Donor in focus: John Nathan-Turner (1947-2002)

John Nathan-Turner is best known for producing the BBC TV series Dr. Who from Season 18 in 1979 until Michael Grade took the decision to end it in 1989. He had first worked on the programme as a studio floor assistant during the 'Patrick Troughton' years. By the time he took over as producer, it was Tom Baker's last season in the role. Nathan-Turner made several controversial changes to the show, which brought him his own share of fame and not a little criticism from the hard-core fans. He was responsible for casting three further actors in the role of the Doctor - Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy.

Although Nathan-Turner worked on other TV shows in various production capacities, such as The Pallisers (1974) and All Creatures Great and Small (from 1978), the bulk of his considerable archive concerns the Doctor and consists mainly of scripts, a small number of production files, ephemera and fanzines. Other aspects of his career are represented by scripts for stage versions of the pantomimes Cinderella and Puss in Boots.