Julie Ann Gardner (born 4 June 1969) is a Welsh television producer. Her most prominent work has been serving as executive producer on the 2005 revival of ''
Doctor Who'' and its spin-off shows ''
Torchwood'' and ''
The Sarah Jane Adventures''. She worked on ''Doctor Who'' from 2003 to 2009 before moving to Los Angeles to work at
BBC Worldwide. In 2015, Gardner co-founded the production company
Bad Wolf, best known for the BBC TV series ''
His Dark Materials'', on which Gardner also serves as an executive producer.
Early life
Gardner was born in
Neath and grew up in the Pont Walby area of
Glynneath, where her parents ran a local shop. She attended Llangatwg Comprehensive and
Neath Port Talbot College, where she was an outstanding student of
A Level
The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational au ...
English, History and Drama. She read English at
Queen Mary University of London and initially worked as a teacher at Rhondda College, now part of
Coleg Morgannwg, teaching English at
GCSE and A Level, before in the mid-1990s she decided to switch to working in the television industry.
Television career
Her first job was as a producer's secretary on the second production block of the acclaimed
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream ...
drama serial ''
Our Friends in the North''. Subsequently, she became a script reader and then a
script editor, before working as a producer on BBC dramas such as ''
Silent Witness'' and ''
The Mrs Bradley Mysteries.''
In 2000, Gardner began working as a Development Producer at
London Weekend Television. She produced dramas including ''Me and Mrs. Jones'' and an updated version of ''
Othello'' written by
Andrew Davies and starring
Eamonn Walker and
Christopher Eccleston (in the
Iago role). While at LWT, Gardner began working with Welsh writer
Russell T Davies on the period drama ''
Casanova''.
In 2003, Gardner returned to the BBC as Head of Drama for BBC Wales, bringing Davies' ''Casanova'' project with her. Gardner's first assignment from
BBC Head of Drama Jane Tranter was to head up the revival of ''Doctor Who''. Gardner immediately contacted Davies (who had previously expressed an interest in writing and producing ''Doctor Who'') and began working with him on bringing the programme back to British screens. The new series of ''Doctor Who'' debuted in March 2005, to critical and popular acclaim.
Gardner was the BBC's representative in the production of the political romantic comedy ''
The Girl in the Café
''The Girl in the Café'' is a British made-for-television drama film directed by David Yates, written by Richard Curtis and produced by Hilary Bevan Jones. The film is produced by the independent production company Tightrope Pictures and w ...
'' (2005), written by
Richard Curtis in conjunction with the
Make Poverty History campaign. Other network dramas commissioned by Gardner at BBC Wales included the
multiple personality disorder drama ''
May 33rd'' (2004); domestic abuse-themed one-off ''
Dad
A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...
'' (2005); courtroom reconstruction ''
The Chatterley Affair'' (2006) and the time travel police series ''
Life on Mars'' (2006–2007), produced independently by
Kudos Film & Television.
Gardner and Davies also oversaw two
''Doctor Who'' spin-offs: ''
Torchwood'', an adult (post-
watershed
Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to:
Hydrology
* Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins
* Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...
) science fiction drama aired on
BBC Three
BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, cov ...
and
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream ...
, and ''
The Sarah Jane Adventures'', a children's fantasy thriller aired on BBC One and
CBBC
CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) 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 bran ...
.
In September 2006, it was announced that Gardner would succeed
Jane Tranter as the overall Controller of Drama Commissioning at
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 1927. It produced t ...
, following Tranter's promotion to the new "Head of Fiction" role. However, Gardner remained in her position at BBC Wales, performing the two jobs simultaneously, until 2009; her roles at BBC Wales and with ''Doctor Who'' were then assumed by producer
Piers Wenger.
Gardner received credit for an increase in drama being made in Wales; in 2007, Cardiff-born writer
Andrew Davies called her "the best thing to happen to Welsh drama. Ever."
In March 2009, it was announced that Gardner was to join the staff of Los Angeles-based
BBC Worldwide America, as executive producer in charge of scripted projects.
It was announced in late 2009 that Gardner was five months pregnant and her first child, Huckleberry, fathered by ''Doctor Who'' sound recordist Julian Howarth, was born in early summer 2010.
In 2015, Gardner cofounded the production company
Bad Wolf with
Jane Tranter. Bad Wolf has since produced numerous TV series, including ''
The Night Of'', ''
His Dark Materials'', and ''
Industry''.
Notes
References
*Lyon, J Shaun. ''Back to the Vortex''. (Chapter Three: "The Executive Three", pages 42 and 43).
Tolworth.
Telos Publishing Ltd. 2005. .
*Cook, Benjamin &
Hickman, Clayton. ''Gardner's World''. "
Doctor Who Magazine
''Doctor Who Magazine'' (abbreviated as ''DWM'') is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. Launched in 1979 as ''Doctor Who Weekly'', the magazine became a monthly publication the follo ...
". Issue 354. Cover date 30 March 2005. Pages 12–19.
External links
*
BBC Press Office biographyBBC Press Office publication on Gardner and Davies producing ''Doctor Who''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardner, Julie
1969 births
Alumni of Queen Mary University of London
BBC executives
BBC television producers
British women television producers
Living people
People from Neath
Welsh television producers