One on One with Gary Russell, Executive Producer at Planet 55 Studios

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• published: 26 Jul 2015
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This interview with Garry Russell was filmed as part of The Litmus Test video podcast, a web series funded by Arts Central for the creative community www.the-litmus-test.com Gary Russell is a freelance writer, Producer at Planet 55 and former child actor. As a writer, he is best known for his work in connection with the television series Doctor Who and its spin-offs in other media. As an actor he is best known for playing Dick Kirrin in the British 1978 television series The Famous Five. He was editor of Doctor Who Magazine between 1992 and 1995. He was the producer for the Doctor Who licensed audio drama tie-ins at Big Finish Productions from its inception in 1998 until July 2006, when he stepped down[1] to work for BBC Wales as a Script Editor on Doctor Who The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood.[2] He has written a number of Doctor Who spin-off novels and in 2000 co-wrote with executive producer Philip Segal the book Doctor Who: Regeneration (HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-710591-6), the making-of book of the 1996 Doctor Who television movie, as well as the TV movie's novelisation in 1996. He wrote a series of The Art of The Lord of the Rings, one per film, plus a fourth featuring material that couldn't be fitted into the individual volumes, and contributed to Gollum: How We Made Movie Magic with Andy Serkis. He also wrote the behind-the-scenes book on the making of the Matthew Warchus directed 2007 stage musical version of The Lord of the Rings. His behind-the-scenes book Doctor Who: The Inside Story was published in October 2006, coinciding with his joining the Doctor Who production team. His most recent reference work was also for Doctor Who; published in 2007 by BBC Books, The Doctor Who Encyclopedia is a guide to the current Doctor Who series (2005–present), which has been regularly updated (most recently in 2012) and published both in hardback and via an app. He also wrote a similar encyclopedia for Torchwood and The Torchwood Archive, a semi-fictional guide to the show. He also co-produced and directed the animated mini series "The Infinite Quest" and "Dreamland", which tied in with the current television series of Doctor Who as well as a series of award-winning animated online games also based on the show. In 2011, having left BBC Wales, he briefly returned to Big Finish to produce the Bernice Summerfield and Gallifrey audios,[3] before moving to Australia and becoming the Executive Producer at animation company Planet 55 Studios. There he has overseen the development and production of a new children's sci-fi cartoon series for ABC Television.