Born: 20th February 1913 (as Ernest Rex Tucker)
Died: 10th August 1996 (aged 83 years)
Episodes Broadcast: 1966

Rex Tucker was born in the town of March in Cambridgeshire, and was educated at Cambridge University. He was a businessman and a schoolteacher before joining BBC Radio in 1937, where he wrote and produced Children's Hour. In 1950, he made the move to television, but continued to specialise in juvenile programming. He worked variously as a writer, producer and director -- often performing all three functions on a single programme, as with Triton and the 1955 version of St Ives. In the early Sixties, Tucker began to diversify beyond children's television. He produced installments of the BBC Sunday-Night Play, directed classics serials like Jane Eyre, and wrote for shows such as Dr Finlay's Casebook and Maigret.

In the spring of 1963, Tucker was asked to serve as an interim producer during the development of the programme which would become Doctor Who; indeed, it may have been Tucker who suggested the name. Tucker stepped away from the show in June, in advance of permanent producer Verity Lambert coming aboard. Although he had left behind a number of suggestions about casting and other matters, in many cases Lambert opted to take Doctor Who in new directions. Nonetheless, it was still expected that Tucker would direct several Doctor Who stories; however, his availability became an issue. Instead, Tucker returned to classics serials like For Whom The Bell Tolls, while also writing an adaptation of The Massingham Affair.

A disagreement led Tucker to remove his name from the final episode of The Gunfighters

It was not until 1966 that Tucker finally directed for Doctor Who, taking the helm of the Wild West adventure The Gunfighters. His daughter, Jane, appeared as an extra in the production and had been a candidate to sing the serial's signature tune, The Ballad Of The Last Chance Saloon. Unfortunately, working on The Gunfighters was not an entirely happy experience, and a disagreement with producer Innes Lloyd led Tucker to remove his name from the final episode.

Over the next several years, Tucker's directorial credits included episodes of The Paradise Makers, Sinister Street and Z Cars, while he continued to write adaptations such as Vanity Fair and original fare like Pegasus. Tucker's final contribution to television was the script for a 1979 episode of Jackanory Playhouse. He died on August 10th, 1996. In the 2013 telefilm An Adventure In Space And Time, which dramatised the early days of Doctor Who, Tucker was portrayed by Andrew Woodall.