Despite his association with the John Nathan-Turner era, he very nearly wrote the pilot for Doctor Who. When Verity Lambert and David Whitaker received Anthony Coburn's draft for "The Forest of Fear" on 26 June 1963, they were unhappy with the story's development. Lambert asked Dudley to quickly write a replacement. He declined, leaving them to somewhat unenthusiastically produce Coburn's An Unearthly Child. (REF: The First Doctor Handbook)