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Gary Russell (born 18 September 1963) is a British freelance writer, producer and former child actor. As a writer, he is best known for his work in connection with the television series Doctor Who and its spin-offs in other media. As an actor, he is best known for playing Dick Kirrin in the British 1978 television series The Famous Five.
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Gary Russell | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 18 September 1963 Maidenhead, Berkshire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1976–present |
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Russell was born in Maidenhead, Berkshire.[citation needed] His on-screen acting career included leading roles in the BBC's adaptation of E. Nesbit's novel The Phoenix and the Carpet as Cyril, ITV's adaptations of Enid Blyton's Famous Five novels (as Dick) and the BBC's Look & Read schools series, playing Lord Edward Dark in Dark Towers. He also spent seasons performing with Prospect Theatre Company and the Royal National Theatre.
He has written guide books, under the pseudonym Warren Martyn, to Frasier and The Simpsons for Virgin Publishing.[1] He was editor of Doctor Who Magazine between 1992 and 1995. He was the producer for the Doctor Who licensed audio drama tie-ins at Big Finish Productions from its inception in 1998 until July 2006, when he stepped down[2] to work for BBC Wales as a Script Editor on Doctor Who The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood.[3] He has written a number of Doctor Who spin-off novels and in 2000 co-wrote with executive producer Philip Segal the book Doctor Who: Regeneration (HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-710591-6), the making-of book of the 1996 Doctor Who television movie, as well as the TV movie's novelisation in 1996.
He wrote a series of The Art of The Lord of the Rings, one per film, plus a fourth featuring material that could not be fitted into the individual volumes, and contributed to Gollum: How We Made Movie Magic with Andy Serkis. He also wrote the behind-the-scenes book on the making of the Matthew Warchus directed 2007 stage musical version of The Lord of the Rings. His behind-the-scenes book Doctor Who: The Inside Story was published in October 2006, coinciding with his joining the Doctor Who production team. His most recent reference work was also for Doctor Who; published in 2007 by BBC Books, The Doctor Who Encyclopedia is a guide to the current Doctor Who series (2005–present), which has been regularly updated (most recently in 2012) and published both in hardback and via an app. He also wrote a similar encyclopedia for Torchwood and The Torchwood Archive, a semi-fictional guide to the show. He also co-produced and directed the animated mini series The Infinite Quest and Dreamland, which tied in with the current television series of Doctor Who as well as a series of award-winning animated online games also based on the show.
In 2011, having left BBC Wales, he briefly returned to Big Finish to produce the Bernice Summerfield and Gallifrey audios,[4] before moving to Australia and becoming the Executive Producer at animation company Planet 55 Studios. There he has overseen the development and production of a new children's sci-fi cartoon Prisoner Zero for ABC Television.[5] He returned to the UK in 2016.
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Film and TV
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976–77 | The Phoenix and the Carpet | Cyril | |
| 1978–79 | The Famous Five | Dick Kirrin | |
| 1981 | Look and Read: Dark Towers | Lord Edward Dark | |
| 1982 | A Shocking Accident | School Captain | Short film |
| Schoolgirl Chums | Stephen | ||
| 1983 | Octopussy | Teenager in car[6] | Uncredited |
Stage
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | A Month in the Country | Kolya[7] | Prospect Theatre Company |
| 1980–81 | The Browning Version/Harlequinade | Taplow/Halbidere | Royal National Theatre, London/Baltimore |
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Comics
- Doctor Who (in Doctor Who Magazine No. 173, 235–237, 1991, 1996, and in Radio Times issues dated 1 June 1996 – 2 March 1997)
IDW Doctor Who comic book
At the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con, IDW Publishing announced their intention to publish a new series of Doctor Who comics, which will follow the adventures of the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones. The first six issues of this series, later collected as Agent Provocateur, were scripted by Russell and published in early 2008. He has also written a number of Torchwood strips for Titan Publishing.
Books
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Doctor Who: Legacy | Series: Virgin New Adventures |
| 1995 | Doctor Who: Invasion of the Cat-People | Series: Virgin Missing Adventures |
| 1996 | Doctor Who: The Scales of Injustice | Series: Virgin Missing Adventures |
| Doctor Who: The Novel of the Film | Novelization | |
| 1997 | The New Adventures: Deadfall | Series: Virgin New Adventures |
| Doctor Who: Business Unusual | Series: Past Doctor Adventures | |
| 1998 | Doctor Who: Placebo Effect | Series: Eighth Doctor Adventures |
| 1999 | Doctor Who: Divided Loyalties | Series: Past Doctor Adventures |
| 2001 | Doctor Who: Instruments of Darkness | Series: Past Doctor Adventures |
| 2005 | Doctor Who: Spiral Scratch | Series: Past Doctor Adventures |
| 2007 | The Sarah Jane Adventures: Warriors of Kudlak | Novelization |
| 2008 | Doctor Who: Beautiful Chaos | Series: New Series Adventures |
| Torchwood: The Twilight Streets | [8] | |
| The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Lost Boy | Novelization | |
| The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Last Sontaran | Novelization | |
| 2010 | Doctor Who: The Glamour Chase | Series: New Series Adventures |
| The Sarah Jane Adventures: Death of the Doctor | Novelization | |
| 2012 | Doctor Who: Horror of the Space Snakes | Collected in the book Doctor Who Book 5: Monstrous Missions[9] |
| 2014 | Bernice Summerfield: Adorable Illusion | |
| 2015 | Doctor Who: Big Bang Generation | Series: New Series Adventures |
| 2021 | Robin of Sherwood: Here Be Dragons | [10] |
| Year | Title | Published in |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | "Missing, Part One: Business as Usual" | Doctor Who: More Short Trips |
| "64 Carlysle Street" | Doctor Who: More Short Trips | |
| 2000 | "Countdown to TV Action" | Doctor Who: Short Trips and Sidesteps |
| 2003 | "A Boy’s Tale" | Doctor Who - Short Trips: Companions |
| 2004 | "Repercussions..." | Doctor Who - Short Trips: Repercussions |
| 2006 | "Echoes" | Doctor Who - Short Trips: The Centenarian |
| 2007 | "The Report" | Doctor Who - Short Trips: Snapshots |
| "Do You Dream in Colour" | Doctor Who - Short Trips: The Ghosts of Christmas | |
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Doctor Who: Regeneration | With Philip Segal |
| 2004 | The Art of The Lord of the Rings | |
| 2006 | Doctor Who: The Inside Story | |
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | The Chronicles of Dorian Gray: The Picture of Loretta Delphine[11] | |
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In April 2022, Gary Russell was given the inaugural Terrance Dicks Award For Writers by the Doctor Who Appreciation Society.[62]
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