It’s with great sadness that we have to report the passing of Doctor Who legend, prolific writer and editor, and all-round nice guy, Justin Richards, who has died at the age of just 64.
His family has revealed that Richards has been battling early-onset fronto-temporal dementia for about a decade.
Justin wrote a massive amount of Doctor Who, and served as the Creative Consultant for the BBC Books range of Doctor Who novels until his passing on 28th June 2026. He died peacefully in a care home in his home county of Warwickshire. By all accounts, he was a true gent, who made everything he worked on better and left an incredible legacy. His were also the first Doctor Who books I ever read; in fiction, his first Ninth Doctor novel, The Clockwise Man, and in non-fiction, The Legend Continues, both released in 2005. The former book kicked of a long-running range of novels for 21st Century Who while the latter caught new fans up with all they’d missed. The DWC rarely reports on people’s passings as there are sadly so many to write about, such is the breadth of the franchise; here, we make an exception because Richards was an exceptional chap.
His Doctor Who novels are too numerous to mention, but a select few include: Theatre of War, The Sands of Time, Dreams of Empire, The Burning, Option Lock, Code of the Krillitanes, Time Lord Fairy Tales, The Resurrection Casket, Apollo 23, Plague of the Cybermen, and The Medusa Effect. His non-fiction, reference books include popular titles like A Short History of Everyone, The Whoniverse, Monsters and Villains (and subsequent illustrated guides throughout the Ninth and Tenth Doctors’ eras), and The Ultimate Monster Guide. Meanwhile, his audio work includes Whispers of Terror (perhaps my favourite Big Finish as it played so wonderfully with the medium), The Time of the Daleks, Men of War, Prisoners of the Lake, The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Thirteenth Stone, and I Went to a Marvellous Party. He also wrote two Who graphic novels and regularly contributed to fanzines in the 1980s.
He was also the creator of Irving Braxiatel, the Doctor’s older brother.
Away from Doctor Who, Richards worked as a technical writer and editor, book designer, and user interface designer at IBM.
He was a man of many talents, and will be greatly missed.
Justin is survived by his wife Alison, his sons Julian and Christian, and his mother and brothers. Our thoughts go to his family and friends.
