Victor Pemberton’s contributions
to the series may have been relatively brief but they were certainly significant.
He is credited with inventing the sonic screwdriver (though would always generously
defer that credit to the designer) and wrote `Fury from the Deep` which remains,
along with `Marco Polo`, the holy grail
of missing stories, the `Tomb of the Cybermen` of today its reputation
unsullied by endless forensic reviews, its presence only defined by a handful
of clips. As for the sonic it’s survived fairly well! He also appeared in the
show as an actor and wrote the `Pescatons` record one of the best audio
adventures the Doctor has ever had. He was also, as many convention attendees
will attest interesting and friendly to all.
He first worked on Doctor Who fifty years ago in a script
editing capacity before penning `Fury from the Deep` which was said to be partly
based on the radio serial The Slide.
One of the missing stories people would most like to see in full the extant
material consists of clips of especially horrific content snipped by censors.
These moments have only heightened expectations not least the scary Messrs Oak
and Quill. The sonic screwdriver made its first appearance in this story. In
1976 he wrote `Doctor Who and the Pescatons` which again re-used similar ideas
to stunning aural effect.
Outside Doctor Who in the early Seventies he created and wrote all 13
episodes of the 1972 espionage themed series Tightrope. He also wrote 7 episodes each of Timeslip a tale set across several eras of the twentieth
century and Ace of Wands about a
mysterious magician. Later series he contributed to include The Adventures of Black Beauty and Within These Walls. He also wrote
acclaimed radio dramas including The
Slide and Our Family as well as a
large number of novels – Goodreads currently has 32 listed. Additionally he worked as a producer notably on Fraggle Rock and several documentaries. In interviews, he was always
honest on his views on the series even if they were critical –he wasn’t overly fond
of the modern series- and it’s a shame he didn’t write more stories in the late
60s or early 70s.
