Born: 13th October 1954
Episodes Broadcast: 1981, 1983

Steve Gallagher was born in Salford, Lancashire and grew up a Doctor Who fan. He attended Hull University, where he studied drama and English. He initially aspired to be a director and, after graduation, Gallagher joined Yorkshire Television as a documentary researcher. In 1975, he moved to the Presentation Department at Granada, while also writing radio plays. Amongst these were the science-fiction dramas The Last Rose Of Summer, which he also novelised in 1978, and An Alternative To Suicide. The latter was forwarded to the Doctor Who production office in late 1979, and prompted script editor Christopher H Bidmead to approach Gallagher about writing for the show. The result was the surreal Warriors' Gate, one of Tom Baker's final adventures as the Fourth Doctor, which also saw the departure of companions Romana and K·9.

After writing two film novelisations, Gallagher scored a success in 1982 with his original novel Chimera. He returned to Doctor Who the following year with the funereal Terminus, with Peter Davison now having taken over as the Fifth Doctor. A third proposal, called “Nightmare Country”, was deemed too expensive to make. Gallagher novelised both of his Doctor Who serials under the nom de plume “John Lydecker”; other publications utilised the pseudonyms “Stephen Couper” and “Lisa Todd”. His career as a novelist blossoming, Gallagher returned to television with an episode of Rockliffe's Folly in 1988. He then adapted Chimera as a mini-series in 1991.

During the Nineties, Gallagher helped develop Chiller and Bugs, writing ten scripts for the latter. In 1998, he finally had a chance to direct; the production was an adaptation of his own novel, Oktober. Followng the turn of the century, Gallagher created Eleventh Hour, and later wrote for its American remake as well. Other Stateside work saw Gallagher serve as the lead writer on Crusoe and as co-executive producer on The Forgotten. More recently, Gallagher contributed scripts to programmes such as Silent Witness, Lucky Man and The Conception Of Terror.