Comprehensive information and links about Terrance Dicks

Terrance Dicks (born 1935 in East Ham, London, England, UKTerrance Dicks is a British writer, best known for his work in television and for writing a large number of popular children's books during the 1970s and 80s.

After leaving school, Dicks studied English at Downing College, Cambridge, and later did two years of National Service in the British Army. Following his discharge from the armed forces, he worked for five years as an advertising copywriter, and began writing radio play s for the BBC in his spare time.

His break in television came when his friend Malcolm Hulke asked for his help with the writing of an episode of the popular action , on which Dicks received a co-writer's credit on the broadcast. He also wrote for the popular ATV soap opera , before in 1968 beginning work on the series with which he was to become most closely associated when he was employed as the assistant editor proper on the programme the following year, and earned his first writing credit on the show when he and Hulke co-wrote the epic ten-part story which closed the sixth season and the era of Second Doctor Patrick Troughton. He had, however, been the uncredited co-writer of editor on each of Letts' five seasons in charge of the programme from 1970 to 1974. After his departure, Dicks continued to be associated with the programme, writing three (1976, broadcast under the name 'Robin Bland' after Dicks' displeasure at Holmes' rewrites to the story led him to declare that it should go out "under some bland pseudonym") and television stories, writing over fifty of the titles published by the company. It was through his work on books that he became a writer of children's fiction, penning many successful titles during the 1970s and 80s, some of which have recently been reprinted and made available again by the Big Finish company.

In 1980 Dicks returned to the which had been due for production during season fifteen, but had been hastily withdrawn and replaced with when the BBC decided that its vampiric theme would clash with their high-profile adaptation of Bram Stoker's , which was due for transmission at around the same time. Dicks made his final contribution to televised strand of period dramas and literary adaptations. When Letts departed the staff of the BBC in 1985, Dicks succeeded his colleague as the producer of the strand, overseeing productions such as strand in that form came to an end.

During the 1990s, Dicks contributed to Virgin Publishing's line of full-length, officially-licensed original , which carried on the story of the series following its cancellation as an ongoing television programme in 1989. Dicks penned three novels for Virgin, and continued to write occasionally for the franchise following the take-over of the books licence by BBC Books in 1997. He wrote the first of the Eighth Doctor Adventures,

Children's author

In 1976, Dicks wrote a trilogy of books published by Target Books called "The Mounties" about a recruit in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. These were followed in 1979-1983 by another Target trilogy "Star Quest".

Starting in 1978, Dicks began a series called "The Baker Street Irregulars" which eventually ran to ten books, the last being published in 1987. In 1981, Dicks also began a series of six children's horror novels with "Cry Vampire", coinciding with his novelisation of the in which vampires also featured heavily.

1987 saw Dicks start a new series of books for very young children called "T. R. Bear", amounting to a further seven books. These were followed by the "Sally Ann" series about a determined ragdoll, "Magnificent Max" about a cat and "The Adventures of Goliath" about a golden retriever. The Goliath series is Dicks' largest amounting to eighteen books. Another five books about a St Bernard dog made up the "Harvey" series.

"Jonathan's Ghost" and three sequels were published in 1988, and the three book "MacMagic" series followed in 1990. "The Littlest Dinosaur" was published in 1993 and "The Littlest on Guard" in 1994. Other works published in 1994 include "Woof! the Never Ending Tale", the "Cold Blood" series (four books), the "Chronicles of a Computer Game Addict" (four books).

Between 1998 and 2000 Dicks produced the three novel "Changing Universe" series. Since then, Dicks has been engaged in the ongoing "The Unexplained" series with twelve books so far.

As well as the vast number of fictional works, Dicks has also written several non-fiction books for children including "Europe United", "A Riot of Writers", "Uproar in the House", "A Right Royal History" and "The Good, the Bad and the Ghastly".