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Roberts is one of a few writers who has written for both the original Virgin lines and the [[BBC Books]] series that have accompanied the [[BBC Wales]] series of ''Doctor Who''. In fact, he and [[Justin Richards]] are the only two authors {{as of|2017|lc=y}} to write a Missing Adventure, a New Adventure, a [[BBC New Series Adventures#Ninth Doctor|Ninth Doctor novel]] and a [[BBC New Series Adventures#Tenth Doctor|Tenth Doctor novel]].
Roberts is one of a few writers who has written for both the original Virgin lines and the [[BBC Books]] series that have accompanied the [[BBC Wales]] series of ''Doctor Who''. In fact, he and [[Justin Richards]] are the only two authors {{as of|2017|lc=y}} to write a Missing Adventure, a New Adventure, a [[BBC New Series Adventures#Ninth Doctor|Ninth Doctor novel]] and a [[BBC New Series Adventures#Tenth Doctor|Tenth Doctor novel]].
In June 2019, Roberts wrote in an article that a ''Doctor Who'' story he had written for a then upcoming anthology would not be published by BBC Books, however that he would still receive payment for it. The reason was due to other contributing authors threatening to withdraw from the publication due to the discovery of tweets by Roberts from September 2017 that they deemed were considered to be transphobic.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/@zmangareth/statement-on-bbc-books-and-transgenderism-dd7ad0c9231a|title=Statement on BBC Books and Transgenderism|publisher=medium.com|date=2019-04-06|accessdate=2019-04-03|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20190604101854/https://medium.com/@zmangareth/statement-on-bbc-books-and-transgenderism-dd7ad0c9231a|archivedate=2019-06-03}}</ref>


=== Audios ===
=== Audios ===

Revision as of 12:27, 4 June 2019

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Gareth Roberts (born Gareth John Pritchard Roberts) wrote for Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures on television, the Virgin New Adventures, Missing Adventures and New Series Adventures novels, Big Finish audios, the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip, short stories published by Virgin Books, BBC Books, Big Finish and Panini Comics, and the interactive BBC Red Button adventure Attack of the Graske. He also novelised the unfinished Doctor Who television story Shada and Roberts' own script for The Sarah Jane Adventures television story The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith.

Before joining Upper Boat, he was heavily involved in writing for British soap operas including Brookside, Coronation Street and Emmerdale.

Doctor Who

Books

Roberts began writing professional Doctor Who fiction in the early 1990s, when he started contributing to the Virgin New Adventures and Virgin Missing Adventures novel ranges. His works were generally hailed by fans for their consistent use of good humour. It has been said that his creations, the Chelonians, were "one of the best monsters created in the novels".[1] All of his Missing Adventures were set in televised eras generally recognised for their strong use of humour. The Plotters was a First Doctor novel said to evoke the Dennis Spooner era, reminiscent of The Romans and The Time Meddler.[source needed] The bulk of Roberts' prose work betrays Roberts' bias for the Graham Williams/Douglas Adams era. No other Virgin writer used the combination of the Fourth Doctor, Romana II and K9 as much as Roberts. It has been said that Roberts' Missing Adventures were "love-letter[s] to the Graham Williams era".[2] It is perhaps for this reason that Roberts was chosen to be the BBC Wales representative for the documentary about the Graham Williams era included with the UK DVD release of The Ribos Operation.

Roberts is one of a few writers who has written for both the original Virgin lines and the BBC Books series that have accompanied the BBC Wales series of Doctor Who. In fact, he and Justin Richards are the only two authors as of 2017 to write a Missing Adventure, a New Adventure, a Ninth Doctor novel and a Tenth Doctor novel.

In June 2019, Roberts wrote in an article that a Doctor Who story he had written for a then upcoming anthology would not be published by BBC Books, however that he would still receive payment for it. The reason was due to other contributing authors threatening to withdraw from the publication due to the discovery of tweets by Roberts from September 2017 that they deemed were considered to be transphobic.[3]

Audios

He has exclusively used companion Melanie Bush in his audio plays, once with the Sixth Doctor and once with the Seventh. His work with co-writer Clayton Hickman was amongst the very first to employ Mel in audio, and can therefore be said to have been instrumental in redefining the generally fan-disliked companion for audio.

Beginning in 2014, some of his novels from Virgin Books were adapted for audio for Big Finish Productions' Novel Adaptations range.

Comics

Roberts' first works in comics were Plastic Millenium and Operation Proteus, both of which featured the comic debuts of televised companions. Millenium, in fact, is the only appearance of Mel in comics, while Proteus affords a very late debut for Susan, outside of cameos and parodies. It also posited a pre-Unearthly Child TARDIS, something that had never been considered by the comics before.

Years after this story, Roberts' work experience with Clayton Hickman in audio would help him get a steady string of work in 2005. Roberts was the dominant comics writer during the Ninth Doctor's era. Concepts in his comic work during this period would later make their way into Roberts' televised episodes of Doctor Who. He was entrusted with writing "the Shakespeare episode" in series 3 largely on the strength of his Ninth Doctor comic, A Groatsworth of Wit, in which he revealed his detailed knowledge of Shakespeare. The poisoning scene in The Unicorn and the Wasp was directly lifted from one of his comic strips. [source needed]

In 2006, Roberts wrote The Lodger, which featured the comic debut of televised companion Mickey Smith. He would later adapt this story for a television episode of the same name.

Other work

He also contributed to the charity reference book Behind the Sofa: Celebrity Memories of Doctor Who.

He was interviewed in issue 485 of Doctor Who Magazine for the revival series' tenth anniversary. He commented that he always believed that the show would return to TV.

Bibliography

Television

Doctor Who

Documentaries

The Sarah Jane Adventures

Comic Relief Special

Interactive Red Button story

Prose

Novels

Virgin New Adventures
Virgin Missing Adventures
BBC New Series Adventures
BBC New Series Adventures - Quick Reads
BBC Books Doctor Who novelisations
The Sarah Jane Adventures novelisations

Short fiction

Doctor Who Magazine
Brief Encounter
Virgin Decalogs
Short Trips
Doctor Who annuals
Doctor Who Yearbooks
Doctor Who Storybooks

Audio

Big Finish Main Range

Novel Adaptations

Comics

DWM comic stories

Doctor Who Magazine (special issues)

Stage play

External links

References

  1. ↑ Stephen Gray; Paul Clarke. Discontinuity Guide - The Highest Science. The Whoniverse. Retrieved on 3rd September 2012.
  2. ↑ Lawrence Conquest's review of Only Human
  3. ↑ Statement on BBC Books and Transgenderism. medium.com. Archived from the original on 2019-06-03. Retrieved on 2019-04-03.
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