Biography

David Ellis (born Derrick Francis Kerkham; 22 June 1918 – 30 June 1978) was the co-writer with Malcolm Hulke of the Doctor Who serial The Faceless Ones, recorded with Patrick Troughton in 1967. The story was penned by the duo following the rejection of previous scripts by the two men. Indeed, Ellis himself had seen his script ideas for “The Clock”, “The People Who Couldn't Remember” and “The Ocean Liner” all rejected. Their script “The Big Store” was also finally not commissioned despite extensive work, though some of the ideas about the substitution of people by replicas was taken further in The Faceless Ones, with the scenario changed from a department store to an airport.

David Ellis's other writing credits include Paul Temple, Spy Trap, and many episodes of Dixon of Dock Green in the 1960s and Z-Cars in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Ellis wrote detective plays for the Midweek Theatre slot on BBC Radio 4. His radio serial in seven parts Find the Lady, first broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in January 1969, was rebroadcast on Radio 4 Extra in January 2020. Noel Johnson took the lead part. He also wrote stage plays. Make Me A Widow was the most successful of these, opening in London in the Summer of 1964 and playing in repertory around the country for many years afterwards.Ellis was married twice and his second wife, Dorothy, lived into her nineties.