David Agnew (writer): Difference between revisions

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 {{real world}}
-'''David Agnew''' was a [[pseudonym]] employed by [[Graham Williams]] and others. The BBC in the late 1970's took a dim view as to [[Producer]]s and [[Script Editor]]s commissioning themselves, so when the occasion did arise, then-''[[Doctor Who]]'' Producer Williams disguised his actual authorship. [[2 entertain]] did a feature on [[The Invasion of Time]] DVD called [[The Elusive David Agnew]], It was entiled this as David Agnew never turned up to meetings and when phoned a message had to be left.
+{{you may|David Agnew (in-universe)|n1=the in-universe writer|David Agnew (The Death Pit)|n2=the villain}}
+'''David Agnew''' was a [[pseudonym]] employed by [[Graham Williams]] and the incumbent script editor.
-*[[Anthony Read]], (the [[Script Editor]], at that time) collaborated with Graham Williams on the scripts for ''[[The Invasion of Time]]'', written at the last minute to replace a script by David Weir which would have proved too expensive to film.
+== Background ==
+The BBC in the late 1970s took a dim view of [[producer]]s and [[script editor]]s commissioning themselves, and thus putting a writer out of a job, so when the occasion did arise, then-''[[Doctor Who]]'' producer Williams disguised his actual authorship. [[2 entertain|2|entertain]] did a tongue-in-cheek feature on ''[[The Invasion of Time (TV story)|The Invasion of Time]]'' DVD called ''[[The Elusive David Agnew (documentary)|The Elusive David Agnew]]''. The featurette included [[Terrance Dicks]] stating that Agnew was a good friend of [[Robin Bland]] (the pseudonym [[Robert Holmes]] credited Dicks under on ''[[The Brain of Morbius (TV story)|The Brain of Morbius]]''). As a final joke, the director credit on the featurette is given to {{w|Alan Smithee}}, an infamous pseudonym used for decades by Hollywood film and TV directors, usually those who feel too disappointed at the outcome of their work to risk putting their names on it.
-*[[Douglas Adams]] (the then-current Script Editor) and Graham Williams on ''[[City of Death]]'' as a late replacement for [[David Fisher]]'s ''A Gamble With Time''.
+Contrary to the mystery perpetuated in the comedy featurette ''The Elusive David Agnew'', the identity of "Agnew" to ''Doctor Who'' is known.
-*The same team of Douglas Adams and Graham Williams on ''[[Shada (TV story)|Shada]]''.
+* [[Anthony Read]], (the [[script editor]], at that time) collaborated with Graham Williams on the scripts for ''[[The Invasion of Time (TV story)|The Invasion of Time]]'', written at the last minute to replace ''[[Killers of the Dark (unproduced TV story)|Killers of the Dark]]'' by [[David Weir]] which would have proven too expensive to shoot even on a film budget.
+* [[Douglas Adams]] (the then-current script editor) and Graham Williams on ''[[City of Death (TV story)|City of Death]]'' as a late replacement for [[David Fisher (writer)|David Fisher]]'s ''A Gamble With Time.''
+Coincidentally, on both occasions the pseudonym was used, it was for scripts whose original writers had the first name 'David'.
-As a joke, the short story ''[[Special Occasions: 4. Playing with Toys]]'' in ''[[Short Trips and Side Steps]]'' also had the pseudonym David Agnew.
+== Other information ==
+* The short story ''[[Playing with Toys (short story)|Playing with Toys]]'' in ''[[Short Trips and Side Steps]]'' was also credited to the pseudonym David Agnew.
+* ''[[The Elusive David Agnew (documentary)|The Elusive David Agnew]]'' looked at the origins of the name.
+* In [[A. L. Kennedy]]'s ''[[The Death Pit (short story)|The Death Pit]]'', the antagonist is called [[David Agnew (The Death Pit)|David Agnew]], possibly a homage to the writer.
+{{NameSort}}
-[[Category:Doctor Who television writers|Agnew, David]]
+[[Category:Pseudonyms]]