Chris chibnall biography pictures

English television writer (born )

Christopher Antony Chibnall (born 21 Parade )^[1] is an English television writer and producer, best famous as the creator and author of the award-winning ITV mystery-crime drama Broadchurch () and as the third showrunner of the revival of the BBC sci-fi series Doctor Who (–22).

Chibnall wrote five episodes of the series under previous showrunners Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat, and he was also the head writer for the first two series of the spinoff Torchwood ().

Early life and career

Chibnall was brought up in Formby, Sefton, Merseyside.

He studied drama at St Mary's University, Twickenham, subsequently gaining an MA in Theatre and Film from the University of Sheffield.^[2] His early career included work as a football archivist and floor manager for Sky Sports,^[3] before leaving to work as an administrator for various theatre companies.^{[citation needed]} From to he worked as administrator with the experimental theatre company Complicité^[4] (where he met his wife Madeline), before leaving to become a full-time writer.^{[citation needed]}

Career

Theatre writing

Chibnall's first concise play was produced as part of Contact Theatre's Young Playwright's Festival in , and was directed by Lawrence Till.^[5] While studying at college, he wrote two plays, Victims and Now We Are Free, which were performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and directed by Edward Lewis.

In , he became Writer in Residence with GRiP Theatre Company, writing three full-length plays, including Best Daze and Gaffer! and several short plays. Chibnall's successor as Writer in Residence was Matthew Broughton. Gaffer! was revived at Southwark Playhouse in ^[6]

Chibnall took part in an attachment at the Royal National Theatre Studio in , followed by a year-long attachment to Soho Theatre in , which resulted in his perform Kiss Me Like You Imply It, produced at Soho Theatre and directed by Abigail Morris.

Its cast included Catherine McCormack, Jason Hughes, Marlene Sidaway and Harry Towb. The play was shortlisted for the Meyer-Whitworth Award, and has subsequently been produced in various venues around the world, including a successful three-month run in Paris in

In February , Chibnall's new act , One Last Push, will premiere at Salisbury Playhouse.

^[7]

Television writing

Chibnall's first produced script for television was the successful monologueStormin' Norman, starring James Bolam, made by Carlton Television for ITV.

In he was approached, together with writer Nigel McCrery, to evolve the format for a drama series^[8] which became Born and Bred. With a cast including Bolam and Michael French, Born and Bred ran on BBC One for four years from to Chibnall served as top writer^[9] and consultant producer (later executive producer), writing seventeen of its thirty-six hour-long episodes.

Chibnall was the only writer other than the show's creators to write for both series of the double International Emmy-award-winning BBC One police drama Life on Mars (–07). He was part of the production team who accepted the BAFTA Audience Award onstage at the London Palladium.

During , Chibnall was in charge of developing a proposed fantasy series involving the legendary magician Merlin for BBC One's early Saturday evening family drama slot. Despite several scripts creature written, BBC Head of Drama Jane Tranter eventually decided not to green-light the project,^[10] although it later emerged, without Chibnall's involvement, as Merlin (–).^[11][12]

In , Dick Wolf and Kudos Movie and Television selected Chibnall to become the show runner on ITV1's Law & Order: UK, a police procedural/legal drama based on the original US series.^[13] Chibnall was the lead scribe and executive producer, writing six of the first thirteen episodes based on scripts from the US series.

ITV commissioned a second run of thirteen episodes,^[14][15] but having set up the series Chibnall made the choice to leave the programme, to focus on other writing projects.^[16]

Chibnall also show-ran Camelot, an individual retelling of the Arthurian legend for the Starz network.

It went to air early in April and was filmed in Ardmore Studios near Dublin.^[17][18] The show was cancelled after a single season, though again Chibnall claimed he had chosen not to be involved in the second series in any case, due to other writing priorities.^[19]

In December , Chibnall wrote a two-part dramatisation The Great Prepare Robbery, which tells the story of the Great Train Robbery on 8 August Coincidentally, the first part was shown on the same day that educate robber Ronnie Biggs died.^[20][21][22]

In , Chibnall created and wrote a detective series for ITV called Broadchurch, starring David Tennant, Olivia Colman, Jodie Whittaker, Andrew Buchan, Arthur Darvill, Pauline Quirke and David Bradley.

The series received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics and audiences alike.^{[citation needed]} It followed the story of the fictional seaside town of Broadchurch, struggling to come to terms with the possible murder of a young boy.

Viewing figures peaked at nearly 9 million viewers in the finale.^[23] After a successful first series, a second was announced at the end of the first series,^[24] with location filming finishing in October ^[25] The second series aired in and a third and final series aired in ^[26]

Doctor Who

Chibnall is a long-time fan of Doctor Who, and appeared on the BBC discussion programme Open Air in as a member of the Liverpool local group of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society, criticising The Trial of a Time Lord (), especially the Terror of the Vervoids segment.^[27]

In , Chibnall was appointed head writer and co-producer of science-fiction drama Torchwood.

The series, a spin-off from Doctor Who, premiered on BBC Three in October to a then record-breaking audience for a non-sport programme digital channel disseminate in the UK.^[28] The programme went on to win "Best New Drama" at the TV Quick Awards and "Best Drama Series" at the BAFTA Cymru awards.^[29] The series has also been nominated for both Hugo and Saturn awards.^[30] In the US, the programme has been broadcast on BBC America and HDNet, to critical acclaim.^[31] Chibnall wrote eight episodes during the first two series, including both series' finales, and the premiere episode of series two.

He worked closely with Russell T Davies across all aspects of the show's production.^{[citation needed]}

While operational on Torchwood, Chibnall also wrote the episode "42" for the third series of Doctor Who.

He returned for the series, penning the two-part story "The Hungry Earth" / "Cold Blood", which reintroduced the Silurians to the series. Chibnall also wrote the second and fourth episodes for the seventh series in , "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" and "The Power of Three", as well as the online/red button exclusive Pond Life.

He also penned another short, P.S., but it was never filmed, and was eventually presented online in storyboard format.

In January , the BBC announced that Chibnall would replace Steven Moffat as executive producer of Doctor Who and would be the head writer and executive producer, starting with the eleventh series of the revived era.^[32] Matt Strevens joined Chibnall as co-executive producer, after having also been an executive producer on An Adventure in Space and Time.^[33] When discussing whether the next Doctor would be a girl, he stated in February "Nothing is ruled out but I don't want the casting to be a gimmick and that's all I can say”.^[34] After Jodie Whittaker was announced as the Thirteenth Doctor in July , Chibnall said, "I always knew I wanted the Thirteenth Doctor to be a gal and we’re thrilled to hold secured our number one choice."^[35][36]

As with the last change of showrunners, Chibnall wrote the closing moments of Moffat's last episode "Twice Upon a Time", so as to allow him to write Whittaker's first lines on the show.

This previously happened in the special "The Finish of Time", when Moffat took over for Russell T. Davies in the final moments of the episode, writing Matt Smith's first words as the Eleventh Doctor.^[37]

On 29 July , the BBC announced that Chibnall would be stepping down from his role as the showrunner of Doctor Who, and Whittaker will be leaving her role as the Thirteenth Doctor.^[38] On 24 September , the BBC announced that Chibnall would be succeeded by Davies, who would be returning as the showrunner of Doctor Who.^[39]

Chibnall's run as showrunner has been divisive among fans of Doctor Who, receiving criticism for the scripts, characterization, and the perceived retcon of the Doctor's origins in the episode "The Timeless Children".^[40][41][42] Some own further accused Chibnall's run of being too politically correct or "woke"; conversely, others have argued it promotes conservatism through its perceived messaging and portrayal of minorities.^{[43][44][42][45]}

Personal life

In the s, Chibnall met Madeline Joinson, a producer for the company Out of Joint.^[46] They were married in ^[46] They have two sons: Cal (born ) and Aidan (born ).^[46]

Selected credits

Production	Notes	Broadcaster
Life on Mars	BBC One
Torchwood	BBC Two/BBC Three
Doctor Who	BBC One/BBC Red Button, as writer
	BBC One/BBC Red Button, as showrunner
Doctor Who Access All Areas	Guest, 3 episodes () [48]	YouTube
Law & Order: UK	ITV
United	BBC Two
Broadchurch	Creator, 24 episodes:	ITV
The Great Train Robbery	BBC One
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway	ITV
The Seven Dials Mystery	Adapted from the novel by Agatha Christie	Netflix

References

External links