Malcolm Hulke

Malcolm Ainsworth Hulke 21 November 1924 6 July 1979 was a British television writer and author of the industry bible Writing for Television in the 70s He is remembered chiefly for his work on the science fiction series Doctor Who although he contributed to many popular television series of the era Known as Mac throughout his life Hulke was born out of wedlock in 1924 and never knew his father He later discussed the social stigma of illegitimacy and his personal experiences of it in a 1964 radio documentary and a 1973 oped piece in The Observer He lived with his mother Marian until her death in 1943 in Cumberland In 1945 he was conscripted into the Royal Navy Impressed by the Russian prisoners of War whom he met in Norway and by the Red Armys defeat of the Nazis on the Eastern Front Hulke joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1945 and worked briefly as a typist in the partys headquarters He left the party in 1951 objecting to the Soviet Unions hostility to Yugoslavia and its line on the Korean War but soon rejoined and appears to have remained a member of the party until the early 1960s His politics remained firmly on the left and this was reflected in his writings which often explored antiauthoritarian environmental and humanist themes