Vinay Patel

Vinay Patel wrote the television stories Demons of the Punjab, for series 11 of Doctor Who, and Fugitive of the Judoon for series 12, which he co-wrote with Chris Chibnall.

With Demons of the Punjab, he became the second person of colour (in broadcast order) to contribute a script to Doctor Who, after Malorie Blackman. Patel's Doctor Who debut focused on the Partition of India in 1947. He told Radio Times:

"If there was one thing keeping me up at night more than anything, it was figuring out how to tell this story in a way that didn’t feel like it was disrespectful of the seriousness of it. [...] I feel we did a good job of making this episode the story of the people who are our guest characters, and that felt important of me: to give them the balance of the episode.^[1]"Vinay Patel^[1]

As a member of the writer's room for that series, he also took part in planning for other episodes. After possible titles for episode 4 were discussed by the team, Patel suggested Arachnids in the UK, which became the final title. His idea was a reference to the Sex Pistols song, Anarchy in the U.K.. (DWM 531)

He also wrote two short stories, both of which tied into his TV episodes: Letters from the Front for The Target Storybook (featuring characters from Demons of the Punjab) and The Tourist for Adventures in Lockdown (featuring characters from Fugitive of the Judoon).