Gary Russell - Writer

Due to unfortunate conflicts, Gary Russell has had to cancel his appearance at CONvergence. He sends his regrets and hopes to visit us again soon!

Based in the UK, Gary has had a long association with Doctor Who, having edited Doctor Who Magazine during the early 1990s and having written several Doctor Who novels. Gary's latest Doctor Who novel, Spiral Scratch, is due out in August of 2005.

Along with partner and Managing Director Jason Heigh-Ellery, Gary is one of the producers behind Big Finish Productions, producers of a large series of science fiction audio stories on CD.

Gary was last with us in 1999, the year of our first convention, when Big Finish was in the process of launching it's series of officially licensed Doctor Who audio stories, featuring Peter Davison, Colin Baker, and Sylverster McCoy reprising their roles as the Doctor, along with several original companions. Since then, Big Finish has produced more than 80 Doctor Who adventures, including a series of "Eighth Doctor" stories featuring Paul McGann. Many of these stories have been directed by Gary himself.

Big Finish has also produced several Doctor Who spin-off series, including Dalek Empire, Bernice Summerfield, Gallifrey, Unit, and Sarah Jane Smith, many featuring actors from the original Doctor Who TV series reprising their classic roles.

As a note of trivia, Gary is also a former child actor having played leading roles in the BBC's adaptation of E. Nesbit's novel The Phoenix and the Carpet and ITV's adaptations of Enid Blyton's Famous Five novels. He even had a minor walk-on role in the James Bond movie Octopussy.

To learn more about Gary Russell's Big Finish Productions, visit their web site at www.bigfinish.com.