Gareth Roberts (writer)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gareth John Pritchard Roberts (born 1968) is a British television writer and novelist, best known for his work related to the science-fiction television series Doctor Who. He has also worked on various comedy series and soap operas.
Roberts studied drama at college and has also worked as a clerk at the Court of Appeal.
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[edit] Doctor Who
During the 1990s, Roberts was associated with the popular range of Doctor Who spin-off novels published by Virgin Books. He contributed several novels to both their New Adventures and Missing Adventures ranges of Doctor Who fiction. He also wrote some Cracker novelisations for Virgin.
He continued to be associated with Doctor Who in the 2000s, penning several feature articles and comic strips for Doctor Who Magazine, co-writing audio plays and short stories based on the series with Clayton Hickman for Big Finish Productions, and in 2005 writing another Doctor Who novel, Only Human, based on the characters from the new series launched that year, for BBC Books' New Series Adventures range. A further novel, I am a Dalek, was released in 2006 and featured the Tenth Doctor. I am a Dalek is part of a Government "Quick Reads initiative". He also co-wrote The New Gods with Rebecca Levene, the first Tomorrow People audio drama for Big Finish.
On December 25, 2005 a special 'interactive' mini-episode of Doctor Who written by Roberts, Attack of the Graske, was broadcast, and can now be accessed on the BBC website (only available to UK Broadband Users). Roberts also wrote a series of "TARDISODEs", short videos available online and via mobile phones promoting the 2006 series of Doctor Who, and has written one episode, The Shakespeare Code, for the 2007 series.
Roberts also co-wrote, with Russell T. Davies, Invasion of the Bane, the pilot episode of the Doctor Who spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures. He will be writing two two-part stories for the full series of The Sarah Jane Adventures, due to go into production in the spring of 2007.
[edit] Soap operas
Roberts has worked on some of the most popular British soap operas, including Channel 4's now-defunct Brookside as a scriptwriter (1999-2003), and as a story associate on ITV's Coronation Street in 1997. In 1998 he worked as a script editor on ITV's other long-running soap, Emmerdale, moving across to write several episodes himself the following year.
[edit] Comedy
In comedy, Roberts has worked in collaboration with The Fast Show writer and performer Charlie Higson on the sitcom Swiss Toni, a spin-off from The Fast Show. He also collaborated with Higson on scripts for the second series of the re-make of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) for BBC One in 2001.
Roberts has also contributed sketches to the Five sketch show Swinging.
[edit] Bibliography
- The Highest Science (1993, Doctor Who New Adventure)
- Tragedy Day (1994, Doctor Who New Adventure)
- Zamper (1995, Doctor Who New Adventure)
- The Romance of Crime (1995, Doctor Who Missing Adventure)
- To be a Somebody (1996, Cracker novelisation)
- Best Boys (1996, Cracker novelisation)
- The English Way of Death (1996, Doctor Who Missing Adventure)
- The Plotters (1996, Doctor Who Missing Adventure)
- The Well-Mannered War (1997, Doctor Who Missing Adventure)
- Only Human (2005, Doctor Who New Series Adventure)
- I am a Dalek (2006 Doctor Who New Series Adventure)
- The Shakespeare Code (2007 TV episode)
Short stories in:
- Decalog 2: Lost Property (1995)
- Decalog 3: Consequences (1996)
- More Short Trips (1999)
- Short Trips and Sidesteps (2000)
- Short Trips: The Muses (2003)
- Doctor Who Annual 2006 (2005)
- The Doctor Who Storybook 2007 (2006)
Television scripts:
- Emmerdale (several episodes) (1999)
- Springhill (storyline writer)
- Brookside (contributing writer) (1999–2003)
- Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased): "Whatever Possessed You?" (cowritten with Charlie Higson) (2001)
- Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased): "Painkillers" (additional material by Mark Gatiss and Jeremy Dyson) (2001)
- Swiss Toni(staff writer) (2003)
- Swinging (staff writer) (2005)
- Doctor Who: "Attack of the Graske" (2005)
- The Sarah Jane Adventures: "Invasion of the Bane" (cowritten with Russell T. Davies) (2007)
- Doctor Who: The Shakespeare Code (2007)
