I have to declare a personal interest here. I worked with a relative of Terrance and this relative managed to arrange a nights drinking with me and the great man. Barry Letts turned up and we all sat, drinking wine and talking about Doctor Who. It was, without exception, the happiest I've ever been. So in terms of affection, Uncle Terry would be top of the list by some distance.
His stories were all very solid, with Brain of Morbius and The Five Doctors ranking amongst the classics. But he's more on the list for the shaping of the show in the early 70s. He took a show that had become, in all honesty, a bit of a liability with failing viewing figures and (with his partner in crime Barry Letts) totally reinvigorated the show. I imagine watching Spearhead from Space was akin to watching Rose in 2005.
But the real thing about D1cks was that he 'got' what Doctor Who was all about. His novels were brilliant and without a doubt I would not be here, writing about this show and so fired up about it, without his work. Indeed, this may sound like hyperbole but it is true to say that Terrance D1cks taught me to read and shaped my writing style. His novels were brilliantly readable (I would regularly go to the library at 9am on a school holiday get out a Terrance D1cks Target Novel and have read it by 4pm that day). He would take stories that didn't quite hang together on TV and, using his talent as a novelist, he would make characters come alive, make locations sparkle and tie up those loose bits of plot that didn't make sense.
His novelisation of Terror of the Autons is utterly amazing but on that night when we were drinking expensive red wine and talking about Doctor Who, I received a signed copy of the Five Doctors first print run from him. I have it framed in my study as a memory of a truly special meeting with a science fiction legend. Modesty prevented him talking about his role, but he did give me a list of the writers who he had given advice to and it was like a Who's Who of Who
I know I should have put him higher - there is no one in the Whoniverse who I respect more. But when you see the next on the list, you will see the dilemma I have been faced with in compiling this list