Christopher Hamilton Bidmead (born 18 January 1941) is an English screenwriter, script editor and journalist.

Early life

Bidmead trained as an actor at the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, also known by its abbreviation RADA (), is a drama school in London, England, which provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in Bloomsbury, Central London ...

(RADA), later playing several roles on stage, television and radio.

Career

By the early 1970s, Bidmead was scriptwriting for

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...

, producing material for ''

Harriet's Back in Town ''Harriet's Back in Town'' is a 1972 British television series produced by Thames Television. The cast included Pauline Yates, William Russell, Edwin Richfield and Sally Bazely. The show featured a newly divorced woman (Harriet Preston, ...

'' and ''Rooms''. Up until 1979, he was a journalist, and contributed some articles to ''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a popular science magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organ ...

''.

''Doctor Who''

In 1979,

Robert Banks Stewart Robert Banks Stewart (16 July 1931 – 14 January 2016) was a Scottish screenwriter, television producer and former journalist. He was sometimes credited as Robert Stewart early in his career. Banks Stewart contributed extensively to drama for th ...

recommended him for the post of script editor on ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

''. Bidmead was primarily responsible for a "back to basics" approach for his yearlong tenure on ''Doctor Who'', attempting to curb the more playful and fantasy oriented approach of his predecessor

Douglas Adams Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author, humorist, and screenwriter, best known as the creator of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the ...

in favour of a more naturalistic and scientific style of presentation. Most noticeable in the more serious portrayal of

Tom Baker Thomas Stewart Baker (born 20 January 1934) is an English actor and writer. He is best known for having played the Fourth Doctor, fourth and longest-serving incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the science fiction television ...

's Doctor, this approach proved controversial and ratings suffered, although this has been attributed to the tough timeslot for Bidmead's season which saw the show competing against '' Buck Rogers in the 25th Century'' on ITV. Very much a product of its time, Bidmead's writings for ''Doctor Who'' demonstrate an increasing awareness of computer technology, typified by his complex serial ''

Logopolis ''Logopolis'' is the seventh and final serial of the 18th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 28 February to 21 March 1981. The serial is set on th ...

'' which served to write out the

Fourth Doctor The Fourth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He is portrayed by Tom Baker. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord from ...

. After a year as script editor he returned to freelance work. This included writing two more ''Doctor Who'' serials for

Peter Davison Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett (born 13 April 1951), known professionally as Peter Davison, is an English actor. He made his television acting debut in 1975 and became famous in 1978 as Tristan Farnon in the BBC's television adaptation of Jame ...

's Doctor ('' Castrovalva'' and ''

Frontios ''Frontios'' is the third serial of the 21st season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts on BBC1 from 26 January to 3 February 1984. Set in the far future, the seri ...

'') as well as producing novelisations of all three of these ''Doctor Who'' stories. In August 2006, it was announced in ''

Doctor Who Magazine ''Doctor Who Magazine'' (abbreviated as ''DWM'') is a magazine devoted to the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Launched in 1979 as ''Doctor Who Weekly'', the magazine became a monthly publication the following year. In ...

'' that Bidmead would be writing a ''Doctor Who'' audio play, '' Renaissance of the Daleks'', for release through

Big Finish Productions Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and radio drama, audio plays (released straight to compact disc and for download in MP3 and m4b format) based, primarily, on science fiction properties. These include ''Doctor Who'' ...

in March 2007. An audio play with that title was subsequently released, with a "From a Story By" credit for Bidmead. In recent years he has contributed voiceover commentaries and interviews for numerous DVD and Blu-ray releases of ''Doctor Who'' serials with which he was involved.

Later work

Bidmead has continued his career in computer journalism, writing regularly (as Chris Bidmead) for ''

Personal Computer World ''Personal Computer World'' (''PCW'') (February 1978 - June 2009) was the first British computer magazine. Although for at least the last decade it contained a high proportion of Windows PC content (reflecting the state of the IT field), the m ...

'', ''

PC Plus ''PC Plus'' was a computer magazine published monthly from 1986 until September 2012 in the UK by Future plc. The magazine was aimed at intermediate to advanced PC users, computer professionals and enthusiasts. The magazine was specifically ...

'' and other computer magazines, and specialising in

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

tools. Occasionally he has contributed more speculative or philosophical pieces for publications such as ''

'', and recently he has worked as a journalist producing material for ''

Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...

'' magazine.

Proposed ''Doctor Who'' stories

''The Hollows of Time''

Submitted on 19 June 1984, it would see the Doctor losing some of his memories throughout time. He would adapt the story for

in June 2010.

''Pinacotheca''

Also known as ''The Last Adventure'', this four-part story was submitted on 29 October 1986 as a story for the ''

Trial of a Time Lord The twenty-third season of British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', known collectively as ''The Trial of a Time Lord'', aired in weekly episodes from 6 September to 6 December 1986. It contained four adventures: '' The Mysteriou ...

'' season. The story would see the Doctor on trial by the

Time Lord The Time Lords are a fictional ancient race of extraterrestrial life, extraterrestrial people in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Time Lords are so named for their command of time travel technology and their Nonli ...

s for investigating the planet Pinacotheca, which has a museum showing places and times in the

universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents. It comprises all of existence, any fundamental interaction, physical process and physical constant, and therefore all forms of matter and energy, and the structures they form, from s ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bidmead, Christopher H. 1941 births Living people 20th-century English screenwriters Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art English male journalists English male television writers English science fiction writers English television writers Writers from Bolton