Chris Boucher(1943-2022)

After grammar school, Chris Boucher spent a year in Australia working on a railway before returning to Britain. His proper working life began as a management trainee for Calor Gas, a key company supplying liquefied petroleum gas to the UK. Boucher's employers were eager for him to attain further qualifications and sent him to Essex University, from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. At this juncture, he turned to writing as a means to gain extra income. He began by supplying short stories to women's magazines. His first forays into writing for television were for the series Braden's Week (1968) and as a creator of gags for Dave Allen's show .

As a youngster, Boucher had been fascinated with science fiction, avidly devouring magazines like Amazing Stories and New Worlds. He was thus quick to act on his agent's advice that he submit some of his own ideas to Doctor Who (1963) script editor Robert Holmes and producer Philip Hinchcliffe. This resulted in Boucher being commissioned to write the serials The Face of Evil: Part One (1977), The Robots of Death: Part One (1977) and Image of the Fendahl: Part One (1977), in the process bringing to life Tom Baker 's companion character Leela (played by Louise Jameson). Having by now quit his job at Calor Gas, Boucher went on to work as a script editor and writer for Blake's 7 (1978), Juliet Bravo (1980) and Bergerac (1981), as well as devising his own short-lived sci-fi series Star Cops (1987). Boucher did not get on well with producer Evgeny Gridneff and also criticized the BBC for scheduling the series on BBC2 in the summer.

Later in his career, he turned to writing several Doctor Who (1963) novelizations which featured the character of Leela.