Doctor Who fan Steven Clark is suing the BBC, claiming he invented the character of Davros, creator of the Daleks, who first appeared in the series in the 1975 story "Genesis of the Daleks".

Clark claims he made a drawing of the character and a handwritten essay, The Genesis of the Daleks: The Creation of Davros for a competion run by the magazine TV Action in 1972. The competition had no connection to the BBC, although judges included then producer Barry Letts, script editor Terrance Dicks, and Third Doctor actor Jon Pertwee.

Clark's claim seeks damages or an amount equivalent to the profits made on the character after nearly four decades. He says he considered legal action in 1975, but had lost the competition entry by then. However, it turned up twenty years later when he was looking through an old set of family encyclopedias.

It is generally thought that Davros was created by writer Terry Nation, responsible for the creation of the Daleks themselves. Nation died in 1997, but the agent for his estate is looking into the matter.

News taken from The Doctor Who News Page