Terrance Dicks, who was among the original writers of the Doctor Who series, is dead. He was aged 84.
Dicks had a long association with the long-running sci-fi show. He wrote episodes from the late 1960s till the early 1980s. He also served as its script editor from 1968 to 1974 and wrote over 60 Doctor Who novels.
The official fansite of the show confirmed the news on Twitter.
"Just received comms that legendary 'Doctor Who' writer, Terrance Dicks has died. Genuinely gutted. An incredibly talented man who we had the pleasure of interviewing over the years. He also regularly took part in Q&As on the DWO Forums. He will be sorely missed!"
He also worked as a scriptwriter for shows including The Avengers and produced adaptions of literary classics such as Oliver Twist, David Copperfield and Vanity Fair.
Chris Chibnall, the programme's current producer and showrunner, paid tribute to "one of the greatest contributors to Doctor Who's history, on-screen and off … responsible for some of the show's greatest moments and iconic creations".
Novelist Neil Gaiman, who went onto pen episodes of Doctor Who, tweeted: "I remember reading his and Malcolm Hulke's book The Making of Doctor Who when I was 11 or 12, and deciding then that I would one day write an episode of Doctor Who, because they had shown me how. RIP Terrance Dicks."
Dicks was born in East Ham, east London, and studied English at Cambridge University before going into television writing.
At the time of his death, the father of three was living in Hampstead, north London, with his wife Elsa.