Christopher H Bidmead

Christopher H Bidmead is a Britishwriter and journalist.

He was Script Editor on Doctor Who from 1980-1981 overseeing the departure of the Fourth Doctor and the arrival of the Fifth. He has written 3 scripts for the series, Logopolis, Castrovalva and Frontios.

Bidmead trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA), later playing several roles on stage, television and radio. By the early 1970s he was scriptwriting for Thames Television, producing material for Harriet's Back in Town and Rooms. Up until 1979, he was a journalist.

In 1979, Robert Banks Stewart recommended him for the post of script editor on Doctor Who. Bidmead was primarily responsible for a 'back to basics' approach for his year long tenure on Doctor Who, attempting to curb the more playful and fantasy orientated approach of his predecessor Douglas Adams in favour of a more naturalistic and scientific style of presentation. Most noticeable in the more serious portrayal of Tom Baker's Doctor, this approach proved controversial and ratings suffered, although this has been attributed to the tough timeslot for Bidmead's season which saw it competing against Buck Rogers in the 25th Century on ITV. Very much a product of its time, Bidmead's writings for Doctor Whodemonstrate an increasing awareness of computer technology, typified by his complex serial Logopoliswhich served to write out the Fourth Doctor. After a year as script editor he returned to freelance work. This included writing two more Doctor Who serials for Peter Davison's Doctor (Castrovalva and Frontios) as well as producing novelisations of all three of these Doctor Who stories.

He has continued his career in computer journalism, writing regularly (as Chris Bidmead) for Personal Computer World, PC Plus and other computer magazines, and specialising in Linux tools. Occasionally he has contributed more speculative or philosophical pieces for publications such as New Scientist, and recently he has worked as a journalist producing material for Wired magazine.

In August 2006, it was announced in Doctor Who Magazine that Bidmead would be writing a Doctor Who audio play, Renaissance of the Daleks, for release through Big Finish Productions in March 2007. Chris Bidmead subsequently withdrew from this project in January 2007, although he did receive a 'From a Story By' credit for the play. In recent years, he has contributed voiceover commentaries and interviews for numerous DVD releases of his Doctor Who serials.

_{Biography from the Wikipedia article, licensed under CC-BY-SA}