Robert Sloman
, 1926 - 2005
Robert Sloman (1926-2005) was an English actor who later worked as a screenwriter for television. Educated at Exeter University, he collaborated with Doctor Who producer Barry Letts on several classic stories for the series, including: The Daemons (1971), The Time Monster (1972), The Green Death (1973), and Planet of the Spiders (1974) – the latter being Jon Pertwee’s final adventure as the Third Doctor, and Tom Baker’s first (brief) appearance as the Fourth Doctor. His Doctor Who credits always contained strong moral messages, aimed at challenging adult viewers as well as the primary audience for the series - children. These included the nature of evil, the dangers of unethical scientific experimentation, spiritual awakening, and – most significantly – the problems of environmental degradation, pollution, and globalization. A planned serial drafted by Sloman eventually became Day of the Daleks (1972) – the first time the aliens had been seen since 1967’s The Evil of the Daleks. Sloman also co-wrote the plays The Golden Rivet and The Tinker, for West End (London) theatres. The screenplay for The Tinker was then adapted to the feature film The Wild and the Willing (1962). Sloman also worked for fully 20 years at London’s Sunday Times newspaper (1954-74), rising to the position of distribution manager for that major weekly. He then moved-on to become the wholesale distributor of all the London Sunday papers. He died, aged 79, at his home in Devon, in the south of England, in 2005.
Bio prepared by Richard Scully, University of New England, rscully@une.edu.au
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