Ian Don Marter was born at Alcock Hospital in Keresley, near Coventry, on the 28th of October 1944. His father, Donald Herbert, was an RAF sergeant and electrician by trade, and his mother was Helen, nee Donaldson. He was, among other things, a teacher and a milkman. He became an actor after graduating from Oxford University, and appeared in Repertory and West End productions and on television. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic. He was best known for playing Harry Sullivan in the BBC Television series Doctor Who from 1974 to 1975, alongside Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen. He had already appeared in the show as Lieutenant John Andrews in the Jon Pertwee serial Carnival of Monsters. He had numerous TV roles including appearances in Crown Court and Bergerac (Return of the Ice Maiden, 1985, opposite Louise Jameson). Marter got into writing the novelisations following a dinner conversation. He went on to adapt 9 scripts over ten years. He started with The Ark in Space, the TV version of which he'd actually appeared in as companion Harry Sullivan. In the end he adapted more serials than he appeared in (7 appearances, 9 novelisations), and wrote one of the Companions series, telling of the post-Doctor adventures of Harry in Harry Sullivan's War. Shortly before his death he was discussing, with series editor Nigel Robinson, the possibility of adapting his unused movie script Doctor Who Meets Scratchman (co-written with Tom Baker) into a novel.