (1985) Terror of the Vervoids (1986) The Ultimate Foe (1986, part 2) Time and the Rani (1987)	1985	1987
Mike Bartlett	1	1	"Knock Knock" (2017)	2017	2017
Christopher H. Bidmead	3	12	Logopolis (1981) Castrovalva (1982) Frontios (1984)	1981	1984
Ian Stuart Black	3	12	The Savages (1966) The War Machines (1966) The Macra Terror (1967)	1966	1967
Malorie Blackman	1	1	"Rosa" (2018)	2018	2018
"Robin Bland" (Robert Holmes and Terrance Dicks)	1	4	The Brain of Morbius (1976)	1976	1976
Chris Boucher	3	12	The Face of Evil (1977) The Robots of Death (1977) Image of the Fendahl (1977)	1977	1977
Ian Briggs	2	7	Dragonfire (1987) The Curse of Fenric (1989)	1987	1989
Johnny Byrne	3	12	The Keeper of Traken (1981) Arc of Infinity (1983) Warriors of the Deep (1984)	1981	1984
Chris Chibnall	20	28	"42" (2007) "The Hungry Earth" / "Cold Blood" (2010) "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" (2012) "The Power of Three" (2012) "The Woman Who Fell to Earth" (2018) "The Ghost Monument" (2018) "Rosa" (2018) (co-written with Malorie Blackman) "Arachnids in the UK" (2018) "The Tsuranga Conundrum" (2018) "The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos" (2018) "Resolution" (2019) "Spyfall" (2020) "Fugitive of the Judoon" (2020) (co-written with Vinay Patel) "Praxeus" (2020) (co-written with Pete McTighe) "Can You Hear Me?" (2020) (co-written with Charlene James) "Ascension of the Cybermen" / "The Timeless Children" (2020) "Revolution of the Daleks" (2021) "The Halloween Apocalypse" (2021) "War of the Sontarans" (2021) "Once, Upon Time" (2021) "Village of the Angels" (2021) (co-written with Maxine Alderton) "Survivors of the Flux" (2021) "The Vanquishers" (2021) "Eve of the Daleks" (2022) "Legend of the Sea Devils" (2022) "The Power of the Doctor" (2022)	2007	2022
Kevin Clarke	1	3	Silver Nemesis (1988)	1988	1988
Barbara Clegg	1	4	Enlightenment (1983)	1983	1983
Anthony Coburn	1	4	An Unearthly Child (1963)	1963	1963
Paul Cornell	2	3	"Father's Day" (2005) "Human Nature" / "The Family of Blood" (2007)	2005	2007
Donald Cotton	2	8	The Myth Makers (1965) The Gunfighters (1966)	1965	1966
Frank Cottrell-Boyce	2	2	"In the Forest of the Night" (2014) "Smile" (2017)	2014	2017
Neil Cross	2	2	"The Rings of Akhaten" (2013) "Hide" (2013)	2013	2013
Graeme Curry	1	3	The Happiness Patrol (1988)	1988	1988
Richard Curtis	1	1	"Vincent and the Doctor" (2010)	2010	2010
Russell T Davies	34	42	"Rose" (2005) "The End of the World" (2005) "Aliens of London"/"World War Three" (2005) "The Long Game" (2005) "Boom Town" (2005) "Bad Wolf"/"The Parting of the Ways" (2005) "The Christmas Invasion" (2005) "New Earth" (2006) "Tooth and Claw" (2006) "Love & Monsters" (2006) "Army of Ghosts"/"Doomsday" (2006) "The Runaway Bride" (2006) "Smith and Jones" (2007) "Gridlock" (2007) "Utopia"/"The Sound of Drums"/"Last of the Time Lords" (2007) "Voyage of the Damned" (2007) "Partners in Crime" (2008) "Midnight" (2008) "Turn Left" (2008) "The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End" (2008) "The Next Doctor" (2008) "Planet of the Dead" (2009) "The Waters of Mars" (2009) "The End of Time" (2009–10) "The Star Beast" (2023) "Wild Blue Yonder" (2023) "The Giggle" (2023) "The Church on Ruby Road" (2023) "Space Babies" (2024) "The Devil's Chord" (2024) "73 Yards" (2024) "Dot and Bubble" (2024) "The Legend of Ruby Sunday"/"Empire of Death" (2024)	2005	2024
Gerry Davis	4	12	The Tenth Planet (1966) The Highlanders (1966) The Tomb of the Cybermen (1967) Revenge of the Cybermen (1975)	1966	1975
Terrance Dicks	5	23	The War Games (1969) Robot (1974) The Brain of Morbius (1976) Horror of Fang Rock (1977) State of Decay (1980) "The Five Doctors" (1983)	1969	1983
Sarah Dollard	2	2	"Face the Raven" (2015) "Thin Ice" (2017)	2015	2017
Terence Dudley	3	8	Four to Doomsday (1982) Black Orchid (1982) The King's Demons (1983)	1982	1983
David Ellis	1	6	The Faceless Ones (1967, co-written with Malcolm Hulke)	1967	1967
William Emms	1	4	Galaxy 4 (1965)	1965	1965
Paul Erickson	1	4	The Ark (1966, co-written with Lesley Scott)	1966	1966
David Fisher	4	16	"The Stones of Blood" (1978) "The Androids of Tara" (1978) "The Creature from the Pit" (1979) "The Leisure Hive" (1980)	1978	1980
John Flanagan	1	4	Meglos (1980, co-written with Andrew McCulloch)	1980	1980
Phil Ford	2	2	"The Waters of Mars" (2009) "Into the Dalek" (2014)	2009	2014
Neil Gaiman	2	2	"The Doctor's Wife" (2011) "Nightmare in Silver" (2013)	2011	2013
Stephen Gallagher	2	8	Warriors' Gate (1981) Terminus (1983)	1981	1983
Mark Gatiss	9	9	"The Unquiet Dead" (2005) "The Idiot's Lantern" (2006) "Victory of the Daleks" (2010) "Night Terrors" (2011) "Cold War" (2013) "The Crimson Horror" (2013) "Robot of Sherwood" (2014) "Sleep No More" (2015) "Empress of Mars" (2017)	2005	2017
Matthew Graham	2	3	"Fear Her" (2006) "The Rebel Flesh" / "The Almost People" (2011)	2006	2011
Stephen Greenhorn	2	2	"The Lazarus Experiment" (2007) "The Doctor's Daughter" (2008)	2007	2008
Peter Grimwade	3	12	Time-Flight (1982) Mawdryn Undead (1983) Planet of Fire (1984)	1982	1984
Mervyn Haisman	2	12	The Abominable Snowmen (1967, co-written with Henry Lincoln) The Web of Fear (1968, co-written with Henry Lincoln)	1967	1968
Peter Harness	3	4	"Kill the Moon" (2014) "The Zygon Invasion" / "The Zygon Inversion" (2015) "The Pyramid at the End of the World" (2017)	2014	2017
"Stephen Harris" (Lewis Greifer and Robert Holmes)	1	4	Pyramids of Mars (1975)	1975	1975
Brian Hayles	6	30	"The Celestial Toymaker" (1966) "The Smugglers" (1966) "The Ice Warriors" (1967) "The Seeds of Death" (1969) "The Curse of Peladon" (1972) "The Monster of Peladon" (1974)	1966	1974
Kate Herron	1	1	"Rogue" (2024, co-written with Briony Redman)	2024	2024
Ed Hime	2	2	"It Takes You Away" (2018) "Orphan 55" (2020)	2018	2020
Robert Holmes	15.5	64	The Krotons (1968) The Space Pirates (1969) Spearhead from Space (1970) Terror of the Autons (1971) Carnival of Monsters (1973) The Time Warrior (1973) The Ark in Space (1975) Pyramids of Mars (1975) The Brain of Morbius (1976) The Deadly Assassin (1976) The Talons of Weng-Chiang (1977) The Sun Makers (1977) The Ribos Operation (1978) The Power of Kroll (1978) The Caves of Androzani (1984) The Two Doctors (1985) The Mysterious Planet (1986) The Ultimate Foe (1986, part 1)	1968	1986
Don Houghton	2	13	Inferno (1970) The Mind of Evil (1971)	1970	1971
Malcolm Hulke	7	47	The Faceless Ones (1967, co-written with David Ellis) The War Games (1969, co-written with Terrance Dicks) Doctor Who and the Silurians (1970) Colony in Space (1971) The Sea Devils (1972) Frontier in Space (1973) Invasion of the Dinosaurs (1974)	1967	1974
Matthew Jacobs	1	1	Doctor Who (1996)	1996	1996
Charlene James	1	1	"Can You Hear Me?" (2020)	2020	2020
Glyn Jones	1	4	The Space Museum (1965)	1965	1965
Matt Jones	1	2	"The Impossible Planet" / "The Satan Pit" (2006)	2003	2003
Malcolm Kohll	1	3	Delta and the Bannermen (1987)	1987	1987
"Guy Leopold" (Barry Letts and Robert Sloman)	1	5	The Dæmons (1971)	1971	1971
Henry Lincoln	2	12	The Abominable Snowmen (1967, co-written with Mervyn Haisman) The Web of Fear (1968, co-written with Mervyn Haisman)	1967	1968
Peter Ling	1	4	The Mind Robber (1968)	1968	1968
John Lucarotti	3	15	Marco Polo (1964) The Aztecs (1964) The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve (1966)	1964	1966
Tom MacRae	2	3	"Rise of the Cybermen" / "The Age of Steel" (2006) "The Girl Who Waited" (2011)	2006	2011
Louis Marks	4	15	Planet of Giants (1965) Day of the Daleks (1972) Planet of Evil (1975) The Masque of Mandragora (1976)	1965	1976
Dave Martin	8	32	The Claws of Axos (1971) The Mutants (1972) The Three Doctors (1973) The Sontaran Experiment (1975) The Hand of Fear (1976) The Invisible Enemy (1977) Underworld (1978) The Armageddon Factor (1979)	1971	1979
Philip Martin	2	6	Vengeance on Varos (1985) Mindwarp (1986)	1985	1986
Jamie Mathieson	4	4	"Mummy on the Orient Express" (2014) "Flatline" (2014) "The Girl Who Died" (2015) "Oxygen" (2017)	2014	2017
Glen McCoy	1	2	Timelash (1985)	1985	1985
Andrew McCulloch	1	4	Meglos (1980, co-written with John Flanagan)	1980	1980
Pete McTighe	2	2	"Kerblam!" (2018) "Praxeus" (2020)	2018	2020
Nina Metivier	1	1	"Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror" (2020)	2020	2020
Steven Moffat	44	50	"The Empty Child" / "The Doctor Dances" (2005) "The Girl in the Fireplace" (2006) "Blink" (2007) "Silence in the Library" / "Forest of the Dead" (2008) "The Eleventh Hour" (2010) "The Beast Below" (2010) "The Time of Angels" / "Flesh and Stone" (2010) "The Pandorica Opens" / "The Big Bang" (2010) "A Christmas Carol" (2010) "The Impossible Astronaut" / "Day of the Moon" (2011) "A Good Man Goes to War" (2011) "Let's Kill Hitler" (2011) "The Wedding of River Song" (2011) "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" (2011) "Asylum of the Daleks" (2012) "The Angels Take Manhattan" (2012) "The Snowmen" (2012) "The Bells of Saint John" (2013) "The Name of the Doctor" (2013) "The Day of the Doctor" (2013) "The Time of the Doctor" (2013) "Deep Breath" (2014) "Into the Dalek" (2014) "Listen" (2014) "Time Heist" (2014) "The Caretaker" (2014) "Dark Water" / "Death in Heaven" (2014) "Last Christmas" (2014) "The Magician's Apprentice" / "The Witch's Familiar" (2015) "The Girl Who Died" (2015) "The Zygon Inversion" (2015) "Heaven Sent" (2015) "Hell Bent" (2015) "The Husbands of River Song" (2015) "The Return of Doctor Mysterio" (2016) "The Pilot" (2017) "Extremis" (2017) "The Pyramid at the End of the World" (2017) "World Enough and Time" / "The Doctor Falls" (2017) "Twice Upon a Time" (2017) "Boom" (2024) "Joy to the World" (2024)	2005	2024
"Paula Moore" (Paula Woolsey)	1	2	Attack of the Cybermen (1985)	1985	1985
James Moran	1	1	"The Fires of Pompeii" (2008)	2008	2008
Rona Munro	2	4	Survival (1989) "The Eaters of Light" (2017)	1989	2017
Terry Nation	10.5	56	The Daleks (1963) The Keys of Marinus (1964) The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964) The Chase (1965) Mission to the Unknown (1965) The Daleks' Master Plan (1965) Planet of the Daleks (1973) Death to the Daleks (1974) Genesis of the Daleks (1975) The Android Invasion (1975) Destiny of the Daleks (1979)	1963	1979
Peter R. Newman	1	6	The Sensorites (1964)	1964	1964
Simon Nye	1	1	"Amy's Choice" (2010)	2010	2010
Geoffrey Orme	1	4	The Underwater Menace (1967)	1967	1967
Vinay Patel	2	2	"Demons of the Punjab" (2018) "Fugitive of the Judoon" (2020)	2018	2020
Kit Pedler	3	12	The War Machines (1966) The Tenth Planet (co-written with Gerry Davis, 1966) The Moonbase (1967) The Tomb of the Cybermen The Wheel in Space (1968) The Invasion (1968)	1966	1968
Victor Pemberton	1	6	Fury from the Deep (1968)	1968	1968
Marc Platt	1	3	Ghost Light (1989)	1989	1989
Eric Pringle	1	2	The Awakening (1984)	1984	1984
Helen Raynor	2	4	"Daleks in Manhattan" / "Evolution of the Daleks" (2007) "The Sontaran Stratagem" / "The Poison Sky" (2008)	2007	2008
Anthony Read	1	4	The Horns of Nimon (1979)	1979	1979
Briony Redman	1	1	"Rogue" (2024, co-written with Kate Herron)	2024	2024
Ella Road	1	1	"Legend of the Sea Devils" (2022)	2022	2022
Gareth Roberts	6	6	"The Shakespeare Code" (2007) "The Unicorn and the Wasp" (2008) "Planet of the Dead" (2009, co-written with Russell T Davies) "The Lodger" (2010) "Closing Time" (2011) "The Caretaker" (2014)	2007	2014
Eric Saward	4	12	The Visitation (1982) Earthshock (1982) Resurrection of the Daleks (1984) Revelation of the Daleks (1985)	1982	1985
Lesley Scott	1	4	The Ark (1966, co-written with Paul Erickson)	1966	1966
Robert Shearman	1	1	"Dalek" (2005)	2005	2005
Derrick Sherwin	1	8	The Invasion (1968, co-written with Kit Pedler)	1968	1968
Robert Sloman	3	18	The Time Monster (1972, co-written with Barry Letts) The Green Death (1973, co-written with Barry Letts) Planet of the Spiders (1974, co-written with Barry Letts)	1972	1974
Andrew Smith	1	4	Full Circle (1980)	1980	1980
Dennis Spooner	3.5	20	The Reign of Terror (1964) The Romans (1965) The Time Meddler (1965) The Daleks' Master Plan (1965)	1964	1965
Anthony Steven	1	4	The Twin Dilemma (1984)	1984	1984
Robert Banks Stewart	2	10	Terror of the Zygons (1975) The Seeds of Doom (1976)	1975	1976
Bill Strutton	1	6	The Web Planet (1965)	1965	1965
Keith Temple	1	1	"Planet of the Ood" (2008)	2008	2008
Stephen Thompson	3	3	"The Curse of the Black Spot" (2011) "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS" (2013) "Time Heist" (2014)	2011	2014
Donald Tosh	1	1	The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve (1966)	1966	1966
Catherine Tregenna	1	1	"The Woman Who Lived" (2015)	2015	2015
David Whitaker	8	40	The Edge of Destruction (1964) The Rescue (1965) The Crusade (1965) The Power of the Daleks (1966) The Evil of the Daleks (1967) The Enemy of the World (1968) The Wheel in Space (1968) The Ambassadors of Death (1970)	1964	1970
Toby Whithouse	6	7	"School Reunion" (2006) "The Vampires of Venice" (2010) "The God Complex" (2011) "A Town Called Mercy" (2012) "Under the Lake" / "Before the Flood" (2015) "The Lie of the Land" (2017)	2006	2017
Joy Wilkinson	1	1	"The Witchfinders" (2018)	2018	2018
Stephen Wyatt	2	8	Paradise Towers (1987) The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (1988)	1987	1988

Notes

^ On most mobile versions of Wikipedia, sorting functionality is disabled.
^ A "writer" is defined by this list as the person or persons who received onscreen credit for writing the script. Note that this can include pseudonyms but exclude the actual person or persons known to be indicated by the pseudonym. Pseudonyms are indicated by the use of quotation marks around the name. This column sorts by the last name of the individual. It does not include such credits as: "based on an idea by", "story by", and other such creative credits that fall short of scriptwriting credit.
^ A "story" is a grouping of one of more episodes that form a single narrative. It is not to be confused with a story arc. In the 1963 version of the programme, a "story" was a single serial, which might have comprised anywhere from one to twelve episodes, although the most common number was four. Since the 1996 telemovie, most stories have been a single episode in length. Where multi-part stories have been produced by the BBC, the titles to both parts are given so as to indicate the entirety of the story. Episodes of unusually short duration produced by BBC Wales, such as "Time Crash", are considered to be single stories, for the purpose of this column. Writers may be credited with a fraction of a story if their name appears on only some of the episodes within a single story.
^ An episode is considered to have whatever length it had on first broadcast on BBC One. For the purposes of this column, certain stories, like Resurrection of the Daleks and "The Five Doctors" have two parts and one part, respectively — even though these stories are more often presented as four-parters. The following things are deemed to be single episodes: the 1996 telemovie, "Doctor Who: Children in Need", "Time Crash", "Music of the Spheres", and any other future non-parodic live-action "mini-episodes" produced by BBC Wales. Animated episodes are specifically excluded from this list, as is Dimensions in Time.

List of writers

Notes

See also