"David Agnew" is a

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

that was employed on BBC television drama programmes of the 1970s as a scriptwriting

credit Credit (from Latin verb ''credit'', meaning "one believes") is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt) ...

Conditions of use

The

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

"David Agnew" was most often used when the original

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

scriptwriter was unable to accommodate fundamental changes requested by the production staff, who therefore had to perform a significant rewrite themselves. BBC rules prevented the production staff from taking screen credit without a time-consuming,

bureaucratic Bureaucracy ( ) is a system of organization where laws or regulatory authority are implemented by civil servants or non-elected officials (most of the time). Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments ...

appeals process, meaning that the quickest way for the project to continue under the BBC system was to use the name of a

non-existent Existence is the state of having being or reality in contrast to nonexistence and nonbeing. Existence is often contrasted with essence: the essence of an entity is its essential features or qualities, which can be understood even if one doe ...

writer. Sometimes production staff were directly ordered by BBC management to use the credit.

Examples

The name was first used in 1971, when

Anthony Read Anthony Read (21 April 1935 – 21 November 2015) was an English television producer, screenwriter, script editor and author. He was principally active in British television from the 1960s to the mid-1980s, which included a period as a script ...

's script for the ''

Play for Today ''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage ...

'' episode "Hell's Angel" was broadcast under the pseudonym. Read's work on the 1975 ''

BBC2 Playhouse ''BBC2 Playhouse'' is a British anthology television series of one-hour episodes produced by the BBC. Among its many performers were Helen Mirren, Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Liam Neeson, Paul Scofield, Deborah Kerr, Ben Kingsley, Donald ...

'' episode "Diane" was likewise credited to "David Agnew". The pseudonym entered into use on ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' after

became the show's

script editor A script editor is a member of the production team of scripted television and radio programs, usually dramas and comedies. The script editor has many responsibilities including finding new script writers, developing storyline and series ideas wit ...

. Read and producer Graham Williams used the pen name hurriedly to assemble ''

The Invasion of Time ''The Invasion of Time'' is the sixth and final serial of the Doctor Who (season 15), 15th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on BBC One, BBC1 from 4 February to 11 ...

'' in 1978. A year later, the name concealed the joint work of

Douglas Adams Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author, humorist, and screenwriter, best known as the creator of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the ...

, Williams, and David Fisher on ''

City of Death ''City of Death'' is the second serial of the seventeenth season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor. It was produced by the BBC ...

''. The name was also used for the episode "Blow Out" of '' Target''. In this case, a two-hour script was pared down to one. Writer

Roger Marshall Roger Wayne Marshall (born August 9, 1960) is an American politician, physician, and former military officer serving as the junior United States senator from Kansas since 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he served from 2017 to 2021 as ...

quit at the pre-production stage, leaving director Douglas Camfield to revise the script.

Use outside television

In March 2000, "David Agnew" was used for a ''Doctor Who'' book, the short story anthology '' Short Trips and Sidesteps'', in homage to the pseudonym's use on the television series. Agnew was also the subject of '' The Elusive David Agnew'', a

mockumentary A mockumentary (a portmanteau of ''mock'' and ''documentary'') is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a Documentary film, documentary. Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on current event ...

directed by "Allen Smithee" on the

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

release of ''

''. A character in the 2013 Doctor Who short novel The Death Pit, by A. L. Kennedy, is named David Agnew.

Related pseudonyms

Walter Plinge Walter Plinge is a pseudonym, used in British theatres since the 19th century on occasions when it is not possible or desirable to make an actor's real name known. Name and usage Walter Plinge is a pseudonym traditionally used in British theatre ...

* Alan Smithee * George Spelvin

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agnew, David British television writers Anonymity pseudonyms Collective pseudonyms