Chris Chibnall

Chris Chibnall is a British television writer.

Raised in Lancashire, his initial career in television was as a football archivist and floor manager for Sky Sports, before leaving the television industry for a time to work as an administrator for various theatre companies.

From 1996 to 1999 he worked with the experimental theatre company Complicite (where he met his wife Madeleine) before leaving to become a full-time writer. His initial success was as a playwright, where his work included Gaffer! (Rose and Crown Theatre, London, 1999) and Kiss Me Like You Mean It (Soho Theatre, London, 2001). The latter play was nominated for the Meyer-Whitworth Award, and has been produced in various venues across Europe, including a run in Paris in 2004.

In 2001 he was approached by the BBC to help develop the format for a drama series which eventually became Born and Bred. A period drama set in the 1950s, the drama ran successfully on BBC One for three years from 2002 to 2005, with Chibnall serving as head writer and consultant producer. Following its conclusion, he became involved in several other television projects, having already penned the successful monologue Stormin' Norman, starring James Bolam, for ITV.

During 2005, Chibnall was in charge of developing a proposed fantasy series involving the mythical magician Merlin for BBC One's early Saturday evening family drama slot. However, despite several scripts being written, BBC Head of Drama Jane Tranter eventually decided not to green-light the project,^[1] although it later emerged, without Chibnall’s involvement, as Merlin (2008-present).

After contributing an episode to the first series of BBC One’s police drama Life on Mars (2006-2007), Chibnall was appointed head writer and co-producer of science-fiction drama Torchwood. The series, a spin-off from the long-running Doctor Who, premiered on BBC Three in October 2006. While working on Torchwood, Chibnall also penned an episode of Life on Mars's second series, as well as the 2007 Doctor Who episode "42". Chibnall is a long-time fan of Doctor Who, and appeared on the BBC discussion programme Open Air in 1986 as a representative of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society, criticising the quality of the series at the time.^[2]

Chibnall left Torchwood after its second series, instead choosing to work as show runner on ITV1’s Law & Order: UK, a police procedural/legal drama based on the original US series.^[3][4] Chibnall ultimately left the programme after one series, instead choosing to focus on other writing projects.^[5]

The agency page for director Ashley Way indicates that he will be contributing two further episodes of Doctor Who, which will be broadcast as part of the upcoming 2010 series.^[6]

Selected credits

• Life on Mars
  • Series 1, Episode 7 (2006)
  • Series 2, Episode 2 (2007)
• Torchwood
  • "Day One" (2006)
  • "Cyberwoman" (2006)
  • "Countrycide" (2006)
  • "End of Days" (2007)
  • "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" (2008)
  • "Adrift" (2008)
  • "Fragments" (2008)
  • "Exit Wounds" (2008)
• Doctor Who
  • "42" (2007)
• Spooks: Code 9
  • Episode 5 (2008)
• Law & Order: UK
  • "Care" (Based on "Cradle to Grave", 2009)
  • "Vice" (Based on "Working Mom", 2009)
  • "Unsafe" (Based on "American Dream", 2009)
  • "Paradise" (Based on "Heaven", 2009)

References

External links

• Interview with Chibnall at bbc.co.uk
• Chris Chibnall at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview about his play Gaffer, from September 2004
• Biography at Complicite.org
• Theatrical plays information at Doolee.com