Robert Sloman facts for kids

Robert Sloman (born July 18, 1926 – died October 24, 2005) was an English writer and actor. He is best known for his exciting stories written for the popular British TV show Doctor Who. Later in his life, he also worked for a newspaper called The Sunday Times.

His Early Life

Robert Sloman was born in a town called Oldham in Lancashire, England. When he was just two years old, his family moved to Plymouth. He later went to the University of Exeter where he earned his degree.

Writing for TV and Stage

In the early 1970s, Robert Sloman became a very important writer for the science fiction show Doctor Who on the BBC. He worked with the show's producer, Barry Letts. Together, they wrote four big stories for the Third Doctor, played by Jon Pertwee.

Doctor Who Stories

The stories Robert Sloman wrote for Doctor Who were:

• The Dæmons (he used the name Guy Leopold for this one)
• The Time Monster
• The Green Death
• Planet of the Spiders (this was Jon Pertwee's last story as the Doctor)

The Dæmons was a favorite story of Jon Pertwee himself. Other stories, like The Green Death, taught important lessons. It focused on problems like pollution and how things affect the whole world. When The Green Death was released on DVD in 2004, Robert Sloman shared how he wrote the story.

Robert Sloman had also planned to bring back the famous Daleks in a story called The Daleks in London. This was meant to be at the end of the third season with Jon Pertwee. However, this plan changed. The show's team decided they needed a big exciting story to start the season. Also, Sloman's story seemed too much like an older Dalek adventure called The Dalek Invasion of Earth. So, another writer, Louis Marks, was asked to change his story to include the Daleks instead. This became Day of the Daleks.

Other Writing Projects

Besides Doctor Who, Robert Sloman also helped write two plays for the West End in London. He wrote both of these plays with Laurence Dobie. The plays were called The Golden Rivet and The Tinker. The Tinker was later made into a film in 1962, called The Wild and the Willing.