Robert Charles Shearman, sometimes credited as Rob Shearman, is an English television, radio, stage play and

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

writer. He is known for his

World Fantasy Award The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy literature, fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year a ...

-winning short stories, as well as his work for ''

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 his association with Jarvis & Ayres Productions ( Martin Jarvis and

Rosalind Ayres Rosalind Ayres (born 7 December 1946) is an English actress, director and producer. Active since 1970, Ayres is well known for her role in the 1997 film ''Titanic'', in which she played Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon. Her husband, Martin Jarvis, playe ...

) which has resulted in six plays for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

, broadcast in the station's regular weekday ''

Afternoon Play ''Drama'' (formerly ''Afternoon Theatre'', ''Afternoon Drama,'' ''Afternoon Play'') is a BBC Radio 4 radio drama, broadcast every weekday at 2.15pm. Generally each play is 45 minutes in duration and approximately 190 new plays are broadcast each ...

'' slot, and one classic serial.

Education

Shearman was educated at

Reigate Grammar School Reigate Grammar School is a 2–18 mixed independent day school in Reigate, Surrey, England. It was established in 1675 by Henry Smith. History The school was founded as a free school for poor boys in 1675 by Alderman Henry Smith with Jon Will ...

(where he was a contemporary of

David Walliams David Edward Williams (born 20 August 1971), known professionally as David Walliams, is an English comedian, actor, writer, and television personality. He is best known for his work with Matt Lucas on the BBC sketch comedy series '' Little B ...

) and

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a public university , public research university in Exeter, Devon, England, United Kingdom. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Min ...

. During this time, he was regularly seen on stage at the university in various productions.

Career

An established theatrical playwright, Shearman has worked with

Alan Ayckbourn Sir Alan Ayckbourn (born 12 April 1939) is a prolific British playwright and director. He has written and produced as of 2021, more than eighty full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of ...

, had a play produced by

Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five A ...

, and has received several international awards for his work in

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

. Award-winning plays include ''Fool to Yourself'', which premiered at the

Stephen Joseph Theatre The Stephen Joseph Theatre is a theatre in the round in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England that was founded by Stephen Joseph and was the first theatre in the round in Britain. In 1955, Joseph established a tiny theatre in the round on the f ...

in 1997, and which won the inaugural Sophie Winter Memorial Trust Award, ''Easy Laughter'', (Sunday Times Playwriting Award), ''Coupling'', (World Drama Trust Award), ''Binary Dreamers'', (Guinness Award for Theatre Ingenuity, in association with the

Royal National Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...

). In 1993 he was made resident dramatist at the

Northcott Theatre The Northcott Theatre is a theatre situated on the Streatham Campus of the University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon, England. It opened in 1967 and was run until 2010 by the Northcott Theatre Foundation, when the company ceased operating after a pe ...

in Exeter, the youngest playwright to be honoured by the Arts Council in this way, and for them he wrote a series of plays, including his controversial comic fable about God living in suburbia, ''Breaking Bread Together'', which later was revived in London. His association with his mentor, Alan Ayckbourn, has been particularly fruitful, with ''White Lies'', ''About Colin'', and ''Knights in Plastic Armour'' proving especially popular. At this time Shearman was also encouraged to become a director for the theatre, largely reviving productions of his work abroad; in the 1990s he had a recurring engagement with the Teatro Agora in Rome, and, in 2007, the revival he directed of his comedy ''Shaw Cornered'', was the stand-out hit as international guest at the

Old World Theatre Festival The India Habitat Centre is a multipurpose building in the city of New Delhi, India. It was the brain child of the HuDCO Chairman, Santosh Sharma. The India Habitat Centre is one of India's most comprehensive convention centers that is aimed at ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

, India. In 2010, Big Finish published seven of his better known stage plays as ''Caustic Comedies''. His first television work was episodes of the 1950s-set rural drama ''

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 fa ...

'', broadcast on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

. Shearman also provided the initial script for the second series of the

BBC 7 BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station from the BBC, broadcasting archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes nationally, 24 hours a day. It is the sister station of BBC Radio 4 and the p ...

programme '' The Chain Gang'': ''Picture This''. The series was awarded a Bronze in the Sony Radio Academy Awards' "The Competition Award" category. A further series of ''The Chain Gang'', this time called ''Paper, Scissors, Stone'', was a thirteen-part drama series, in which Shearman worked weekly from listeners' suggestions in shaping the story; this won a Silver at the Sony Radio Awards.

Doctor Who

His association with ''

'' began with a play written for BBV Audios, ''Punchline'', in which

Sylvester McCoy Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith (born 20 August 1943), known professionally as Sylvester McCoy, is a Scottish actor. Gaining prominence as a physical comedian, he became best known for playing the seventh incarnation of the Doctor in the lon ...

played the Dominie, a disguised version of the

Seventh Doctor The Seventh Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', and the final incarnation of the original Doctor Who series. He is portrayed by Scottish actor Sylvester McCoy. W ...

. This was penned under the pseudonym "Jeremy Leadbetter" (the name of a character from the popular BBC sitcom '' The Good Life''). Several

audio plays Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine t ...

for Big Finish followed, ''The Holy Terror'', ''The Chimes of Midnight'' and ''Jubilee'' all winning best audio drama in the ''

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 followi ...

'' polls of their respective years. He has also had ''Doctor Who'' short stories published - his most recent being a chapter in the BBC Books novel ''The Story of Martha'', which was released in December 2008. Shearman wrote the television episode "

Dalek The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by writer Terry Nation and first appeared in the 1963 ''Doctor Who'' ...

" for the 2005 series of ''

'' produced by

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 scie ...

for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Education

Career

Doctor Who

Prose writing

Analysis

Selected works

Theatre works

Fiction books

Critical guidebooks

Audio plays

''Afternoon Play''

''Doctor Who'' plays for Big Finish Productions

Notes

External links