Researching Gerry Davis

From 1966 until the following year Davis was the story editor of the popular BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who, for which he created the character Jamie McCrimmon and co-created the popular cybernetic monsters known as the Cybermen, who continue to make appearances in the show, having been revived in the new run. His fellow co-creator of these creatures was the programme's unofficial scientific adviser Dr. Kit Pedler. Following their work on Doctor Who the pair teamed up in 1970 to create the science-fiction programme Doomwatch. Doomwatch ran for three seasons on BBC One from 1970 to 1972 and spawned a novel written by Davis and Pedler, a subsequent cinema film and a 1999 revival on Channel 5.

Davis briefly returned to writing Doctor Who in 1975, penning the original script for Revenge of the Cybermen, though the transmitted version was heavily rewritten by then script-editor Robert Holmes. Davis also adapted several of his scripts into novelisations for Target Books' Doctor Who imprint. With Kit Pedler he wrote the science-fiction novels Mutant 59: The Plastic Eater (1971), expanded from their script for the first episode of Doomwatch; Brainrack (1974); and The Dynostar Menace (1975).

In the 1980s Davis worked in America both in television and on feature films such as The Final Countdown (1980). In late 1989 he and Terry Nation made a joint but unsuccessful bid to take over production of Doctor Who and reformat the series mainly for the American market. Gerry Davis died on 31 August 1991.

A native of Trenton, New Jersey, Davis graduated from Ewing High School and Howard University. In 1978, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod Baseball League. He was drafted by the Padres in the sixth round of the 1980 Major League Baseball draft. He threw and batted right-handed and was listed as tall and .

Davis' professional career extended for six seasons (1980–1985 and 1987), and included strong showings in levels ranging from Class A to Triple-A. He was selected an All-Star in the Carolina League (1981) and Pacific Coast League (1983). During his two stints with the Padres, he collected 22 hits, with five doubles and a triple and three runs batted in. He batted .301. The bulk of his MLB service time came in 1985, when he got into 44 games and started seven games in right field and two games in left field. A knee injury suffered in January 1986 caused him to miss the entire 1986 season and curtailed his playing career. He retired from professional baseball after spending 1987 in the minors.