Martin Day (born 1968 in

Yeovil Yeovil () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Somerset, England. It is close to Somerset's southern border with Dorset, west of London, south of Bristol, west of Sherborne and east of Taunton. The population of the bui ...

) is a

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

best known for his work on various

spin-offs Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

related to the

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

series ''

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 ...

'', and many episodes of the soaps '' Fair City'', ''

Doctors Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

'' and ''

Family Affairs ''Family Affairs'' is a British soap opera that aired on Channel 5. It debuted on 30 March 1997, the day of the launch of said channel and was the first programme broadcast on the channel. It was screened as five thirty-minute episodes per w ...

''. Having worked previously at

Bath Spa University Bath Spa University is a public university in Bath, Somerset, Bath, England, with its main campus at Newton Park, about west of the centre of the city. The university has other campuses in the city of Bath, and one at Corsham Court in Wiltshi ...

, he is now visiting lecturer in

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes beyond the boundaries of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on craft and technique, such as narrative structure, character ...

at the

University of Winchester The University of Winchester is a public research university based in the city of Winchester, Hampshire, England. The university has origins tracing back to 1840 as a teacher training college, but was established in 2005. Winchester University ...

and the

Wessex The Kingdom of the West Saxons, also known as the Kingdom of Wessex, was an Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, kingdom in the south of Great Britain, from around 519 until Alfred the Great declared himself as King of the Anglo-Saxons in 886. The Anglo-Sa ...

regional representative of the

Writers' Guild of Great Britain The Writers' Guild of Great Britain (WGGB), established in 1959, is a trade union for professional writers. It is affiliated with both the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds (IAWG). History The u ...

Work

Day's first published fiction was the novel '' The Menagerie'' in 1995, published by

Virgin Publishing Virgin Books is a British book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Group, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company. History Virgin established its book publishing arm ...

as part of their ''Doctor Who'' '' Missing Adventures'' series. Following the withdrawal of Virgin's licence to produce ''Doctor Who'' novels, Day moved to

BBC Books BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Consumer Publishing and BBC Publishing) is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidia ...

, who published the novel ''

The Devil Goblins from Neptune ''The Devil Goblins from Neptune'' is a BBC Books original novel written by Martin Day (screenwriter), Martin Day and Keith Topping (developed from an original idea by Day, Topping and Paul Cornell) and based on the long-running British science ...

'' in 1997. The novel (co-written with

Keith Topping Keith Andrew Topping (born 26 October 1963 in Walker, Tyneside) is an author, journalist and broadcaster. He is most well known for his work relating to the BBC Television series ''Doctor Who'' and for writing numerous official and unofficial ...

) was the first of BBC Books'

Past Doctor Adventures The ''Past Doctor Adventures'' (sometimes known by the abbreviation ''PDA'' or ''PDAs'') were a series of spin-off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and published under the BBC Books imprint. ...

series, and was quickly followed by ''

The Hollow Men "The Hollow Men" (1925) is a poem by the modernist writer T. S. Eliot. Like much of his work, its themes are overlapping and fragmentary, concerned with post–World War I Europe under the Treaty of Versailles, hopelessness, religious conversi ...

'' in 1998 - again written with Topping. 1998 also saw the publication of '' Another Girl, Another Planet'' by Virgin Publishing. Co-written with Steve Bowkett (under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

Len Beech), this was one of the first books in Virgin's line of Bernice Summerfield novels. Following these novels, Day returned to solo writing, and to the Past Doctor Adventures range in 2001 with the novel '' Bunker Soldiers''. This was followed in 2004 by the novel '' The Sleep of Reason'', one of the final

Eighth Doctor Adventures The ''Eighth Doctor Adventures'' (sometimes abbreviated as EDA or referred to as the EDAs) are a series of spin off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and published under the BBC Books impri ...

to be published and perhaps his most popular novel. Between 2000 and 2001 Day wrote nine episodes for Five's ''Family Affairs'', and in 2005 he started writing for

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

's ''Doctors''. In 2008 he was lead writer on '' Crisis Control'', a new series for

CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...

; Day storylined all thirteen episodes. In 2015 he started writing for

RTÉ One RTÉ One is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by RTÉ. It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís Éireann'' on 31 December 1961, it was renamed ''R ...

's soap ''Fair City''. As well as writing fiction, Day has also written several unofficial guide books to television series such as ''

The X Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The original series aired from September 10, 1993, to May 19, 2002, on Fox, spanning nine seasons, with 202 episodes. A tenth season of six e ...

'', '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' and '' The Avengers''. These were published by Virgin, and co-written with Keith Topping and (with the exception of ''Shut It!'', a guide to '' The Sweeney'' and '' The Professionals'')

Paul Cornell Paul Douglas Cornell (born 18 July 1967) is a British writer. He has worked in television drama and ''Doctor Who'' fiction, being the creator of one of the Doctor's spin-off companions, Bernice Summerfield. Other British television dramas f ...

. Cornell, Day and Topping also wrote '' Doctor Who Discontinuity Guide'', published by Virgin in 1995 as a light-hearted guide to the mistakes and incongruities of the television series. The first book written by Cornell, Day and Topping was ''Classic British TV'', which was released by Guinness Publishing in 1993 and 1996. In recent years Day has continued his work on ''Doctor Who'', with the play ''No Man's Land'' for

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'' ...

' audio adventures range, the bestselling novel

Wooden Heart "Wooden Heart" is a pop song recorded by Elvis Presley. The composition is based on a German folk song " Muss i denn" (''lit.'' Must I then) and it was featured in the 1960 Elvis Presley film '' G.I. Blues''. The song was a hit single for Pres ...

for the BBC's range of New Series Adventures, and comic strips for Doctor Who Adventures. ''The Jade Pyramid'', an original ''Doctor Who'' audiobook for the

eleventh Doctor The Eleventh Doctor is an incarnation (otherwise known as regeneration) of the Doctor, the protagonist of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He is played by Matt Smith in three series as well as five specials. As wi ...

, and a novelisation of an episode of ''Merlin'', were both released in 2010. His most recent audiobooks are '' Children of Steel'' for '' The Sarah Jane Adventures'' and ''The Sleeping Blood'' for ''The Companion Chronicles''.

References

External links

Author's homepage
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Day, Martin 1968 births Living people Alumni of Bath Spa University Academics of the University of Winchester English television writers English science fiction writers English dramatists and playwrights English short story writers Writers of Doctor Who novels 20th-century English novelists 21st-century British novelists English male dramatists and playwrights English male short story writers English male novelists British male television writers People from Yeovil