Rob Shearman

Robert Shearman (also credited as Rob Shearman; born February 10 1970 near London, England) is currently best-known as a writer for "Doctor Who" and for his ongoing association with Jarvis & Ayres Productions (Martin Jarvis and Rosalind Ayres) which has resulted in six plays for BBC Radio 4 broadcast in the station's regular weekday "Afternoon Play" slot.

Shearman was educated at Reigate Grammar School (where he was a contemporary of David Walliams) and University of Exeter. During this time, he was regularly seen on stage at the University in various productions, and made his broadcasting debut as the reporter Fergus McIntyre, reporting on University Radio Exeter (almost live) from Zagreb at the 1990 Eurovision Song Contest.

An established theatrical playwright, Shearman has worked with Alan Ayckbourn, had a play produced by Francis Ford Coppola, and has received several international awards for his work in theatre. His plays include "Fool to Yourself", which premiered at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in 1997.

His association with "Doctor Who" began with a play written for BBV Audios, "Punchline", in which Sylvester McCoy played the Dominie, a disguised version of the Seventh Doctor. This was penned under the pseudonym "Jeremy Leadbetter" (the name of a character from the popular BBC sitcom "The Good Life"). Several audio plays for Big Finish followed. He has also had "Doctor Who" short stories published.

Shearman wrote the television episode "Dalek" for the 2005 series of "Doctor Who" produced by Russell T Davies for the BBC. This was, at Davies' request, a re-working of the themes introduced by Shearman's earlier Big Finish audio play "Jubilee". However, he did not return to write a script for the second series due to other work commitments. "Dalek" was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form in 2006, and came in second in terms of votes for its category. Shearman provided an audio commentary for the episode on the "Doctor Who – Complete First Series" DVD boxset.

Other television work has included episodes of the 1950s-set rural drama "Born and Bred", broadcast on BBC One.

Shearman also provided the initial script for the second series of the BBC 7 programme "The Chain Gang": "Picture This". The series was awarded a Bronze in the Sony Radio Academy Awards' "The Competition Award" category.cite web|url=http://www.radioawards.org/winners/?category=The_Competition_Award&year=2008|title=Winners 2008: The Competition Award|work=Sony Radio Academy Awards|publisher=Zafer Associates|accessdate=2008-06-01]

His first book, "Tiny Deaths", was published by Comma Press in November 2007. It has been shortlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prizecite web|url=http://www.edgehill.ac.uk/english/CreativeWriting/NWShortStory.htm|title=Literature Prize Shortlist Announced|date=2008-05-22|publisher=Edge Hill University|accessdate=2008-06-01] and made the longlist for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award.cite news|url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2278198,00.html|title= Self-published author takes competition to bestseller rivals|last=Irvine|first=Lindesay|date=2008-05-06|work=guardian.co.uk|publisher=Guardian News and Media |accessdate=2008-06-01]

"Afternoon Play" works

All broadcast on BBC Radio 4

*"About Colin" (2 February 2000)
*"Inappropriate Behaviour" (17 August 2002)
*"Afternoons with Roger" (11 June 2003)
*"Forever Mine" (14 June 2004)
*"Teacher's Pet" (28 June 2005)
*"Odd" (19 April 2006)

"Doctor Who" plays for Big Finish Productions

*"The Holy Terror" (Sixth Doctor, Frobisher; November 2000)
*"The Maltese Penguin" (Sixth Doctor, Frobisher; November 2001)
*"The Chimes of Midnight" (Eighth Doctor, Charley; February 2002)
*"Jubilee" (Sixth Doctor, Evelyn Smythe; January 2003)
*"Deadline" (Doctor Who Unbound, featuring Sir Derek Jacobi; September 2003)
*"Scherzo" (Eighth Doctor, Charley; December 2003)
*"My Own Private Wolfgang" (Sixth Doctor, Evelyn Smythe; September 2007)

Notes

External links

*imdb name|id=1633161|name=Robert Shearman