
David Arthur Whitaker (18th April 1928 — 4th February 1980) was an English television writer and novelist best known for his work on the early years of the science fiction series Doctor Who. He was the script editor of the series for its first 51 episodes from 1963-1964 (his last story being The Dalek Invasion of Earth), and wrote several of the stories including The Edge of Destruction (1963), The Rescue (1965), The Crusade (1965), The Power of the Daleks (1966), The Evil of the Daleks (1967), The Enemy of the World (1967) and The Wheel in Space (1968), his final televised script being The Ambassadors of Death in 1970. He also wrote the first two Doctor Who novelisations, Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks (later reissued as just Doctor Who and the Daleks, pictured) and Doctor Who and the Crusaders, as well as writing The Dalek Chronicles for TV Century 21, although the strip was uncredited and for a long time was attributed to the Daleks' creator, Terry Nation (yes, there was a reason Whitaker was included on a comics site; you just had to be patient, you see).