David Fisher, writer of several Fourth Doctor stories, dies aged 88

BBC

It has recently been announced that David Fisher, writer for several Fourth Doctor stories, passed away on January 10^th 2018. He was 88.

While Fisher only wrote four stories for Doctor Who, his contribution was significant. For season sixteen, he wrote two stories consecutively: The Stones of Blood and The Androids of Tara. The first was a mixture of dark and violent horror with strong science fiction ideas. For me, it’s something of a highlight for the season. Its scares matched the best of the Tom Baker years. But it was also clever enough to change things halfway through and present a good sci-fi story.

The second story, The Androids of Tara, is more of a swashbuckler with androids. Personally speaking, it’s a huge amount of fun to watch, and I recommend any Whovian having a bad day to watch it. It’s not original, and owes a lot to the novel The Prisoner of Zenda. But it features the Fourth Doctor in an adventure with doubles, heroic Princes, evil Counts, and sword fights. Also, it features the Doctor going fishing at one point. With the added bonus of the Fourth Doctor’s silly but brilliant humor, it’s highly recommended.

For season seventeen, he wrote Creature from the Pit. But it’s his contribution to a story that many think of as a Douglas Adams story that is probably the most significant. Initially called A Gamble with Time, he was unable to finish the scripts. As a result, the script was reworked by Douglas Adams, who was script editor at the time, and producer Graham Williams. The story was broadcast as City of Death, and it’s been a fan favourite ever since.

His final contribution was The Leisure Hive, the opening story to season eighteen. With a new script editor and a new producer, the story is very different to his earlier efforts, with a stronger emphasis on science fiction. It was a very strong entry, and a worthy opener to Tom Baker’s final season.

David Fisher had also written for many other British series. These include Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense, Hammer House of Horror, and Dixon of Dock Green, to name a few.