Every show’s cancellation hits the people who love it, and every show has a core group of people who love it lots. But the wider dismay over the BBC’s cancellation of Victorian-era police drama Ripper Street seems to have an unusual edge to it. I’m not a fan. By which I don’t mean that I…

I’m heading down to London to give the LFS Returning Drama masterclass that I wrote about here. Stop laughing. Yes, you. It’s real and they’ve said there’ll be biscuits. I’ve always been wary of the whole masterclass idea because the longer I go on, the less I’m convinced I know. But putting together a little…

It doesn’t happen often, so what the hell, let’s shout. I’ll write a proper update on the event tomorrow (ish – it’s very late and we’ve been hitting the bright lights and low dives of Lisbon) but for now, from the press release: Lisbon, Friday November 22nd 2013 On the eve of Doctor Who’s 50th…

Congratulations to Hull on the winning bid. No doubt there’ll be the usual city-what-culture snark but my memories of Hull are all good ones, of deep history and atmospheric landscape and unique creative energy. Down River was my love letter to Humberside and the East Yorkshire coast. For all those cities in competition, apparently the…

Saturday’s Dr Who day (Doctor Who: The Science Behind the Scenes, University of Central Lancashire) was great fun, as these things always are. When people come together for an occasion like this one, there’s an air of cynicism-free joy that’s completely at odds with some of the online griping you see. Which leads me to…

Lancashire Science Festival Presents Doctor Who: The Science Behind the Scenes on Saturday 16 November 2013, 09:30am – 16:00pm in the Darwin Building, University of Central Lancashire, Marsh Lane, Preston, PR1 2HE. £5 for full day entry (access to all sessions), free entry to the festival activities (excluding sessions) and free parking (see details on…

In case you haven’t picked it up via Twitter or any of the other social media, I have an offspring in the business – her name’s Ellen Gallagher and she’s to be found in the Film and TV department of London’s Blake Friedmann Agency. And if you’re a screenwriter with questions that call for an…

If you don’t ask, you don’t get. And sometimes, even when you do ask… When I was starting out, planning a novel that would be called Chimera, I approached the Cumbrian Police to ask for some help in researching how they’d respond to a major incident in their area. Their response was polite, brief, and…

According to Twitter there was a big booze-and-canapes soiree for BBC writers last night. I didn’t get an invite. Maybe this is why…

Although in all seriousness I can’t recommend it…