Anthony Coburn

James Anthony Coburn (10 December 1927-28 April 1977) wrote the script for An Unearthly Child (the first four-episode Doctor Who serial which replaced The Giants by C. E. Webber) and the unproduced The Masters of Luxor (which would have been the second serial of Doctor Who instead of The Daleks, and was subsequently adapted by Nigel Robinson and released as an audio story).

	10 December 1927
	28 April 1977
	Writer
	An Unearthly Child & The Masters of Luxor
	1963
	Dr Finlay's Casebook, Maigret, The Newcomers, The Borderers, Warship, Poldark
IMDb profile

In 1992, Titan Books published his scripts for the above mentioned unproduced episode.

Career

He also wrote for Dr Finlay's Casebook (1963) and Maigret (1963), and adapted The Children of the New Forest (1964) and Heiress of Garth(1965) for television. He produced the final season of the Mediterranean drama Vendetta (1968), the historical drama The Borderers (1969-70) and the first two seasons of the naval drama Warship (1973-74).

Death

He died of a heart attack while producing the second season of the period drama Poldark in 1977.

"The Tribe of Gum" Controversy

In both 2013 and 2023, Coburn's son, Stef Anthony Coburn, made repeated claims and allegations that he owned the copyright for An Unearthly Child, which he refers to as "The Tribe of Gum", and by default, also the rights to the TARDIS itself. In October of 2023, soon after the announcement that a complete Doctor Who archive was to be placed onto BBC iPlayer in November of that year, Coburn claimed he withdrew the licence to the BBC for the story. On the 17 October, the BBC confirmed to the Radio Times that the first four episodes would indeed not be included in the iPlayer back-catalogue. Coburn has also generated controversy due to his remarks concerning Ncuti Gatwa's casting as the Fifteenth Doctor. The BBC have currently yet to comment upon the events, outside of the initial statement.

External links

• Anthony Coburn at the Internet Movie Database