Gareth John Pritchard Roberts (born 1968) is a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
screenwriterScreenwriters or scenarists or scriptwriters are people in a film crew who write/create the screenplays from which films and television programs are made....
and novelist, best known for his work related to the science-fiction television series
Doctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a mysterious alien time-traveller known as "the Doctor" who travels in his space and time-ship, the TARDIS, which normally appears from the exterior to be a blue 1950s police box...
. He has also worked on various comedy series and
soap operaA soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on television or radio. The name "soap opera" stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers such as Procter & Gamble,...
s.
Roberts studied drama at college and has also worked as a clerk at the Court of Appeal.
During the 1990s, Roberts was associated with the popular range of
Doctor Who spin-off novels published by
Virgin BooksVirgin Books is a United Kingdom book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Enterprises, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company.-History:...
.
Gareth John Pritchard Roberts (born 1968) is a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
screenwriterScreenwriters or scenarists or scriptwriters are people in a film crew who write/create the screenplays from which films and television programs are made....
and novelist, best known for his work related to the science-fiction television series
Doctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a mysterious alien time-traveller known as "the Doctor" who travels in his space and time-ship, the TARDIS, which normally appears from the exterior to be a blue 1950s police box...
. He has also worked on various comedy series and
soap operaA soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on television or radio. The name "soap opera" stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers such as Procter & Gamble,...
s.
Roberts studied drama at college and has also worked as a clerk at the Court of Appeal.
Doctor Who
During the 1990s, Roberts was associated with the popular range of
Doctor Who spin-off novels published by
Virgin BooksVirgin Books is a United Kingdom book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Enterprises, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company.-History:...
. He contributed several novels to both their
New AdventuresThe Virgin New Adventures were a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who...
and
Missing AdventuresThe Virgin Missing Adventures were a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which had been cancelled in 1989, continuing the story of the series from where the television programme had left off. The novels were published from 1994...
ranges of
Doctor Who fiction. He also wrote some
CrackerCracker is the title of a television crime series in the United Kingdom, made by Granada Television for ITV and created and principally written by Jimmy McGovern. The series concerned a criminal psychologist , Eddie "Fitz" Fitzgerald, played by Robbie Coltrane. Set in Manchester, it consisted of...
novelisations for Virgin.
He continued to be associated with
Doctor Who in the 2000s, penning several feature articles and comic strips for
Doctor Who MagazineDoctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Its current editor is Tom Spilsbury.-History:...
, co-writing
audio playsRadio Drama is a form of audio storytelling broadcast on radio. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the story....
and short stories based on the series with
Clayton HickmanClayton Hickman is a British writer, magazine editor and designer. Born in Bristol in 1977, he first worked in publishing as Editorial Assistant on "Film Review" magazine from 1999-2000....
for
Big Finish ProductionsBig Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based on British cult science fiction properties...
, and in 2005 writing another
Doctor Who novel,
Only Human, based on the characters from the new series launched that year, for
BBC BooksBBC Books is an imprint majority owned and managed by Random House. The minority shareholder is BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation...
'
New Series AdventuresThe New Series Adventures are a series of spin-off novels based on the long-running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and published under the BBC Books imprint....
range. A further novel,
I am a DalekI am a Dalek is a BBC Books original novella written by Gareth Roberts and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Tenth Doctor and Rose. This paperback is part of the Quick Reads Initiative sponsored by the UK government, to encourage literacy...
, was released in 2006 and featured the
Tenth DoctorThe Tenth Doctor is the tenth incarnation of the fictional character known as the Doctor seen on screen in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is played by David Tennant, who replaced Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor in the 2005 series finale, "The Parting of...
.
I am a Dalek is part of a Government "Quick Reads initiative". He also co-wrote
The New Gods with
Rebecca LeveneRebecca Levene is a British author and editor, best known for editing Virgin's New Adventures series of original fiction Doctor Who novels.-Biography:...
, the first
Tomorrow PeopleThe Tomorrow People is a children's science fiction television series, devised by Roger Price, which first ran between 1973 and 1979. The show was re-imagined between 1992 and 1995, this time with Roger Price as executive producer...
audio drama for Big Finish.
Roberts appeared as a contributor to the documentary
Serial Thrillers, exploring the popular
Philip HinchcliffePhilip Hinchcliffe was a British television producer, who is probably best known for the overseeing of British television series Doctor Who from 1974-1977...
era of
Doctor Who between 1975 and 1977, which featured as an extra on the 2004 DVD release of the serial
Pyramids of MarsPyramids of Mars is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from October 25 to November 15, 1975.-Synopsis:...
.
On 25 December 2005 a special 'interactive' mini-episode of
Doctor Who written by Roberts,
Attack of the Graske"Attack of the Graske" is an interactive "mini-episode" of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is now available as an online game on the official Doctor Who website.-Synopsis:...
, was broadcast, and can now be accessed on the
BBC website (only available to UK Broadband Users). Roberts also wrote a series of "
TARDISODETARDISODEs are mini-episodes of the television programme Doctor Who created to accompany the 2006 series of the programme. Made by Doctor Who producers BBC Wales, each TARDISODE is approximately 60 seconds long and serves as an introduction to one of the actual 45-minute episodes...
s", short videos available online and via
mobile phoneA mobile phone or mobile is a long-range, electronic device used for mobile telecommunications...
s promoting the 2006 series of
Doctor Who.
He has thus far written two full episodes of
Doctor Who, "
The Shakespeare Code"The Shakespeare Code" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 7 April 2007, and is the second episode of Series 3 of the revived Doctor Who series. According to the BARB figures this episode was seen by 7.23 million viewers and was...
" for the 2007 series and "
The Unicorn and the Wasp"The Unicorn and the Wasp" is the seventh episode in the fourth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was aired by BBC One on 17 May 2008 at 19:00. Perhaps due to its later broadcast, it received an overnight audience rating of 7.7 million, making it the most...
" for the 2008 series. His agent has revealed that he is also writing an episode of Series 5.
Roberts also co-wrote, with Russell T Davies, "
Invasion of the Bane"Invasion of the Bane" is the first episode of the British science fiction television series The Sarah Jane Adventures. It was originally broadcast on 1 January 2007...
", the pilot episode of the
Doctor Who spin-off series
The Sarah Jane AdventuresThe Sarah Jane Adventures is a British science fiction television series, produced by BBC Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies and starring Elisabeth Sladen. The programme is a spin-off of the long-running BBC science fiction programme Doctor Who and focuses on the adventures of...
. He wrote two two-part stories for the full series of
The Sarah Jane Adventures, which began broadcasting in the autumn of 2007, and another two two-part stories for the 2008 series.
Roberts co-wrote with Davies again for the first of the 2009 specials of
Doctor Who, "
Planet of the Dead"Planet of the Dead" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who that was simultaneously broadcast on BBC One and BBC HD on 11 April 2009. It is the first of four special episodes to be broadcast throughout 2009 and early 2010, which serve as lead actor David Tennant's...
".
Soap operas
Roberts has worked on some of the most popular British soap operas, including
Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
's now-defunct
BrooksideBrookside was a British soap opera set in Liverpool, England. The series began on the first night of the then-new network Channel 4 on 2 November 1982, and ran for 21 years until 4 November 2003...
as a scriptwriter (1999-2003), and as a story associate on
ITVITV is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK...
's
Coronation StreetCoronation Street is an award-winning prime time soap opera set and produced in Manchester created by Tony Warren...
in 1997. In 1998 he worked as a
script editorA script editor is a member of the production team of scripted television programmes, usually dramas and comedies. The script editor has many responsibilities including finding new script writers, developing storyline and series ideas with writers, ensuring that scripts are suitable for production...
on ITV's other long-running soap,
EmmerdaleEmmerdale, known as Emmerdale Farm until 1989, is a popular and critically acclaimed British soap opera that has aired on ITV since 1972...
, moving across to write several episodes himself the following year.
Comedy
In comedy, Roberts has worked in collaboration with
The Fast ShowThe Fast Show, known as Brilliant in the US, was a BBC comedy sketch show programme that ran for three series from 1994 to 1997 with a special Last Fast Show Ever in 2000. The show's central performers were Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Simon Day, Mark Williams, John Thomson, Arabella Weir and...
writer and performer
Charlie HigsonCharles Murray Higson , more commonly known as Charlie Higson, is an English actor, comedian and author. He has also written and produced for television.-Biography:...
on the sitcom
Swiss Toni, a
spin-offA spin-off is a new organization or entity formed by a split from a larger one, such as television series based on a pre-existing one, or a new company formed from a university research group or business incubator...
from
The Fast Show. He also collaborated with Higson on scripts for the second series of
Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)Randall & Hopkirk is a British television series, produced by Working Title Films for BBC One. It is a remake of the 1960s television series Randall and Hopkirk and stars Vic Reeves as Hopkirk and Bob Mortimer as Randall, Emilia Fox as Jeannie, and Tom Baker as Wyvern.- Background :Two series...
for
BBC One
in 2001.
Roberts has also contributed sketches to the Five sketch show
Swinging.
External links