Lance Parkin is a British author. He is best known for writing fiction and reference books for television series, in particularDoctor Who (andspin-offs including theVirgin New Adventures andFaction Paradox) and as a storyliner onEmmerdale.[1]
Parkin first became known inDoctor Who fan circles, writing both criticism andfan fiction. His most notable work was for Seventh Door Fanzines, including the novellaSnare in theOdyssey series (which he edited for a period) and 1994'sThe Doctor Who Chronology, a detailed timeline of events in theDoctor Who universe. TheOdyssey series later included novellas by Parkin's then-girlfriend Cassandra May and his later protégéMark Clapham.
Parkin's first professional novel,Just War, published in 1996, forVirgin'sNew Adventures series of original fictionDoctor Who novels. This was followed byA History of the Universe (a re-working of hisChronology) and a second novel,Cold Fusion, for Virgin'sMissing Adventures series.
Virgin lost the licence to publishDoctor Who fiction, and Parkin landed the job of writing the last New Adventure to feature the character of the Doctor, 1997'sThe Dying Days. This was also the only Virgin novel to feature theeighth incarnation of the Doctor, played in the 1996Doctor Whotelevision movie byPaul McGann. The VirginWho books went out of print with the loss of theDoctor Who licence andThe Dying Days. The New Adventures continued without theDoctor Who label and Parkin returned to the series with 1998'sBeige Planet Mars, written with Mark Clapham.
Parkin continued writing officialDoctor Who prose fiction forBBC Books, including a number of event books, including the 35th anniversary celebrationThe Infinity Doctors.The Dying Days became the first of several VirginDoctor Who books to be re-worked ase-books for the BBC'sDoctor Who website. He wrote the last in BBC series ofeighth Doctor novel adventures,The Gallifrey Chronicles (2005). In 2006 he updatedA History of the Universe for Mad Norwegian withAHistory: An Unauthorized History of the Doctor Who Universe. In June 2008 it was announced that he would write aNew Series Adventures novel,The Eyeless, starring theTenth Doctor alone for release onBoxing Day 2008.[2]
A trademark of Parkin'sDoctor Who novels is the inclusion of a character written as if played byIan Richardson, beginning with Oscar Steinmann inJust War. Parkin has said "I’m sure there was a very good reason for that at one point, but if there is, I’ve forgotten it".[3]
Around 1999, Parkin joined Virgin alumniRebecca Levene andGareth Roberts to work on the production team of television soapEmmerdale. He also once appeared as an extra in the series.[4] Though he never scripted episodes for television, he later wrote both non-fiction (including30 Years of Emmerdale) and fiction (Mandy's Secret Diary,Their Finest Hour) connected to the series. He has not worked in TV since leavingEmmerdale.
Parkin also writes non-fiction, including guides toStar Trek (Beyond the Final Frontier) andPhilip Pullman'sHis Dark Materials series (Dark Matters: An Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Philip Pullman's 'Dark Materials' Trilogy), both written with long-time friendMark Jones, andSecret Identities: An Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide toAlias with Mark Clapham.
This was followed byMiranda, a comic based on a character in hisDoctor Who novelFather Time. The comic was published through Comeuppance Comics, an independent comic company that shut down after three issues. With Parkin's permission, Miranda was killed off in theDoctor Who bookSometime Never... byJustin Richards.
Parkin also wroteThe Winning Side, the first in theTime Hunter novella series, a spin-off fromTelos Publishing's line of officialDoctor Who novellas, andWarlords of Utopia, the third inMad Norwegian Press'sFaction Paradox series of novels.
Parkin had a regular column, "Beige Planet Lance" in theDoctor WhofanzineEnlightenment, which was published by theDoctor Who Information Network.
In 2014, he published a biography of comics writerAlan Moore, entitledMagic Words.[5]
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