Tommy Donbavand (28 November 1967 – 14 May 2019) was an English actor, teacher and writer from

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, best known for his books and comics for children, such as ''Scream Street''. He often wrote under pseudonyms.

Background

Donbavand had a varied career which saw him working as a

clown A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms. History The most ancient clowns have been found in ...

, a holiday camp entertainer and a performer in ''

Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story ''Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story'' is a musical in two acts written by Alan Janes, and featuring the music of Buddy Holly. It opened at London's Victoria Palace Theatre on 12 October 1989. An early example of the jukebox musical, ''Buddy'' ran in L ...

'' in

London's West End The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, in which many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buil ...

. He also ran acting and writing classes, wrote, produced and directed a number of theatre productions, and wrote a series of non-fiction books in his ''Quick Fixes for Bored Kids'' series.

Career

In 2006, Donbavand began writing as B. Strange for the ''Too Ghoul For School'' book series, published by Egmont. This led to his own series – '' Scream Street'' – being picked up by Walker Books. The first in this series of thirteen novels – ''Scream Street: Fang of the Vampire'' – was published in October 2008. In 2015, it was adapted into a

animated television series An animated series is a set of Animation, animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can ...

, produced by Coolabi Productions, which began airing on

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 ...

. Donbavand wrote a number of episodes. A second series was confirmed in 2020. In April 2013, his ''

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 ...

'' novel '' Shroud of Sorrow'' featuring the

Eleventh Doctor The Eleventh Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. He is played by Matt Smith in three series as well as five specials. As with previous incarnations of the Docto ...

and

Clara Oswald Clara Oswald is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. She was created by series producer Steven Moffat and portrayed by Jenna Coleman. Clara was introduced in the seventh series as a new travelli ...

was published by

BBC Books BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Publishing) is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasti ...

. He also co-wrote the ''Shadow Vanguard'' series of science fiction books under the pseudonym of Tom Dublin. Donbavand wrote for ''

The Beano ''The Beano'' (formerly ''The Beano Comic'', also known as ''Beano'') is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938, and it became the world's longest-runn ...

'' comic, initially starting with strips for

Calamity James Calamity James is a comic strip in the UK comic ''The Beano''. It is about a boy, named Calamity James (a pun on Calamity Jane), who has disastrous luck. He first appeared on 1 November 1986, in issue no. 2311. A copy of his first strip is view ...

Gnasher and Gnipper Gnasher () is a fictional comic strip character that appears in the British comic magazine ''The Beano''. He is the pet dog of Dennis the Menace, who meets him in 1968's issue 1362, and is also the star of three spin-off comic strips. Gnasher i ...

and

The Bash Street Kids ''The Bash Street Kids'' is a comic strip in the British comic magazine ''The Beano''. It also appeared briefly in The Wizard as series of prose stories in 1955. The strip, created by Leo Baxendale as ''When the Bell Rings'', first appeare ...

. Six months later, he was made the main writer for The Bash Street Kids. He also worked on the ''Badger Graphic Novels'' range, aimed at struggling readers. He wrote another children's series, ''Fangs, Vampire Spy'', as well as the writing handbooks ''13 Steps to Beating Writer's Block'' in 2015, ''101 Stunning Story Starters'' in 2017, and ''101 Quick and Quirky Questions'' in 2018.

Cancer and death

In March 2016, Donbavand was diagnosed with inoperable, stage four throat cancer. He died from the illness in May 2019. In July 2020, his ''

'' short audio play, ''What Lurks Down Under'' was released posthumously by

Big Finish Productions Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays (released straight to compact disc and for download in MP3 and m4b format) based, primarily, on cult science fiction properties. These include ''Doctor Who'', the ...

as part of ''Time Apart'', starring

Peter Davison Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett (born 13 April 1951), known professionally as Peter Davison, is an English actor with many credits in television dramas and sitcoms. He made his television acting debut in 1975 and became famous in 1978 as Tristan ...

as the

Fifth Doctor The Fifth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He is portrayed by Peter Davison. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord from t ...

Bibliography

* ''Too Ghoul For School'' (2007–2008) * '' Scream Street'' (2008–2011) *''Wolf'' (2011) *''Uniform'' (2012) *''

'' ** '' Shroud of Sorrow'' (2013) ** ''Time Apart'' (2020) *''Tommy Donbavand's Funny Shorts'' *''Teen Reads'' **Home **Kidnap **Ward 13 **Dead Scared **Just Bite **Copy Cat **Raven *''Gems'' **The Terrible Tale of Melody Doom **Once Upon a Time... *''Fangs, Vampire Spy'' (2013–2014) **Operation: Golden Bum **Codename: The Tickler **Assignment: Royal Rescue **Target: Nobody **Project: Wolf World **Mission: Lullaby *''Space Hoppers'' *''Time Trek'' *''13 Steps to Beating Writer's Block: Free your creativity today!'' (2015) *''Snow-Man'' (2016) *''101 Stunning Story Starters'' (2017) *''101 Quick and Quirky Questions'' (2018) *''Shadow Vanguard'' (2018–2019) **Gravity Storm **Lunar Crisis **Immortality Curse **Ultimate Payback

References

External links

*
Scream Street official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Donbavand, Tommy 1967 births 2019 deaths 21st-century English male writers 21st-century British novelists British male novelists British science fiction writers English children's writers English comics writers English horror writers English male screenwriters Writers from Liverpool Writers of books about writing fiction Writers of Doctor Who novels Deaths from throat cancer Deaths from cancer in England