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{{real world}}
{{real world}}
{{Infobox Actor
{{Infobox Person
| image             = Gareth-roberts.jpg
|image           = Gareth-roberts.jpg
| name              = Gareth Roberts
|birth date      = [[5 June (people)|5 June]] [[1968 (people)|1968]]
| role              =
|job title        = [[Writer]]
| job title          = [[Writer]]
|time            =  
| birth date        = [[1968]]
|story            = [[#Bibliography|see credits]]
| death date        =
|imdb             = 0731111
| aka              = Gareth John Pritchard Roberts
|twitter          = OldRoberts953
| time            = {{il|1993-1996, 2005-2012 (prose)|1994-1996, 2001-2006 (comics)|2007-present (television)}}
|non dwu          =  
| story            = [[#Selected credits|See below]]
| non dwu              =
| imdb           = nm0731111
| official site      =  
| twitter            = OldRoberts953
}}
}}
'''Gareth Roberts''' (born [[1968]] as '''Gareth John Pritchard Roberts''') is a television writer and novelist. He has a substantial body of work related to ''[[Doctor Who]]'', across every medium in which ''Doctor Who'' fiction has appeared. Indeed, it would be fair to consider him, along with [[Paul Cornell]], as amongst the most versatile writers of ''Doctor Who'' fiction.
'''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.


His work is consistently described as "witty" or "humorous" by reviewers. It betrays a desire to make less popular or under-explored characters "work". This penchant for exploring unusual character combinations has, in various media, made him an early proponent of stories featuring the teams of [[Vicki]]/[[Steven Taylor|Steven]], [[Susan Foreman|Susan]]/[[First Doctor]], [[Melanie Bush|Mel]]/[[Sixth Doctor]], [[Romana II]]/[[K9]], [[Rose Tyler|Rose]]/[[Mickey Smith|Mickey]] and [[Captain Jack Harkness|Jack]]/[[Rose Tyler|Rose]].
== 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.


He has written for the [[BBC Wales]] version of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' and ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]''. For the latter program, he was Head Writer for [[Series 1 (SJA)|the first series]].
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]]''.


Before becoming a fixture at [[Upper Boat Studios|Upper Boat]], he was heavily involved in writing popular British soap operas from1997-2003. ''Brookside'', ''[[Coronation Street]]'' and ''Emmerdale'' have all employed his services.
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]].
== ''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 [[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]]'' was a [[First Doctor]] novel said to evoke the [[Dennis Spooner]] era, reminiscent of [[TV]]: ''[[The Romans]]'' and ''[[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 [[TV]]: ''[[The Ribos Operation]]''.
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.


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|2012|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]].
=== Controversy ===
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>


=== Audios ===
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>
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.
 
=== Comics ===
== Bibliography ==
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 first appearances 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|Unearthly Child]]'' [[the Doctor's TARDIS|TARDIS]], something that had never been considered by the comics before.
=== Television ===
==== ''Doctor Who'' ====
* ''[[The Shakespeare Code (TV story)|The Shakespeare Code]]''
* ''[[The Unicorn and the Wasp (TV story)|The Unicorn and the Wasp]]''
* ''[[Planet of the Dead (TV story)|Planet of the Dead]]'' (with [[Russell T Davies]])
* ''[[The Lodger (TV story)|The Lodger]]''
* ''[[Closing Time (TV story)|Closing Time]]''
* ''[[The Caretaker (TV story)|The Caretaker]]'' (with [[Steven Moffat]])
 
==== Documentaries ====
* ''[[The Ultimate Guide (2013 documentary)|The Ultimate Guide]]'' (Beginning & end scenes)
 
==== ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' ====
* ''[[Invasion of the Bane (TV story)|Invasion of the Bane]]'' (with [[Russell T Davies]])
* ''[[Revenge of the Slitheen (TV story)|Revenge of the Slitheen]]''
* ''[[Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (TV story)|Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?]]''
* ''[[Secrets of the Stars (TV story)|Secrets of the Stars]]''
* ''[[The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)|The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith]]''
* ''[[The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)|The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith]]''
* ''[[The Empty Planet (TV story)|The Empty Planet]]''
* ''[[Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)|Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith]]'' (with [[Clayton Hickman]])
* ''[[The Man Who Never Was (TV story)|The Man Who Never Was]]''
 
====== Comic Relief Special ======
* ''[[From Raxacoricofallapatorius with Love (TV story)|From Raxacoricofallapatorius with Love]]'' (with [[Clayton Hickman]])


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|the Shakespeare episode]]" in [[Series 3 (Doctor Who)|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. {{fact}}
=== Interactive Red Button story ===
* ''[[Attack of the Graske (video game)|Attack of the Graske]]''


His final comic strip {{as of|2012|lc=y}}, ''[[The Lodger (comic story)|The Lodger]]'', also featured the debut of a televised companion. He was the first author to put [[Mickey Smith]] in a comic strip.
=== ''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]]''


== Selected credits ==
=== Television ===
{{pcred|writer}}
=== Prose ===
=== Prose ===
==== Novels ====
==== Novels ====
===== [[Virgin New Adventures]] =====
===== ''Virgin New Adventures'' =====
* ''[[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]]''
* ''[[The Romance of Crime (novel)|The Romance of Crime]]''
* ''[[The English Way of Death]]''
* ''[[The English Way of Death (novel)|The English Way of Death]]''
* ''[[The Plotters]]''
* ''[[The Plotters (novel)|The Plotters]]''
* ''[[The Well-Mannered War]]''
* ''[[The Well-Mannered War (novel)|The Well-Mannered War]]''


===== [[BBC New Series Adventures#Ninth Doctor|BBC New Series Adventures - Ninth Doctor novels]] =====
===== BBC ''New Series Adventures'' =====
* ''[[Only Human]]''
* ''[[Only Human (novel)|Only Human]]''


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


===== BBC Books ''Doctor Who'' novelisations =====
===== BBC Books ''Doctor Who'' novelisations =====
* ''[[Shada (novelisation)|Shada]]''
* ''[[Shada (novelisation)|Shada]]''


===== [[The Sarah Jane Adventures novelisations|''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' novelisations]] =====
===== ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' novelisations =====
* ''[[The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (novelisation)|The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith]]''
* ''[[The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (novelisation)|The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith]]''


==== Short fiction ====
==== Short fiction ====
===== ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'' =====
===== ''Doctor Who Magazine'' =====
* ''[[Prelude The Highest Science]]''
* ''[[Prelude The Highest Science (short story)|Prelude The Highest Science]]''
* ''[[Prelude Tragedy Day]]''
* ''[[Prelude Tragedy Day (short story)|Prelude Tragedy Day]]''
* ''[[The Final Analysis (short story)|The Final Analysis]]''
* ''[[The Final Analysis (short story)|The Final Analysis]]''
* ''[[Voice from the Vortex! (short story)|Voice from the Vortex!]]''
* ''[[Voice from the Vortex! (short story)|Voice from the Vortex!]]''


===== ''[[Brief Encounter]]'' series in ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'' =====
===== ''Brief Encounter'' =====
* ''[[Anti-Matter with Fries]]''
* ''[[Anti-Matter with Fries (short story)|Anti-Matter with Fries]]''


===== [[Virgin Decalogs]] =====
===== ''Virgin Decalogs'' =====
* ''[[Vortex of Fear]]''
* ''[[Vortex of Fear (short story)|Vortex of Fear]]''
* ''[[Fegovy (short story)|Fegovy]]''
* ''[[Fegovy (short story)|Fegovy]]''


===== ''[[Short Trips (series)|Short Trips]]'' series =====
===== ''Short Trips'' =====
* ''[[Return of the Spiders]]''
* ''[[Return of the Spiders (short story)|Return of the Spiders]]''
* ''[[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]]''
* ''[[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 annual|''Doctor Who'' annuals]] =====
===== ''Doctor Who'' annuals =====
* ''[[Doctor vs Doctor (short story)|Doctor vs Doctor]]''
* ''[[Doctor vs Doctor (short story)|Doctor vs Doctor]]''


===== [[Doctor Who Yearbook]]s ===== <!--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 Storybook]]s =====
===== ''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 99: Line 129:


=== Audio ===
=== Audio ===
==== [[Big Finish Doctor Who audio stories|Big Finish ''Doctor Who'' audio stories]] ====
==== Big Finish ''Main Range'' ====
* ''[[The One Doctor]]'' (with [[Clayton Hickman]])
* ''[[The One Doctor (audio story)|The One Doctor]]'' (with [[Clayton Hickman]])
* ''[[Bang-Bang-A-Boom!]]'' (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]])
 
==== Novel Adaptations ====
* ''[[The Highest Science (audio story)|The Highest Science]]'' (adapted by [[Jacqueline Rayner]] from the novel by Roberts)
* ''[[The Romance of Crime (audio story)|The Romance of Crime]]'' (adapted by [[John Dorney]])
* ''[[The English Way of Death (audio story)|The English Way of Death]]'' (adapted by John Dorney)
* ''[[The Well-Mannered War (audio story)|The Well-Mannered War]]'' (adapted by John Dorney)


=== Comics ===
=== Comics ===
==== [[DWM comic stories|''DWM'' comic stories]] ====
==== ''DWM'' comic stories ====
* ''[[The Lunar Strangers (comic story)|The Lunar Strangers]]''
* ''[[The Lunar Strangers (comic story)|The Lunar Strangers]]''
* ''[[Operation Proteus (comic story)|Operation Proteus]]''
* ''[[Operation Proteus (comic story)|Operation Proteus]]''
* ''[[Target Practice (comic story)|Target Practice]]''
* ''[[Target Practice (comic story)|Target Practice]]''
* ''[[The Last Word (comic story)|The Last Word]]''
* ''[[The Last Word (comic story)|The Last Word]]''
* ''[[Where Nobody Knows Your Name (comic story)|Where Nobody Knows Your Name]]''
* ''[[Doctor Who and the Nightmare Game (comic story)|Doctor Who and the Nightmare Game]]''
* ''[[Doctor Who and the Nightmare Game (comic story)|Doctor Who and the Nightmare Game]]''
* ''[[The Love Invasion (comic story)|The Love Invasion]]'' (with [[Clayton Hickman]])
* ''[[The Love Invasion (comic story)|The Love Invasion]]'' (with [[Clayton Hickman]])
Line 115: Line 150:
* ''[[The Lodger (comic story)|The Lodger]]''
* ''[[The Lodger (comic story)|The Lodger]]''


==== [[Doctor Who Magazine (special issues)|''Doctor Who Magazine'' (special issues)]] ====
==== ''Doctor Who Magazine'' (special issues) ====
* ''[[Plastic Millenium (comic story)|Plastic Millenium]]''
* ''[[Plastic Millenium (comic story)|Plastic Millenium]]''
* ''[[The Seventh Segment (comic story)|The Seventh Segment]]''
* ''[[The Seventh Segment (comic story)|The Seventh Segment]]''


=== 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]]''


=== Video game ===
== External links ==
* ''[[Attack of the Graske (video game)|Attack of the Graske]]''
{{imdb name|id=0731111}}
{{twitter|oldroberts953}}
{{youtube|user=zman953}}
{{facebook|gareth.roberts1}}
* [http://doctorwho.org.nz/archive/tsv38/garethroberts.html Gareth Roberts Interview By Warwick Gray]


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


[[fr:Gareth Roberts]]
{{NameSort}}
[[Category:Prose writers]]
[[Category:Audio writers]]
[[Category:Doctor Who television writers]]
[[Category:Doctor Who television writers]]
[[Category:SJA television writers]]
[[Category:SJA television writers]]
[[Category:Crew members interviewed on Doctor Who Confidential]]
[[Category:Video game writers]]
[[Category:Doctor Who short story writers]]
[[Category:Doctor Who novelisation writers]]
[[Category:SJA novelisation writers]]
[[Category:Comic writers]]
[[Category:Main Range voice actors]]
[[Category:Main Range writers]]
[[Category:Novel Adaptations writers]]
[[Category:NSA novelists]]
[[Category:Behind the Sofa contributors]]
[[Category:Writers interviewed on Doctor Who Confidential]]
[[Category:People who appeared in documentaries about classic Doctor Who that weren't part of the production team]]
[[Category:Writers' Guild of Great Britain award winners]]
[[Category:Writers' Guild of Great Britain award winners]]
[[Category:Comic writers]]
[[Category:Hugo award nominees]]
[[Category:Worked on Coronation Street]]
[[Category:Worked on Emmerdale]]
[[Category:Worked on Wizards vs. Aliens]]

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.
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