Andrew J. Cartmel (1958-04-06) 6 April 1958 (age66) Woolwich, London, England
Nationality
British
Area(s)
Writer
Andrew J. Cartmel (born 6 April 1958) is a British script editor, author and journalist. He was the script editor of Doctor Who during the Sylvester McCoy era of the show between 1987 and 1989. He has also worked as a script editor on other television series, as a magazine editor, as a comics writer, as a film studies lecturer, and as a novelist.
Raised in Canada, Cartmel returned to England in order to complete his education.[1] He took a post-graduate course in computer studies and worked on computer-aided design[2] for Shape Data Ltd (now UGS Corp) in Cambridge, England during the mid-1980s. He then turned more to writing and managed to gain an agent on the strength of two unproduced scripts, also attending workshops run by the BBC Television Drama Script Unit.
In late 1986, when he was in his late twenties,[3] Cartmel was hired as the script editor for the twenty-fourth season of the science-fiction programme Doctor Who, having been recommended to the producer John Nathan-Turner by the producer's agent, who had seen some unproduced scripts Cartmel had written.[4] Cartmel worked on the programme for the next three years, overseeing the final three seasons of its original run on BBC One. He brought in several young, new writers[5] and despite declining ratings, tried to take the series in a new creative direction.
The most significant legacy of this new direction might have been the so-called "Cartmel Masterplan", a backstory developed with other writers that restored some of the mystery of the Doctor's background and could have explained exactly who he was.[6] Although hints were dropped in the two final series Cartmel edited, the proposed revelations never materialised on screen because the programme was taken off the air in 1989.
When production of Doctor Who was placed on indefinite hold, Cartmel became script editor on the BBC's popular medical drama series Casualty for one season.[7] In the 1990s he wrote comic strips for Judge Dredd Megazine and Doctor Who Magazine and three Doctor Who novels for Virgin Books in their New Adventures series. This series had used elements of the "masterplan" as part of their overall story arc for the Doctor, particularly in the last Seventh Doctor novel Lungbarrow, written by Marc Platt.
In 1999 his first original novel, The Wise, was published in Virgin's short-lived series of new science-fiction novels, Virgin Worlds. That same year he became editor of the science-fiction magazine Starburst, although the appointment was a short one and he left the magazine in 2000.[8]
Cartmel at a convention in 2014, with his book, Script Doctor
As well as Atom Bomb Blues, 2005 saw the publication of: Script Doctor – The Inside Story of Doctor Who 1986–89, an account of his work on the Doctor Who television series; Through Time: An Unofficial and Unauthorised History of Doctor Who; and two 2000 AD spin-off novels, Judge Dredd: Swine Fever and Strontium Dog: Day of the Dogs.
Cartmel has also written a novel set in the world of Patrick McGoohan's The Prisoner television series for Powys Media. The novel, released on 15 February 2008, is entitled Miss Freedom.[9]
Common themes and techniques in Cartmel's novels include: animal rights; the use of animal perspectives; and extended metaphors of animal behaviour. These elements appear in the three Virgin New Adventures novels, the original novel The Wise, the Judge Dredd novel Swine Fever and the audio play Animal.
In 2001 Cartmel briefly returned to television as script editor on the second season of Channel 5's fantasy / adventure series Dark Knight, writing what proved to be the final episode of the series.[10]
His first stage play, End of the Night, a thriller with gothic overtones, was produced by Long Shadow Productions in the summer of 2003.[11]
In 2007 Cartmel was a finalist in the Nicotinell 'Lose the Smoke Keep the Fire' Stand Up Comedy Auditions.[12]
Bibliography
Comics
Doctor Who (in Doctor Who Magazine #164–166, 175–178, 180 & 188–190, 1990–92)
Remembrance of the Daleks is the first serial of the 25th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The serial was first broadcast in four weekly episodes from 5 to 26 October 1988. It was written by Ben Aaronovitch and directed by Andrew Morgan.
John Wagner is an American-born British comics writer. Alongside Pat Mills, he helped revitalise British comics in the 1970s, and continues to be active in the British comics industry, occasionally also working in American comics. He is the co-creator, with artist Carlos Ezquerra, of the character Judge Dredd.
Paul Douglas Cornell is a British writer. He is best known for his work in television drama as well as Doctor Who fiction, being the creator of one of the Doctor's spin-off companions, Bernice Summerfield.
The Virgin New Adventures are a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who. They continued the story of the Doctor from the point at which the television programme went into hiatus from television in 1989.
Gordon Rennie is a Scottish comics writer, responsible for White Trash: Moronic Inferno, as well as several comic strips for 2000 AD and novels for Warhammer Fantasy.
Michael McMahon is a British comics artist best known for his work on 2000 AD characters such as Judge Dredd, Sláine and ABC Warriors, and the mini-series The Last American.
Simon "Si" Spurrier is a British comics writer and novelist, who has previously worked as a cook, a bookseller, and an art director for the BBC.
Ben Dylan Aaronovitch is an English author and screenwriter. He is the author of the series of novels Rivers of London. He also wrote two Doctor Who serials in the late 1980s and spin-off novels from Doctor Who and Blake's 7.
Arthur James Ranson is an English comic book illustrator, known for his work on Look-in, Anderson: Psi Division, Button Man and Mazeworld. His work on Cassandra Anderson has been called "photo-realistic".
Dave Stone is a British science fiction writer.
Alan Barnes is a British writer and editor, mainly related to cult film and television.
Si Spencer was a British comic book writer and TV dramatist and editor whose work appeared in British comics such as Crisis. He often collaborated with Dean Ormston and later moved to the American comics industry.
Lungbarrow is an original novel written by Marc Platt and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Published in Virgin Books' New Adventures range, it was the last of that range to feature the Seventh Doctor.
Colin Brake is an English television writer and script editor best known for his work for the BBC on programmes such as Bugs and EastEnders, or Greenborne. He has also written spin-offs from the BBC series Doctor Who. He lives and works in Leicester.
John Ridgway is an English comic book artist. He is best known as the first artist of the comic book series Hellblazer, featuring John Constantine.
Adrian Salmon is a comic book artist and illustrator from England.
Swine Fever (2005) is an original novel written by Andrew Cartmel and based on the long-running British science fiction comic strip Judge Dredd.
The twenty-fifth season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 5 October 1988. It comprised four separate serials, beginning with Remembrance of the Daleks and ending with The Greatest Show in the Galaxy. To mark the 25th anniversary season, producer John Nathan-Turner brought back the Daleks and the Cybermen. The American New Jersey Network also made a special behind-the-scenes documentary called The Making of Doctor Who, which followed the production of the 25th anniversary story Silver Nemesis. Andrew Cartmel script edited the series.
One-Eyed Jack was a comic strip that appeared in the British anthology Valiant from December 1975 to October 1976, and then later in Battle Picture Weekly. It was about a tough New York detective called Jack McBane. The strip was created by Valiant editor and writer John Wagner and artist John Cooper.
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