Peter Ling
, 1926 - 2006
Peter Ling (1926–2006) was a British television scriptwriter. He served in the Second World War as a coal miner, and then in the Army Pay Corps; and post-war convalescence (from tuberculosis) gave him time to write and publish his first novel: Voices Offstage (1947). He submitted scripts to BBC Radio – achieving some recognition for work on Waterlogged Spa (late 1940s) – before commencing work for television (including 1950’s children’s programme, Whirligig). Ling wrote strips for the iconic British comic Eagle (including The Three J’s, 1952–1959, which was adapted for TV in 1958). By 1955 he was Head of Children’s Serials at the BBC, but continued to do writing work – for the soap-operas Compact (1962–1965) and Crossroads (1964); police drama Dixon of Dock Green; and The Avengers (1961 & 1963). Ling’s contribution to Doctor Who was the highly-regarded The Mind Robber (1965), starring Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor. Further work for radio followed (including adaptations of Sherlock Holmes and other stories) as well as several novels (including the novelisation of his own Mind Robber for the Doctor Who series). He also wrote a hit song (for Matt Monro): Why Not Now? (1961). For many years thereafter, he struggled with Alzheimer’s disease, culminating in his death on 4 September, 2006.
Bio prepared by Richard Scully, University of New England, rscully@une.edu.au
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