Trivia

He wrote many Doctor Who Target novelizations, and caused a controversy by using swear words in "The Enemy of the World".

During his brief tenure on Doctor Who, he co-wrote the film script of the ultimately-doomed yet well known "Doctor Who meets Scratchman" or as it is also known, "Doctor Who and the Big Game".

After leaving Doctor Who, he wrote novelizations for many of the serials. He was in the process of writing "The Rescue", when he suffered a hypoglycemic episode while at home alone, went into cardiac arrest and died.

He wrote a few books under the name Ian Don (Don being his middle name).

Ian and his wife Rosemary had two sons named Rupert and Toby.

Ian was given the middle name 'Don' in recognition of both parents, as his father's name was Donald and his mother Helen's maiden name was Donaldson.

Had the misfortune of passing away on his 42nd birthday.

His fatal heart attack was brought on by Diabetes complications.

He was the first actor to play a companion in Doctor Who (1963) to die.