Ian Stuart Black had a long, successful and varied career as a writer, enjoying success as a novelist, playwright and screenwriter for both television and film. One of his earliest credits came for the screenplay of the 1953 film, The Limping Man starring Lloyd Bridges, Leslie Phillips and Moira Lister, the original female member of the cast of Hancock’s Half-Hour. He contributed to a number of television shows throughout the 1950s most regularly Fabian of the Yard and in an early move towards science-fiction H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man.
In 1960 he was involved in the creation of the hit television series Danger Man, contributing a number of scripts and filling the role of Executive Producer. The High Bright Sun, the most successful of his nine novels was published in 1962 and two years later he completed the script for the movie, starring Dirk Bogarde.
In total he contributed three scripts to Doctor Who, The Savages, The War Machines and The Macra Terror. Black was offered the chance to write for the show after he approached the producers offering his services. His first story, The Savages saw Peter Purves leave the show and his final contribution to the series, The Macra Terror gave us one of the few monsters to have so far made a return to the show in the new run. However, his greatest contribution to the series came with the script for The War Machines. Pat Dunlop had originally been intended to write the script for the serial, but when he was unable to complete it, Black stepped in to fill the void. Following the brief of script editor Gerry Davis and scientific advisor Kit Pedler to create a more contemporary science based show, Black’s script set the template for the next few years of Doctor Who. While the script is far from perfect, set in contemporary London and with the Doctor being aided by a large military presence, it is a direct influence on many of the Unit stories that would follow, particularly The Invasion. For that reason alone Ian Stuart Black should be remembered as having made a singnificant contribution to the show.
Black worked solidly throughout the rest of his career across a variety of different media receiving his final writing credit in 1991. He died in 1997 aged 82.
sportswhofan 