Craig Hinton

Craig Hinton
Craig in 1989
Birth date:	7 May 1964
Death date:	3 December 2006
Work in the DWU
Main jobs:	Writer
Stories:	See Credits Section
Main time period active:	1995-2004

You may be looking for his in-universe counterpart.

Craig Paul Alexander Hinton (7 May 1964-3 December 2006) was a British writer best known for his work on spin-offs from the BBC Television series Doctor Who. He also wrote articles for science fiction magazines and was the Coordinator of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society.

Work

Hinton first was known for his articles about science fiction television programmes, including Doctor Who and Star Trek. These brought him to the attention of the editor of Marvel UK's Doctor Who Magazine, who offered him the job of reviewing merchandise for the magazine's Shelf Life section. Whilst writing for the magazine, Hinton had his first novel published. The Crystal Bucephalus was part of Virgin Publishing's Missing Adventures range. The book - which Hinton often jokingly referred to as "The Crystal Bucket"[1] - was originally submitted for Virgin's New Adventures, and 50,000 words of this version were written before the change was made.

This novel was followed by a further Missing Adventure, Millennial Rites in 1995, and then by Hinton's only New Adventure in 1996, GodEngine, which features the Ice Warriors as well as oblique appearances by the Daleks.

Following Virgin's loss of their licence for Doctor Who merchandise, Hinton began submitting proposals to BBC Books. In 2001 they published his novel The Quantum Archangel as part of their BBC Past Doctor Adventures range. This was followed in 2004 by Synthespians™. This had started life as a proposal for the Eighth Doctor before being adapted to a previous Doctor. An image of the television show Dynasty was used on the cover: the cover's creators had arranged for permission to use the copyrighted image, but had neglected to get permission to alter it. At the last minute a replacement cover had to be produced. It is this that appears on the cover.

Hinton's Doctor Who novels often contain references to or explanations of elements of past continuity. He claimed to have been the originator of the term "fanwank", which he applied to his own work.

Hinton continued to work with Virgin, writing pseudonymously under the name Paul C. Alexander for their Idol range. He wrote three books in the range: Chains of Deceit, The Final Restraint and Code of Submission. These titles were a major departure from his science fiction. They explored aspects of his sexuality only suggested in his other works.

Hinton wrote for Big Finish Productions' Audio Adventures. The play Excelis Decays was produced in 2002 for their Doctor Who range and The Lords of Forever in 2005 for their The Tomorrow People range. Hinton also wrote short stories for their short fiction collections.

Outside of the science fiction world Hinton was a noted IT journalist in the UK. He edited magazines in the mid-1990s for VNU Business Publications in London and moved on to ITNetwork.com shortly afterwards.

Personal life

Hinton was openly gay. His final book for Doctor Who - Synthespians™ - contains a dedication to his husband, Ali, whom he'd "waited a lifetime" to find.

Death

He taught mathematics in London, where he was found dead in his home on 3 December 2006. The cause of death was given as a heart attack.

Credits

Novels

Virgin New Adventures

• GodEngine

Virgin Missing Adventures

• The Crystal Bucephalus
• Millennial Rites

BBC Missing Adventures

• The Quantum Archangel
• Synthespians™

Short Stories

Virgin Decalogs

• Zeitgeist (in Decalog 3: Consequences)

Short Trips

• Uranus (in Short Trips: The Solar System)

Iris Wildthyme

• Came to Believe (in Wildthyme on Top)

Audio

Doctor Who Special Releases

• Excelis Decays

Unproduced

• Ice Warrior: Ragnarok

External links

• Announcement of Hinton's death (archived)
• David J Richardson interview with Craig Hinton, published in Sonic Screwdriver #88 January 1995
• BBC.co.uk website interview with Craig Hinton, 01 June 2004