Philip Collinson (born 26 August 1970) is a British

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of video production on a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television net ...

. He was initially an actor, before switching to working behind the cameras in the industry as a script editor and writer on programmes such as ''Springhill'' and ''

Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British soap opera that is broadcast on ITV1. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, ...

'', later becoming the producer of ''

Peak Practice ''Peak Practice'' is a British drama series about a GP surgery in Cardale—a small fictional town in the Derbyshire Peak District—and the doctors who worked there. It ran on ITV from 10 May 1993 to 30 January 2002 and was one of their most ...

'', ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'' and ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Origi ...

''.

Career

Collinson has produced several series for the BBC, including the comedy drama ''

Linda Green ''Linda Green'' is a British comedy-drama television series that aired on BBC One from 30 October 2001 to 17 December 2002. It was produced for the BBC by the independent Red Production Company. The series was created by Paul Abbott, and other ...

'', and the first seasons of 1950s-set ''

Born and Bred ''Born and Bred'' was a British light-hearted drama series aired on BBC One which ran from 21 April 2002 to 3 August 2005. It was created by Chris Chibnall and Nigel McCrery. Initially the cast was led by James Bolam and Michael French as a ...

'' and paranormal thriller ''

Sea of Souls ''Sea of Souls'' is a BBC paranormal drama series, recounting the fictional activities of a group of investigators into psychic and other paranormal events. Produced in-house by BBC Scotland and for the final season by Carnival Films, init ...

''. In January 2004, he started work as the tenth full-time in-house producer of the BBC science-fiction programme ''

''. While he was an actor, the role of Alexander in the 1999

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

drama '' Queer as Folk'' was written especially for him by his friend

Russell T Davies Stephen Russell Davies (born 27 April 1963), better known as Russell T Davies, is a Welsh screenwriter and television producer whose works include ''Queer as Folk'', '' The Second Coming'', ''Casanova'', the 2005 revival of the BBC One scien ...

. However, after

Antony Cotton Antony Cotton (born Antony Dunn; 5 August 1975) is an English actor, known for portraying the role of Sean Tully in ''Coronation Street'', as well as portraying Alexander Perry in the original ''Queer as Folk'' series. In 2007, Cotton hosted ...

auditioned for the production team, Davies and his fellow producers felt they had no choice but to offer the role to him instead of Collinson. Collinson took a break from his ''Doctor Who'' production responsibilities for part of the 2007 series;

Susie Liggat Susie Liggat is a British television and film producer and executive producer. She has worked in independent film and high end television drama as well as working as Head of Physical Production at the UK Film Council. She is currently the ser ...

took his place for a month according to issue 372 of ''Doctor Who Magazine'', while Collinson took a holiday. There was some confusion when Collinson's break was first announced, with some reports claiming that Collinson was leaving the series. "There was this whole madness last year when it was announced that... Susie was going to produce a couple of episodes," Collinson told ''Doctor Who Magazine'' in issue 380, "cos everyone immediately thought that I was leaving, and she was taking over. My friends thought I was seriously ill! Why else would I leave ''Doctor Who''?" Collinson's holiday coincided with the filming of the two-parter "

Human Nature Human nature is a concept that denotes the fundamental dispositions and characteristics—including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting—that humans are said to have naturally. The term is often used to denote the essence of humankind, or ...

"/"

The Family of Blood "The Family of Blood" is the ninth episode of the third series of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast on BBC One on 2 June 2007. It is the second episode of a two-part story written by Paul C ...

"; he does however receive an

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

credit for these episodes. Liggat also produced five episodes of the 2008 series. Collinson also served as an executive producer on the

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 ...

''Doctor Who'' spin-off ''

The Sarah Jane Adventures ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' is a British science fiction television programme that was produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies, and starring Elisabeth Sladen. The programme is a spin-off of the long-running BBC sc ...

''. The BBC confirmed on 1 February 2008 that Collinson would be leaving his position on ''Doctor Who'', to return to Manchester as BBC Head of Drama for the region. After less than two years in this role, it was announced in late 2009 than Collinson would be leaving the BBC to take over as producer of

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

's top-rated soap opera ''

''. Collinson is

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

, and admits that ''Doctor Who'' has a special appeal for

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

people: "I can only talk for myself, and when I was a teenager," he said in a March 2007 interview. "For me, as a young boy and a teenager, growing up in the north of England, in a world where I could never imagine being a gay man, let alone settling down and finding someone, I think ''Doctor Who'' was really asexual. There were programmes like '' The Sweeney'' which were very much about men chasing women, men getting women, whereas with ''Doctor Who'' you had a show that never really dealt with that." In July 2010 Collinson took over from Kim Crowther, as the new producer of ''

''. His first credited episode aired on 26 July 2010. On 8 October 2012, it was announced that Collinson will step down as Producer of ''

'' as of March 2013 and be replaced by ''

'' Producer Stuart Blackburn. On 20 January 2022, it was confirmed Collinson would return to

as a producer, working again under

Occupations

Writer

*''

'' (1998)

Director

*''

'' (1 episode, 2000)

Producer

*''

'' (2001) *''

'' (6 episodes, 2002) *''

'' (6 episodes, 2004) *''

'' (48 episodes, 2005–08) *''

'' (711 episodes, 2010–13) *''

Midwinter of the Spirit ''Midwinter Of The Spirit'' is a British horror drama television series that was broadcast as three episodes from 23 September 2015 to 7 October 2015, and stars Anna Maxwell Martin, David Threlfall, and Sally Messham. Plot The series is based ...

'' (3 episodes, 2015) *'' Bancroft'' (4 episodes, 2017) * ''Gentleman Jack'' (2019) * '' It's a Sin'' (2021) *''

Good Omens ''Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch'' is a 1990 novel written as a collaboration between the English authors Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. The book is a comedy about the birth of the son of Satan and the c ...

'' (2019–present)

Executive producer

*''

'' (7 episodes, 2007–08, 2023–) *''

'' (11 episodes, 2007)

Head of Drama

BBC Manchester BBC Manchester (often known as BBC Salford) is the British Broadcasting Corporation regional headquarters for the North West, the largest BBC region in the UK. BBC Manchester is a department of the BBC North Group division. The BBC considers ...

(2008–10)

References

External links

* *Portrait o
imitation £20 note
BBC prop fro
Runaway Bride
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collinson, Phil 1970 births Male actors from Manchester Mass media people from Manchester British television producers British television writers LGBT actors from England English gay actors Living people British male television writers 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people