Martin Day (born 1968 in

Yeovil Yeovil ( ) is a town and civil parish in the district of South Somerset, England. The population of Yeovil at the last census (2011) was 45,784. More recent estimates show a population of 48,564. It is close to Somerset's southern border with ...

) is a

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

best known for his work on various

spin-offs Spin-off may refer to: *Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work *Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity * Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gov ...

related to the

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

series ''

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 many episodes of the soaps ''

Fair City ''Fair City'' is an Irish television soap opera which has been broadcast on RTÉ One since 1989. Produced by the public service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), it first aired on Monday, 18 September 1989. It has won several awa ...

'', ''

Doctors Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...

'' and ''

Family Affairs ''Family Affairs'' is a British soap opera that aired on Channel 5. It debuted on 30 March 1997, the day of the launch of said channel and was the first programme broadcast on the channel. It was screened as five thirty-minute episodes per w ...

''. Having worked previously at

Bath Spa University Bath Spa University is a public university in Bath, England, with its main campus at Newton Park, about west of the centre of the city. The university has other campuses in the city of Bath, and one at Corsham Court in Wiltshire. The insti ...

, he is now visiting lecturer in

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

at the

University of Winchester , mottoeng = Wisdom and Knowledge , established = 1840 - Winchester Diocesan Training School1847 - Winchester Training College1928 - King Alfred's College2005 - University of Winchester , type = Public research university ...

and the

Wessex la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons , common_name = Wessex , image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg , map_caption = S ...

regional representative of the

Writers' Guild of Great Britain The Writers' Guild of Great Britain (WGGB), established in 1959, is a trade union for professional writers. It is affiliated with both the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds (IAWG). History The un ...

Work

Day's first published fiction was the novel '' The Menagerie'' in 1995, published by

Virgin Publishing Virgin Books is a British book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Group, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company. History Virgin established its book publishing arm ...

as part of their ''Doctor Who'' '' Missing Adventures'' series. Following the withdrawal of Virgin's licence to produce ''Doctor Who'' novels, Day moved to

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 ...

, who published the novel ''

The Devil Goblins from Neptune ''The Devil Goblins from Neptune'' is a BBC Books original novel written by Martin Day (screenwriter), Martin Day and Keith Topping (developed from an original idea by Day, Topping and Paul Cornell) and based on the long-running British science ...

'' in 1997. The novel (co-written with

Keith Topping Keith Andrew Topping (born 26 October 1963 in Walker, Tyneside) is an author, journalist and broadcaster. He is most well known for his work relating to the BBC Television series ''Doctor Who'' and for writing numerous official and unofficial g ...

) was the first of BBC Books'

Past Doctor Adventures The ''Past Doctor Adventures'' (sometimes known by the abbreviation ''PDA'' or ''PDAs'') were a series of spin-off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and published under the BBC Books imprin ...

series, and was quickly followed by ''

The Hollow Men "The Hollow Men" (1925) is a poem by the modernist writer T. S. Eliot. Like much of his work, its themes are overlapping and fragmentary, concerned with post–World War I Europe under the Treaty of Versailles (which Eliot despised: compare " ...

'' in 1998 - again written with Topping. 1998 also saw the publication of ''

Another Girl, Another Planet "Another Girl, Another Planet" is a song by English rock band the Only Ones. It is the second track on their debut studio album, ''The Only Ones'', released in 1978. The song is the band's most successful and has since been covered by several ot ...

'' by Virgin Publishing. Co-written with Steve Bowkett (under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Len Beech), this was one of the first books in Virgin's line of

Bernice Summerfield Bernice Surprise Summerfield (later Professor Bernice Summerfield or just Benny) is a fictional character created by author Paul Cornell as a new companion of the Seventh Doctor in Virgin Publishing's range of original full-length ''Doctor Who ...

novels. Following these novels, Day returned to solo writing, and to the Past Doctor Adventures range in 2001 with the novel ''

Bunker Soldiers ''Bunker Soldiers'' is a BBC Books original novel written by Martin Day and based on the long-running British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. It features the First Doctor, Steven and Dodo. Synopsis The first Doctor and ...

''. This was followed in 2004 by the novel '' The Sleep of Reason'', one of the final

Eighth Doctor Adventures The ''Eighth Doctor Adventures'' (sometimes abbreviated as EDA or referred to as the EDAs) are a series of Doctor Who spin-offs, spin off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and published unde ...

to be published and perhaps his most popular novel. Between 2000 and 2001 Day wrote nine episodes for

Five 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: * AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era * 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era Literature * ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram * ''5'' (comics), an awa ...

's ''Family Affairs'', and in 2005 he started writing for

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 ...

's ''Doctors''. In 2008 he was lead writer on '' Crisis Control'', a new series for

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 ...

; Day storylined all thirteen episodes. In 2015 he started writing for

RTÉ One RTÉ One ( ga, RTÉ a hAon) is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís ...

's soap ''Fair City''. As well as writing fiction, Day has also written several unofficial guide books to television series such as ''

The X Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who ...

'', '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' and '' The Avengers''. These were published by Virgin, and co-written with Keith Topping and (with the exception of ''Shut It!'', a guide to '' The Sweeney'' and '' The Professionals'')

Paul Cornell Paul Douglas Cornell (born 18 July 1967) is a British writer best known for his work in television drama as well as ''Doctor Who'' fiction, and as the creator of one of the Doctor's spin-off companions, Bernice Summerfield. As well as ''Docto ...

. Cornell, Day and Topping also wrote '' Doctor Who Discontinuity Guide'', published by Virgin in 1995 as a light-hearted guide to the mistakes and incongruities of the television series. The first book written by Cornell, Day and Topping was ''Classic British TV'', which was released by Guinness Publishing in 1993 and 1996. In recent years Day has continued his work on ''Doctor Who'', with the play ''No Man's Land'' for

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 ...

' audio adventures range, the bestselling novel

Wooden Heart "Wooden Heart" is a pop song recorded by Elvis Presley. The composition is based on a German folk song " Muss i denn" (''lit.'' Must I then) and it was featured in the 1960 Elvis Presley film ''G.I. Blues''. The song was a hit single for Presl ...

for the BBC's range of

New Series Adventures The ''New Series Adventures'' are a series of novels relating to the long-running BBC science fiction television series, ''Doctor Who''. The 'NSAs', as they are often referred to, are published by BBC Books, and are regularly published twice a y ...

, and comic strips for

Doctor Who Adventures ''Doctor Who Adventures'' (abbreviated as ''DWA'') was a British magazine devoted to the science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. Originally published by Immediate Media Company, the magazine launched in 2006 to accompany the revived ...

. ''The Jade Pyramid'', an original ''Doctor Who'' audiobook for 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 Doct ...

, and a novelisation of an episode of ''Merlin'', were both released in 2010. His most recent audiobooks are '' Children of Steel'' for ''

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 ...

'' and ''The Sleeping Blood'' for '' ''The Companion Chronicles''.

References

External links

Author's homepage
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Day, Martin 1968 births Living people English television writers English science fiction writers English dramatists and playwrights English short story writers Writers of Doctor Who novels 20th-century English novelists 21st-century British novelists English male dramatists and playwrights English male short story writers English male novelists British male television writers People from Yeovil