The Man Who Invented the Daleks

`The Man Who Invented the Daleks is more than a biography of the writer Terry Nation. It’s a group portrait of a whole generation of TV writers who worked in the adventure serials and series of the Sixties and Seventies…’ –Paul Magrs, novelist and scriptwriter

‘Turner has produced a masterlymix of shrewd analysis, historical detail and telling quotes…The book is full of wry asides and amusing anecdotes…Indispensable’

— James Delingpole, Mail on Sunday –Praise for Alwyn Turner’s Rejoice! Rejoice!

`One of the pleasures of Alwyn Turner’s breathless romp through the 1980s is that it overflows with unusual juxtapositions and surprising insights…’

— Dominic Sandbrook, The Sunday Times –Praise for Alwyn Turner’s Rejoice! Rejoice!

`This kaleidoscopic history…provides a vivid and enjoyable guide to these turbulent years. Ranging broadly across popular culture as well as high politics, and featuring Doctor Who and Ben Elton as prominently as Michael Foot and Michael Heseltine, Turner brings the period alive and offers insights into both sides of a polarised nation’

— BBC History Magazine, Pick of the Month –Praise for Alwyn Turner’s Rejoice! Rejoice!

`Turner does an excellent job in synthesising the culture and art of the day into the wider political discourse. The result is resolutely entertaining’

— Metro –Praise for Alwyn Turner’s Rejoice! Rejoice

`Fascinating…an affectionate but unflinching portrait of the era’

— Nicholas Foulkes, Independent on Sunday –Praise for Alwyn Turner’s Crisis? What Crisis?

`Entertaining and splendidly researched…He has delved into episodes of soap operas and half-forgotten novels to produce an account that displays wit, colour and detail’

— Brian Groom, Financial Times –Praise for Alwyn Turner’s Crisis? What Crisis?

This is a masterful work of social history and cultural commentary, told withmuch wit. It almost makes you feel as if you were there’

— Roger Lewis, Mail on Sunday –Praise for Alwyn Turner’s Crisis? What Crisis?

`Turner appears to have spentmuch of the decade watching television, and his knowledge of old soap operas, sitcoms and TV dramas is deployed to great effect throughout this vivid, brilliantly researched chronicle…Turnermay be an
anorak, but he is an acutely intelligent anorak’

— Francis Wheen, New Statesman –Praise for Alwyn Turner’s Crisis? What Crisis?

I learned a lot from this book, and it’s a great survey of Nation’s career and the industry he was working in, and despite the title it’s about his whole career, not the bits you already know about. Well worth a look
–Lance Parkin’s Official Website

‘a wonderfully rich account of British popular culture’ –dwasonline.co.uk

`fascinating biography’ –nebula-one.blogspot.com

His life as a storyteller and his legacy as a mythmaker animates this history of pulp screen classics…which, like the Daleks, keep coming back to taunt and terrify us. –The Times

Not only has Turner really done his homework, with every Who-related moment portrayed in the proper context, but he’s unearthed several gems…The Man who Invented the Daleks is a fascinating read for anyone interested in how television works, and the life of a working write –PaulCornell.com