Adam Adamant Lives! - Series Creation

Series Creation

Adam Adamant Lives! has been called by modern observers "what Doctor Who did next", because at least three Doctor Who alumni had key positions on the pilot. Most obviously it reunited producer Verity Lambert with Head of Television Drama Sydney Newman. Together they had been at the core of decision-makers who launched Doctor Who. But the series also brought Donald Cotton, who had the same year written two serials for Doctor Who, back into Newman's orbit. Cotton and partner Richard Harris would write the first script, "A Vintage Year for Scoundrels", and would thus come to be credited as co-creators. Over the years Newman himself has been cited as creator of the show. Even the BBC has at times propagated this idea, calling him the creator on some of their own pages devoted to the programme, but not on others. In truth he is probably more correctly seen as the executive producer or as having "developed the series for television". Adam Adamant Lives! was a quick replacement for the show he had actually intended – an adaptation of the adventures of literary detective Sexton Blake. When the rights to the character suddenly dried up, it fell to writers Donald Cotton and Richard Harris, along with script editor Tony Williamson, to come up with a replacement idea. Near the end of his life Newman indicated that he had, indeed, been significantly involved in the rewrites, suggesting that his critic Mary Whitehouse had been partial inspiration for the character. Like Doctor Who which had preceded it, Adam Adamant Lives! was thus a show created somewhat by committee and circumstance. Many of the indoor scenes were filmed at Studios 3 and 5 at the BBC Television Centre in London.