It is with great sadness that GNR has learnt this evening that writer Philip Martin passed away two weeks ago on Sunday 13th of December 2020.

His funeral was held on Christmas Eve.

Philip Martin (born 1938 in Liverpool) is an English television screenwriter. He created the BBC television drama series Gangsters in the 1970s and later wrote two television serials for Doctor Who during Colin Baker’s tenure as the Sixth Doctor in the 1980s.

His early work included regular series such as Z-Cars in the late 1960s/early 1970s, but his most famous work is the postmodern television series Gangsters. This was an examination of race seen through an increasingly surreal vision of Birmingham’s criminal underworld. Beginning as an acclaimed one-off edition of Play for Today in 1975, it was followed by two series of 6 episodes each in 1976 and 1978. Martin appeared in the series in several roles, including as himself.

His later work includes Tandoori Nights (1985), Star Cops (1987), Virtual Murder (1992), several episodes of Hetty Wainthropp Investigates and Luifel & Luifel (2001).

Doctor Who

He wrote the Doctor Who serials “Vengeance on Varos“ (1985) and “The Trial of a Time Lord”: “Mindwarp” (1986). He also wrote a script called “Mission to Magnus“ which featured the character Sil from his previous televised serials. That script was never filmed when the show was put on hiatus in 1985. A novelised version of the script written by Martin was released by Target Books in 1990, and a Big Finish audio drama based on the serial was released in December 2009. He also wrote a Doctor Who gamebook called “Invasion of the Ormazoids“ (1986) as part of the Make your own adventure with Doctor Who range.

His most recent contribution to the series were “The Creed of the Kromon“ (2004) and “Antidote to Oblivion“ (2013), as Big Finish audio releases. Recently, he has revisited the character of Sil for Reeltime Pictures Ltd., “Sil and the Devil Seeds of Arodor” (2019), which has received much critical acclaim – winning over 50 awards.