Adrian Rigelsford (born 1969, in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

) is a British writer and TV historian, most affiliated with '' Doctor Who''. His work has been subject to controversies over inaccuracies and theft. In June 2004, he was convicted of stealing photographs from the '' Daily Mail'' / Associated Newspapers archive in Kensington.

Writing career

Rigelsford has written several articles and books on TV and film history. Among them were ghost written biographies of

Peter Sellers Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English actor and comedian. He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series ''The Goon Show'', featured on a number of hit comic songs ...

and

Brian Blessed Brian Blessed (; born 9 October 1936) is an English actor, presenter, writer and mountaineer. Blessed is known for portraying PC "Fancy" Smith in ''Z-Cars'', Augustus in the 1976 BBC television production of '' I, Claudius'', King Richard I ...

. In 1993, he wrote the script for ''The Dark Dimension'', a proposed 30th anniversary '' Doctor Who'' special.

BBC Enterprises #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. ...

supported the project and it was scheduled as a "straight-to-video" project, despite its very low budget. The project eventually earned the backing of BBC1 Controller

Alan Yentob Alan Yentob (born 11 March 1947) is a BBC presenter and retired British television executive. He stepped down as Creative Director in December 2015, and was chairman of the board of trustees of the charity Kids Company from 2003 until its colla ...

, who agreed to invest in it and show the programme on BBC1. However, the programme folded after 5 weeks of pre-production. He would return to scripting television again on the 1998 sci-fi series ''

Space Island One ''Space Island One'' (or ''Raumstation Unity'' in German) is a British/German science fiction television series that ran for 26 episodes beginning in 1998. A co-production between the UK's Sky One channel and the German Vox channel, it starred ...

''. In 2004, Big Finish Productions produced the Rigelsford-written ''

The Roof of the World ''The Roof of the World'' is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. Plot The Doctor and friends arrive in Tibet, 1917 and investigate an ancient evil hidden in ...

'' as part of their main range ''Doctor Who'' audio plays. It starred Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor. He was attached to write for the ''Lethbridge Stewart'' spin-off books, before being quietly dropped. He did contribute to the screenplay for the 2012 horror film ''

The Seasoning House ''The Seasoning House'' is a 2013 British horror film directed by Paul Hyett. It was his directorial debut and stars Rosie Day, Kevin Howarth and Sean Pertwee. Synopsis Angel is a young girl who is forced to work in a house that specializes in s ...

''.

Controversies

The accuracy of Rigelsford's reference work has been heavily disputed. He was accused of unsourced and previously unheard-of quotes from

William Hartnell William Henry Hartnell (8 January 1908 – 23 April 1975) was an English actor. He is best remembered for his portrayal of the first incarnation of the Doctor in '' Doctor Who'' from 1963 to 1966. In film, Hartnell notably appeared in '' Bri ...

, as well as the omission of an entire season from one of his ''Doctor Who'' reference works. Later, a publication in ''

TV Times ''TV Times'' is a British television listings magazine published by Future plc. It was originally published by Independent Television Publications, owned by the participating ITV companies. The magazine was acquired by IPC Media in 1989, which ...

'' of a "final" interview with director Stanley Kubrick brought Rigelsford to the attention of

Anthony Frewin Anthony Edward Frewin (born 1947 in Kentish Town, London) is a British writer and erstwhile personal assistant to film director Stanley Kubrick (from 1965 to 1968, and from 1979 to 1999). Frewin now represents the Stanley Kubrick Estate. His novel ...

, a friend of Kubrick's. Frewin's investigation uncovered that a supposed tape of the Kubrick interview did not exist. In the light of this and Frewin's expert doubts, ''TV Times'' ran an apology about the interview. In June 2004, Rigelsford was convicted of stealing 56,000 photographs from the ''Daily Mail''/Associated Newspapers research library over an eight-year period and reselling them for approximately £75,000. Rigelsford was sentenced to eighteen months imprisonment.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rigelsford, Adrian 1969 births Living people English criminals 20th-century British male writers 21st-century British male writers