Raymond Cusick
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Raymond Cusick, also known as Ray Cusick or Raymond P. Cusick, was a designer for the British Broadcasting Corporation. He is best known for designing the Daleks, a race of mutants who move around in tank-like travel machines, for the science fiction television series Doctor Who.
Cusick was also the BBC staff designer responsible for set design on a large number of Doctor Who stories, designing not just futuristic settings but also historical sets and diorama. Cusick worked on a large variety of television programmes for the BBC including comedy, variety, drama, single plays, and films.
As Cusick was a BBC employee at the time he designed the Daleks, he was on a salary and not paid on a royalty basis. Given the large amount of revenue generated by merchandise featuring Cusick's Dalek design, some feel that he should have been paid a royalty (as was script writer Terry Nation, who created the concept of the Daleks but not their design or appearance). However, this was not in the terms of his contract. Despite this, the BBC did recognise his contribution with an ex-gratia payment. Cusick himself never asks for more money; just to be recognised as the designer.
In the late 1970s, he was a designer for the James Burke BBC programme Connections.
