Brian Leonard Hayles (7 March 1931[1] – 30 October 1978) was an English television and film writer, most notably for the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who.

[5] In addition to script writing for the radio series The Archers,[6] Hayles penned a novel based on the soap[7] called Spring at Brookfield (Tandem, 1975) set in the period between the two world wars.

[9] Apart from Doctor Who, Hayles wrote for such television series as The Regiment,[10] Barlow at Large, Doomwatch,[3] Out of the Unknown,[3] United!, Legend of Death, Public Eye, Z-Cars,[3] BBC Playhouse, The Wednesday Thriller and Suspense.

[11] The novelisation of the latter by Paul Victor (Futura, 1978) included a preface by Hayles entitled 'The Thinking Behind Atlantis' in which he explained the origins of the film's central concepts.

Hayles contributed to a BBC series called Slim John which was an English Language course taught via the medium of science fiction scenarios.