It has been announced that writer, journalist and former Doctor Who script editor Christopher H. Bidmead passed away on 6th August 2025 at the age of 84.
Bidmead trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), later playing several roles on stage, television and radio.
By the early 1970s, Bidmead was scriptwriting for Thames Television, producing material for Harriet’s Back in Town and Rooms. Up until 1979, he was a journalist, and contributed some articles to New Scientist.
In 1979, Robert Banks Stewart recommended him for the post of script editor on Doctor Who. Bidmead was primarily responsible for a “back to basics” approach for his yearlong tenure on Doctor Who, attempting to curb the more playful and fantasy oriented approach of his predecessor Douglas Adams in favour of a more naturalistic and scientific style of presentation. Most noticeable in the more serious portrayal of Tom Baker’s Doctor, this approach proved controversial and ratings suffered, although this has been attributed to the tough timeslot for Bidmead’s season which saw the show competing against Buck Rogers in the 25th Century on ITV. Very much a product of its time, Bidmead’s writings for Doctor Who demonstrate an increasing awareness of computer technology, typified by his complex serial Logopolis which served to write out the Fourth Doctor. After a year as script editor he returned to freelance work. This included writing two more Doctor Who serials for Peter Davison’s Doctor (Castrovalva and Frontios) as well as producing novelisations of all three of these Doctor Who stories.
In August 2006, it was announced in Doctor Who Magazine that Bidmead would be writing a Doctor Who audio play, Renaissance of the Daleks, for release through Big Finish Productions in March 2007. An audio play with that title was subsequently released, with a “From a Story By” credit for Bidmead. In recent years he has contributed voiceover commentaries and interviews for numerous DVD and Blu-ray releases of Doctor Who serials with which he was involved.
Bidmead has continued his career in computer journalism, writing regularly (as Chris Bidmead) for Personal Computer World, PC Plus and other computer magazines, and specialising in Linux tools. Occasionally he has contributed more speculative or philosophical pieces for publications such as New Scientist, and recently he has worked as a journalist producing material for Wired magazine.
A sad loss, and a wonderful writer.
Chris Bidmead’s scripts, and the season he script edited, inspired my curiosity and my interest in science – which carried on into my career.
It’s hard to capture just how innovative and thoughtful his Doctor Who felt, at a time when the best science fiction American television could offer was Battlestar Galactica and, ugh, Buck Rogers.
In short: Chris Bidmead, you brightened my life. Thank you.