We’re very sorry to learn of the passing of author Justin Richards, best known for his work on Doctor Who fiction, who had long helped shape the series path in books and more for many years.
His family have announced his passing on Sunday 28th June 2026, aged just 64. Justin had, unfortunately, spent the last decade of his life living with early-onset fronto-temporal dementia, and passed away peacefully in a nursing home in his beloved Warwickshire.
Known to many as the range consultant for Doctor Who for BBC Books, Justin was a prolific and lauded children’s novelist, and a regular writer for Big Finish Productions. His work spanned audio scripts, television, a stage play, and editing anthologies of short stories. He was also a technical writer, and founded and edited a media journal.
He was also the creator of Irving Braxiatel, elder brother of the Doctor, a character who first appeared in the New Adventures novel Theatre of War back in 1994, and played major role in two audio spin-off series, Bernice Summerfield and Gallifrey.
A new paperback edition of his short story collection, Doctor Who: Time Lord Fairy Tales, is due for release from BBC Children’s Books in August, illustrated by David Wardle, with a new story by Janelle McCurdy.
I first met Justin while editor of Doctor Who Magazine, and he was one of several writers I brought on board the title in an effort to deliver a wider range of authoritative voices to cover the show’s history, impressed by his work on the serial prozine, In-vision, which alongside Peter Anghelides, from its launch. As with Andrew Pixley, I much valued their work for the Magazine during what’s colloquially known as “The Wilderness Years”.
As Richard Molesworth notes, Justin was a powerful voice in Doctor Who fandom in the 1980s, a regular contributor to ‘zines such as Frontier Worlds, Skaro, and DWB, amongst others. He edited superb The Black & White Guardian, alongside David Richardson, then shouldered the editing duties, with Peter Anghelides on In-vision from its launch, covering Tom Baker’s debut Robot and continuing through all of Baker’s stories up to Logopolis, then passing on the editing role to Anthony Brown.
His first professional work a fiction author, was on the original Doctor Who novels for Virgin’s “New Adventures” and “Missing Adventures” ranges, and novels for BBC Books too, both for the “Past Doctor Adventures” and “Eighth Doctor Adventures” ranges. He also wrote several of the early Big Finish audio dramas.
His Doctor Who novel, The Burning, was placed sixth in the Top 10 of SFX magazine’s “Best SF/Fantasy novelisation or TV tie-in novel” category of 2000.
When the show returned in 2005, Justin wrote original novels with the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors, eventually becoming creative consultant for the BBC Doctor Who book range.
“My editor on many projects, he was a talented, funny and generous man,” says author and effects designer Mike Tucker, “who improved my writing enormously with his insightful changes and clever suggestions. He will be greatly missed.”
“His Doctor Who – The Book of Lists (co-written with Andrew Martin) was a neat (if lightweight) reference book about the original series,” Richard Molesworth notes, “but his hefty coffee table book Doctor Who: The Legend was a fitting tribute to (again) the original / classic series, published for the show’s 40th anniversary in 2003.”
Beyond Doctor Who, was the author of, amongst other things, The Death Collector, The Chaos Code, The Parliament of Blood and The Skeleton Clock, and the series The Invisible Detective, Time Runners, and Agent Alfie.
Justin is survived by his wife Alison, his sons Julian and Christian, and his mother and brothers. Our sympathies to them and his friends at this time.
Justin Richards (14th September 1961 – 28th June 2026)
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Books, Doctor Who, downthetubes News, Features, Obituaries, Other Worlds, Science Fiction, Television
In Memoriam: Cover Artist Walt Howarth
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