Gareth Roberts: Difference between revisions

From Tardis Wiki, the free Doctor Who reference
No edit summary
m (Bot: Cosmetic changes)
 
(46 intermediate revisions by 30 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{real world}}
{{real world}}
{{Infobox Person
{{Infobox Person
| image            = Gareth-roberts.jpg
|image            = Gareth-roberts.jpg
| job title        = [[Writer]]
|birth date      = [[5 June (people)|5 June]] [[1968 (people)|1968]]
| aka              = Gareth John Pritchard Roberts
|job title        = [[Writer]]
| time            = 1993-1997, 1999-2003, 2005-2014
|time            =  
| story            = [[#Bibliography|See below]]
|story            = [[#Bibliography|see credits]]
| imdb            = 0731111
|imdb            = 0731111
| twitter          = OldRoberts953
|twitter          = OldRoberts953
|non dwu          =
}}
}}
'''Gareth Roberts''' (born '''Gareth John Pritchard Roberts''') wrote for ''[[Doctor Who]]'' and ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'' on television, the [[Virgin New Adventures]], [[Virgin Missing Adventures|Missing Adventures]] and [[New Series Adventures]] novels, [[Big Finish Productions|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 (video game)|Attack of the Graske]]''. He also novelised the unfinished ''Doctor Who'' television story ''[[Shada (novelisation)|Shada]]'' and Roberts' own script for ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' television story ''[[The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (novelisation)|The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith]]''.
'''Gareth Roberts''' (born '''Gareth John Pritchard Roberts''' [[5 June (people)|5 June]] [[1968 (people)|1968]]<ref>[https://peoplepill.com/people/gareth-roberts-2/ People Pill]</ref>) was a writer for ''[[Doctor Who]]'' and several of its spin-offs.


Before joining [[Upper Boat Studios|Upper Boat]], he was heavily involved in writing for British soap operas including ''Brookside'', ''[[Coronation Street]]'' and ''[[Emmerdale]]''.
== Biography ==
His first contributions to ''Doctor Who'', in the early 1990s, were several novels in [[Virgin Books]]' ''[[Virgin New Adventures|New Adventures]]'' and ''[[Virgin Missing Adventures|Missing Adventures]]'' lines; these books were generally well-received by fans, with four of them eventually being adapted by [[Big Finish]] in their [[Novel Adaptations]] range. Roberts went on to contribute to a wide variety of other ''Doctor Who'' ranges and media, including novels for subsequent Doctors and several episodes of the television show.


== ''Doctor Who'' ==
As a fan of the [[Graham Williams]]/[[Douglas Adams]] era, he used the [[Fourth Doctor]], [[Romana II]], and [[K9]] TARDIS team more than any other Virgin writer; years later, he 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 (TV story)|The Ribos Operation]]'', and he would later novelise the unfinished Douglas Adams script ''[[Shada (novelisation)|Shada]]''.
=== 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 [[Chelonian]]s, were "one of the best monsters created in the novels".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.whoniverse.net/discontinuity/NA11.php|title=Discontinuity Guide - The Highest Science|author=Stephen Gray|coauthors=Paul Clarke|date of source=|website name=The Whoniverse|accessdate=3rd September 2012}}</ref>
All of his Missing Adventures were set in televised eras generally recognised for their strong use of humour. ''[[The Plotters (novel)|The Plotters]]'' was a [[First Doctor]] novel said to evoke the [[Dennis Spooner]] era, reminiscent of ''[[The Romans (TV story)|The Romans]]'' and ''[[The Time Meddler (TV story)|The Time Meddler]]''.{{fact}} 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".<ref>[http://drwhoreviews.blogspot.com/2008/05/5-doctor-who-only-human-by-gareth.html Lawrence Conquest's review of ''Only Human'']</ref> 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 (TV story)|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|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's debut in comics was [[1994 (releases)|1994]]'s ''[[Plastic Millenium (comic story)|Plastic Millenium]]'', which was the first appearance of [[Melanie Bush|Mel]] in comics. He went on to be a recurring comics writer during the [[Ninth Doctor]]'s era, and he would often reuse ideas from his comics for his television episodes: he showed the Ninth Doctor visiting [[William Shakespeare]] in ''[[A Groatsworth of Wit (comic story)|A Groatsworth of Wit]]'' before writing the episode ''[[The Shakespeare Code (TV story)|The Shakespeare Code]]''; and his [[series 5 (Doctor Who 2005)|series 5]] episode ''[[The Lodger (TV story)|The Lodger]]'' was an adaptation of his 2006 [[The Lodger (comic story)|comic of the same name]].


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>
Outside of official ''Doctor Who'', Roberts contributed to the [[charity publication|charity]] reference book ''[[Behind the Sofa: Celebrity Memories of Doctor Who]]'', and was interviewed in [[DWM 485|issue 485]] of ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'' for the revival series' tenth anniversary.


=== Audios ===
=== Controversy ===
He has exclusively used companion [[Melanie Bush]] in his audio plays, once with the [[Sixth Doctor]] and once with the [[Seventh Doctor|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.
In September 2017, Roberts posted a tweet on his Twitter account that gained some media attention for being trans-misogynistic.<ref>[https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/09/04/gareth-roberts-trans-misogyny-twitter/ Bleeding Cool: Doctor Who Writer Gareth Roberts Tweets Trans-Misogynistic Remarks]</ref><ref>[https://www.themarysue.com/doctor-who-writer-gareth-roberts-talks-vile-ignorant-trash-about-trans-women/ The Mary Sue: Doctor Who Writer Gareth Roberts Talks Vile, Ignorant Trash About Trans Women]</ref><ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2017/09/05/doctor-writer-criticised-tweeting-jokes-trannies/ Telegraph.co.uk: Doctor Who writer criticised for tweeting jokes about 'trannies']</ref><ref>[https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/09/04/doctor-who-writer-hits-out-at-trannies-and-rainbow-cult/ Pink News: Doctor Who writer hits out at ‘trannies’ and ‘rainbow cult’]</ref> In early [[May (production)|May]] [[2019 (production)|2019]], [[BBC Books]] released details about an upcoming ''Doctor Who'' anthology that would include [[Untitled Target Storybook story (short story)|a short story]] by Roberts;<ref>[https://www.blogtorwho.com/coming-soon-doctor-who-the-target-storybook/ Coming Soon announcement on Blogtor Who]</ref> a month later, Roberts announced in an article that his story would not be included in the anthology after other contributing writers threatened to withdraw from the publication due to Roberts' tweets.<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>


Beginning in 2014, some of his novels from [[Virgin Books]] were adapted for audio for [[Big Finish Productions]]' Novel Adaptations range.
Since then, Roberts has also mocked the fact that [[Rose Noble]], and by extension actress [[Yasmin Finney]], is transgender on his Twitter account.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cultbox.co.uk/news/headlines/yasmin-finney-confirms-her-doctor-who-character-rose-is-trans|title=Yasmin Finney confirms her Doctor Who character Rose is trans|publisher=cultbox.com|date=2022-07-23|accessdate=2023-09-24|}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://x.com/OldRoberts953/status/1705639495326961701?s=20|title=Gareth Roberts on X: "@Spacecrafting76 I’m trying not to say anything about this, but I have just lolled very hard." /X|publisher=twitter.com|date=2023-09-24|accessdate=2023-09-24|}}</ref>
 
=== Comics ===
Roberts' first works in comics were ''[[Plastic Millenium (comic story)|Plastic Millenium]]'' and ''[[Operation Proteus (comic story)|Operation Proteus]]'', both of which featured the comic debuts of televised companions. ''Millenium'', in fact, is the only appearance of [[Melanie Bush|Mel]] in comics, while ''Proteus'' affords a very late debut for [[Susan Foreman|Susan]], outside of cameos and parodies. It also posited a pre-''[[An Unearthly Child (TV story)|Unearthly Child]]'' [[the Doctor's TARDIS|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 Code (TV story)|the Shakespeare episode]]" in [[Series 3 (Doctor Who)|series 3]] largely on the strength of his Ninth Doctor comic, ''[[A Groatsworth of Wit (comic story)|A Groatsworth of Wit]]'', in which he revealed his detailed knowledge of Shakespeare. The poisoning scene in ''[[The Unicorn and the Wasp (TV story)|The Unicorn and the Wasp]]'' was directly lifted from one of his comic strips. {{fact}}
 
In 2006, Roberts wrote ''[[The Lodger (comic story)|The Lodger]]'', which featured the comic debut of televised companion [[Mickey Smith]]. He would later adapt this story for [[The Lodger (TV story)|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 [[DWM 485|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 ==
== Bibliography ==
Line 68: Line 55:
=== Interactive Red Button story ===
=== Interactive Red Button story ===
* ''[[Attack of the Graske (video game)|Attack of the Graske]]''
* ''[[Attack of the Graske (video game)|Attack of the Graske]]''
=== ''Tardisodes'' ===
* ''[[Tardisode 1]]''
* ''[[Tardisode 2]]''
* ''[[Tardisode 3]]''
* ''[[Tardisode 4]]''
* ''[[Tardisode 5]]''
* ''[[Tardisode 6]]''
* ''[[Tardisode 7]]''
* ''[[Tardisode 8]]''
* ''[[Tardisode 9]]''
* ''[[Tardisode 10]]''
* ''[[Tardisode 11]]''
* ''[[Tardisode 12]]''
* ''[[Tardisode 13]]''


=== Prose ===
=== Prose ===
==== Novels ====
==== Novels ====
===== Virgin New Adventures =====
===== ''Virgin New Adventures'' =====
* ''[[The Highest Science (novel)|The Highest Science]]''
* ''[[The Highest Science (novel)|The Highest Science]]''
* ''[[Tragedy Day (novel)|Tragedy Day]]''
* ''[[Tragedy Day (novel)|Tragedy Day]]''
* ''[[Zamper (novel)|Zamper]]''
* ''[[Zamper (novel)|Zamper]]''


===== Virgin Missing Adventures =====
===== ''Virgin Missing Adventures'' =====
* ''[[The Romance of Crime (novel)|The Romance of Crime]]''
* ''[[The Romance of Crime (novel)|The Romance of Crime]]''
* ''[[The English Way of Death (novel)|The English Way of Death]]''
* ''[[The English Way of Death (novel)|The English Way of Death]]''
Line 82: Line 84:
* ''[[The Well-Mannered War (novel)|The Well-Mannered War]]''
* ''[[The Well-Mannered War (novel)|The Well-Mannered War]]''


===== BBC New Series Adventures =====
===== BBC ''New Series Adventures'' =====
* ''[[Only Human (novel)|Only Human]]''
* ''[[Only Human (novel)|Only Human]]''


===== BBC New Series Adventures - Quick Reads =====
===== BBC ''New Series Adventures'' - ''Quick Reads'' =====
* ''[[I Am a Dalek (novel)|I Am a Dalek]]''
* ''[[I Am a Dalek (novel)|I Am a Dalek]]''


Line 104: Line 106:
* ''[[Anti-Matter with Fries (short story)|Anti-Matter with Fries]]''
* ''[[Anti-Matter with Fries (short story)|Anti-Matter with Fries]]''


===== Virgin Decalogs =====
===== ''Virgin Decalogs'' =====
* ''[[Vortex of Fear (short story)|Vortex of Fear]]''
* ''[[Vortex of Fear (short story)|Vortex of Fear]]''
* ''[[Fegovy (short story)|Fegovy]]''
* ''[[Fegovy (short story)|Fegovy]]''
Line 112: Line 114:
* ''[[Special Occasions: 1. The Not-So-Sinister Sponge (short story)|Special Occasions: 1. The Not-So-Sinister Sponge]]'' (with [[Clayton Hickman]])
* ''[[Special Occasions: 1. The Not-So-Sinister Sponge (short story)|Special Occasions: 1. The Not-So-Sinister Sponge]]'' (with [[Clayton Hickman]])
* ''[[The Brain of Socrates (short story)|The Brain of Socrates]]''
* ''[[The Brain of Socrates (short story)|The Brain of Socrates]]''
* ''[[What Has Happened to the Magic of 'Doctor Who'? (short story)|What Has Happened to the Magic of 'Doctor Who'?]]''


===== ''Doctor Who'' annuals =====
===== ''Doctor Who'' annuals =====
* ''[[Doctor vs Doctor (short story)|Doctor vs Doctor]]''
* ''[[Doctor vs Doctor (short story)|Doctor vs Doctor]]''


===== Doctor Who Yearbooks ===== <!--NOT Brief Encounter series. See page for more info.-->
===== ''Doctor Who Yearbooks'' ===== <!--NOT Brief Encounter series. See page for more info.-->
* ''[[The Changeling Years (short story)|The Changeling Years]]''
* ''[[The Changeling Years (short story)|The Changeling Years]]''
* ''[[The Hungry Bomb (short story)|The Hungry Bomb]]''
* ''[[The Hungry Bomb (short story)|The Hungry Bomb]]''


===== Doctor Who Storybooks =====
===== ''Doctor Who Storybooks'' =====
* ''[[The Cat Came Back (short story)|The Cat Came Back]]''
* ''[[The Cat Came Back (short story)|The Cat Came Back]]''
* ''[[The Body Bank (short story)|The Body Bank]]''
* ''[[The Body Bank (short story)|The Body Bank]]''
Line 126: Line 129:


=== Audio ===
=== Audio ===
==== Big Finish Main Range ====
==== Big Finish ''Main Range'' ====
* ''[[The One Doctor (audio story)|The One Doctor]]'' (with [[Clayton Hickman]])
* ''[[The One Doctor (audio story)|The One Doctor]]'' (with [[Clayton Hickman]])
* ''[[Bang-Bang-a-Boom! (audio story)|Bang-Bang-a-Boom!]]'' (with Clayton Hickman; he also voiced [[News anchorman (Bang-Bang-a-Boom!)|News Anchorman]])
* ''[[Bang-Bang-a-Boom! (audio story)|Bang-Bang-a-Boom!]]'' (with Clayton Hickman; he also voiced [[News anchorman (Bang-Bang-a-Boom!)|News Anchorman]])
Line 152: Line 155:


=== Stage play ===
=== Stage play ===
* ''[[Doctor Who: The Monsters Are Coming!]]'' (with [[Steven Moffat]])
* ''[[The Monsters Are Coming! (stage play)|The Monsters Are Coming!]]'' (with [[Steven Moffat]])
 
=== Unproduced stories ===
* ''[[Crossroads in Time (unproduced audio story)|Crossroads in Time]]''


== External links ==
== External links ==
Line 161: Line 167:
* [http://doctorwho.org.nz/archive/tsv38/garethroberts.html Gareth Roberts Interview By Warwick Gray]
* [http://doctorwho.org.nz/archive/tsv38/garethroberts.html Gareth Roberts Interview By Warwick Gray]


== References ==
== Footnotes ==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}
{{NameSort}}
{{NameSort}}
[[fr:Gareth Roberts]]


[[fr:Gareth Roberts]]
[[Category:Doctor Who television writers]]
[[Category:Doctor Who television writers]]
[[Category:SJA television writers]]
[[Category:SJA television writers]]
Line 174: Line 180:
[[Category:Comic writers]]
[[Category:Comic writers]]
[[Category:Main Range voice actors]]
[[Category:Main Range voice actors]]
[[Category:Big Finish guest actors]]
[[Category:Main Range writers]]
[[Category:Main Range writers]]
[[Category:Novel Adaptations writers]]
[[Category:Novel Adaptations writers]]

Latest revision as of 20:27, 3 November 2024

RealWorld.png

Gareth Roberts (born Gareth John Pritchard Roberts 5 June 1968[1]) was a writer for Doctor Who and several of its spin-offs.

Biography[[edit] | [edit source]]

His first contributions to Doctor Who, in the early 1990s, were several novels in Virgin Books' New Adventures and Missing Adventures lines; these books were generally well-received by fans, with four of them eventually being adapted by Big Finish in their Novel Adaptations range. Roberts went on to contribute to a wide variety of other Doctor Who ranges and media, including novels for subsequent Doctors and several episodes of the television show.

As a fan of the Graham Williams/Douglas Adams era, he used the Fourth Doctor, Romana II, and K9 TARDIS team more than any other Virgin writer; years later, he 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, and he would later novelise the unfinished Douglas Adams script Shada.

Roberts's debut in comics was 1994's Plastic Millenium, which was the first appearance of Mel in comics. He went on to be a recurring comics writer during the Ninth Doctor's era, and he would often reuse ideas from his comics for his television episodes: he showed the Ninth Doctor visiting William Shakespeare in A Groatsworth of Wit before writing the episode The Shakespeare Code; and his series 5 episode The Lodger was an adaptation of his 2006 comic of the same name.

Outside of official Doctor Who, Roberts contributed to the charity reference book Behind the Sofa: Celebrity Memories of Doctor Who, and was interviewed in issue 485 of Doctor Who Magazine for the revival series' tenth anniversary.

Controversy[[edit] | [edit source]]

In September 2017, Roberts posted a tweet on his Twitter account that gained some media attention for being trans-misogynistic.[2][3][4][5] In early May 2019, BBC Books released details about an upcoming Doctor Who anthology that would include a short story by Roberts;[6] a month later, Roberts announced in an article that his story would not be included in the anthology after other contributing writers threatened to withdraw from the publication due to Roberts' tweets.[7]

Since then, Roberts has also mocked the fact that Rose Noble, and by extension actress Yasmin Finney, is transgender on his Twitter account.[8][9]

Bibliography[[edit] | [edit source]]

Television[[edit] | [edit source]]

Doctor Who[[edit] | [edit source]]

Documentaries[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Sarah Jane Adventures[[edit] | [edit source]]

Comic Relief Special[[edit] | [edit source]]

Interactive Red Button story[[edit] | [edit source]]

Tardisodes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Prose[[edit] | [edit source]]

Novels[[edit] | [edit source]]

Virgin New Adventures[[edit] | [edit source]]
Virgin Missing Adventures[[edit] | [edit source]]
BBC New Series Adventures[[edit] | [edit source]]
BBC New Series Adventures - Quick Reads[[edit] | [edit source]]
BBC Books Doctor Who novelisations[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Sarah Jane Adventures novelisations[[edit] | [edit source]]

Short fiction[[edit] | [edit source]]

Doctor Who Magazine[[edit] | [edit source]]
Brief Encounter[[edit] | [edit source]]
Virgin Decalogs[[edit] | [edit source]]
Short Trips[[edit] | [edit source]]
Doctor Who annuals[[edit] | [edit source]]
Doctor Who Yearbooks[[edit] | [edit source]]
Doctor Who Storybooks[[edit] | [edit source]]

Audio[[edit] | [edit source]]

Big Finish Main Range[[edit] | [edit source]]

Novel Adaptations[[edit] | [edit source]]

Comics[[edit] | [edit source]]

DWM comic stories[[edit] | [edit source]]

Doctor Who Magazine (special issues)[[edit] | [edit source]]

Stage play[[edit] | [edit source]]

Unproduced stories[[edit] | [edit source]]

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ People Pill
  2. ↑ Bleeding Cool: Doctor Who Writer Gareth Roberts Tweets Trans-Misogynistic Remarks
  3. ↑ The Mary Sue: Doctor Who Writer Gareth Roberts Talks Vile, Ignorant Trash About Trans Women
  4. ↑ Telegraph.co.uk: Doctor Who writer criticised for tweeting jokes about 'trannies'
  5. ↑ Pink News: Doctor Who writer hits out at ‘trannies’ and ‘rainbow cult’
  6. ↑ Coming Soon announcement on Blogtor Who
  7. ↑ Statement on BBC Books and Transgenderism. medium.com. Archived from the original on 2019-06-03. Retrieved on 2019-04-03.
  8. ↑ Yasmin Finney confirms her Doctor Who character Rose is trans. cultbox.com. Retrieved on 2023-09-24.
  9. ↑ Gareth Roberts on X: "@Spacecrafting76 I’m trying not to say anything about this, but I have just lolled very hard." /X. twitter.com. Retrieved on 2023-09-24.
Retrieved from "https://tardis.wiki/w/index.php?title=Gareth_Roberts&oldid=3890557"