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Paul Cornell

{{short description|British writer|bot=PearBOT 5}}

{{About|the British writer|the lawyer and real estate speculator|Paul Cornell (lawyer)}}

{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}

{{Infobox writer

| name = Paul Cornell

| image = paul cornell.jpg

| caption = Paul Cornell

| pseudonym =

| birth_name = Paul Douglas Cornell

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1967|07|18}}

| birth_place = Chippenham, Wiltshire, England, United Kingdom

| occupation = Writer, novelist

| period = 1990–present

| genre = Science fiction

| notableworks =

| movement =

| influences =

| influenced =

| signature =

| website = {{URL|http://www.paulcornell.com/}}

}}

Paul Douglas Cornell (born 18 July 1967) is a British writer. He has worked in television drama and Doctor Who fiction, being the creator of one of the Doctor's spin-off companions, Bernice Summerfield.{{Cite web |title=Paul Cornell {{!}} Writer, Actor |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0180280/ |access-date=2024-05-16 |website=IMDb |language=en-US}}

Other British television dramas for which he has written include Robin Hood, Primeval, Casualty, Holby City and Coronation Street. For American television, he has contributed an episode to the modern-day set Sherlock Holmes series Elementary.

Cornell has also written for a number of British comics, as well as Marvel Comics and DC Comics in the United States, and has had six original novels published.

He is one of only two people to be nominated for Hugo Awards in prose, comics and TV.{{cite web|url=https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Paul-Cornell/184525127 |title=Paul Cornell -- About the Author|publisher= Simon & Schuster}}

Career

Cornell's professional writing career began in 1990 when he was a winner in a young writers' competition and his entry, Kingdom Come, was produced and screened on BBC Two. Soon after, he wrote Timewyrm: Revelation, a novel for the Virgin New Adventures series of Doctor Who novels. Timewyrm: Revelation was a reworking of a serialised fan fiction piece Cornell had penned previously for the fanzine Queen Bat. Several other Doctor Who novels followed, including Human Nature.{{Cite web |title=SFE: Cornell, Paul |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/cornell_paul |access-date=2024-05-16 |website=sf-encyclopedia.com}}

Cornell then began working for Granada Television, where he wrote for the children's medical drama Children's Ward and created his own children's series Wavelength for Yorkshire Television, which ran for two series. He made the crossover to working in adult television full-time in 1996, when he was one of the main contributors to Granada's supernatural soap opera Springhill, which ran for two years on Sky One and later on Channel 4.

After a short stint on Coronation Street, he began working for other production companies, including contributing an episode in 1999 to Red Production Company's anthology drama series Love in the 21st Century for Channel 4. His episode, entitled Masturbation, starred Ioan Gruffudd as Jack. He was due to be one of the writers on Red Production Company's planned Queer as Folk spin-off series Misfits, but the series was never made, being cancelled by Channel 4.{{Cite web |title=T is for Television - The Small Screen Adventures of Russell T Davies @ The TARDIS Library (Doctor Who books, DVDs, videos & audios) |url=https://www.timelash.com/tardis/display.php?1982 |access-date=2024-08-17 |website=www.timelash.com}}

In the 21st century he has written mainly for the BBC, contributing episodes to all three of their regular medical dramas: Casualty, Holby City and the daytime soap opera Doctors. He also contributed to the 1950s-set Sunday evening prime time drama series Born and Bred and was one of the writers of the 2005 series revival of Doctor Who, writing the episode "Father's Day". The episode was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form in 2006 and came third in terms of votes for its category. Cornell later wrote a two-part story for Doctor Who's 2007 series, based on his 1995 Virgin New Adventures novel Human Nature. The title of the first episode was also "Human Nature", while the second was titled "The Family of Blood".Doctor Who Magazine, issue 378 (December 2006) In 2008, the two episodes were nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.{{cite web

|title = 2008 Hugo Nomination List

|work = Denvention 3: The 66th World Science Fiction Convention

|publisher = World Science Fiction Society

|year = 2008

|url = http://www.denvention.org/hugos/08hugonomlist.php

|access-date = 21 March 2008

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081221004127/http://www.denvention.org/hugos/08hugonomlist.php

|archive-date = 21 December 2008

|df = dmy-all

}}

In February 2006, Cornell announced in a post on his weblog{{cite web |url=http://paulcornell.blogspot.com/2006/02/robin-hood-and-business-ongoing.html |title=Paul Cornell's House of Awkwardness: Robin Hood and business ongoing |publisher=Paulcornell.blogspot.com |date=4 February 2006 |access-date=7 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140815142942/http://paulcornell.blogspot.com/2006/02/robin-hood-and-business-ongoing.html |archive-date=15 August 2014 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }} that he would be writing an episode for the BBC's Robin Hood, produced by Tiger Aspect Productions for the same Saturday evening family slot as Doctor Who. He later announced that he was also writing a second Robin Hood episode for later in the first series. His first episode, "Who Shot the Sheriff?", aired on BBC One on 21 October 2006. His second, "A Thing or Two About Loyalty", followed on 2 December 2006. He also wrote an episode for the second season of another Saturday evening family adventure programme, the ITV science-fiction series Primeval, transmitted in February 2008.{{cite web|url=http://paulcornell.blogspot.com/2007/04/primeval.html|title=Primeval|first=Paul|last=Cornell|publisher=Paul Cornell's House of Awkwardness|date=24 April 2007|access-date=24 April 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415122916/http://www.paulcornell.com/2007/04/primeval.html|archive-date=15 April 2012|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}

He also wrote the one-off pilot Pulse, which was shown on BBC Three in early June 2010.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sj8f7 Pulse] at the BBC

Outside of television, he has been active in various other media, having written six Doctor Who novels for Virgin Publishing and BBC Books during the 1990s, three Doctor Who audio dramas for Big Finish Productions and a fully animated internet-broadcast Doctor Who adventure, Scream of the Shalka (starring Richard E. Grant as the Doctor) for bbc.co.uk in 2003. He has also written two mainstream science-fiction novels, Something More and British Summertime for Gollancz, and various novels, short stories and audio dramas based around a character he created for the New Adventures, Professor Bernice Summerfield, and whom he later licensed to Big Finish Productions.{{fact|date=November 2024}}

He has also co-authored (often working with Keith Topping and Martin Day) several non-fiction books on television, including The Guinness Book of Classic British TV, X-treme Possibilities (a guide to The X-Files), and The Discontinuity Guide (a humorous guide to Doctor Who). (Topping and Day's Doctor Who novel The Devil Goblins from Neptune was also based on an original idea with Cornell.) He has also written comics, both for Doctor Who Magazine and the 2000 AD spin-off Judge Dredd Megazine.{{fact|date=November 2024}}

He has written Wisdom, a 6-issue limited series for Marvel Comics' MAX imprint, featuring the character Peter Wisdom, with art by Trevor Hairsine and Manuel Garcia.[http://www.newsarama.com/SDCC06/Marvel/Mondo/Wisdom.html SDCC 06: Paul Cornell and Nick Lowe Talk Wisdom For MAX], Newsarama, 23 July 2006 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929135815/http://www.newsarama.com/SDCC06/Marvel/Mondo/Wisdom.html |date=29 September 2007 }}

It was announced at the 2007 Wizard World Chicago comic book convention that Cornell would be following Chris Claremont on Marvel's New Excalibur. Plans were subsequently changed with the cancellation of the New Excalibur title and Cornell's new project was announced as being titled Captain Britain and MI: 13.[http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=12587 Cornell & Lowe talk "Captain Britain and MI:13"], Comic Book Resources, 18 February 2008[http://www.comicsbulletin.com/features/120784245582350.htm The British Invasion: Paul Cornell on Captain Britain and MI: 13] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111012175841/http://www.comicsbulletin.com/features/120784245582350.htm |date=12 October 2011 }}, Comics Bulletin, 10 April 2008 The third trade paperback, Vampire State, was nominated for the 2010 "Best Graphic Story" Hugo Award.[http://www.thehugoawards.org/2010/04/2010-hugo-award-nominees-details/ 2010 Hugo Award Nominees – Details], the Hugo Awards site

Cornell has also written Young Avengers Presents No. 4 (April 2008)[http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=16151 VISION QUEST: Cornell talks Young Avengers Presents], Comic Book Resources, 23 April 2008 and a Fantastic Four mini-series comic, True Story, which started in July 2008, which featured the team encountering characters from the pages of literary classics.[http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=15944 Stranger Than Fiction: Cornell on "Fantastic Four: True Story"], Comic Book Resources, 10 April 2008[http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080612-CornellFF.html Fantastic Four: True Story], Newsarama, 12 June 2008 In 2008, he wrote a comic which featured on the Doctor Who website.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/s4/news/latest/080619_news_01|title=Just Another Thursday|publisher=Paul Cornell|year=2008}} He has also written the Young Avengers limited series that ties into Dark Reign[http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=19890 NYCC: Cornell Talks "Dark Reign: Young Avengers"], Comic Book Resources, 7 February 2009[http://www.newsarama.com/comics/020907-DR-YA.html NYCC '09 – Paul Cornell on Dark Reign: Young Avengers], Newsarama, 7 February 2009 and Black Widow: Deadly Origin a mini-series that ties into the character's appearance in Iron Man 2.[http://www.sfx.co.uk/page/sfx?entry=black_widow_bites_back Black Widow bites back], SFX, 28 October 2009

Cornell became the next Action Comics writer after War of the Supermen.{{cite web |first=Alex |last=Segura |url=http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2010/04/12/paul-cornell-steps-in-as-new-action-comics-writer/ |title=Paul Cornell Steps in as New Action Comics Writer |work=The Source |publisher=DC Comics.com |date=12 April 2010 |access-date=12 April 2010 }} Cornell signed with DC Comics exclusively in 2010 as part of writing for Action Comics.{{cite web |first=Kiel |last=Phegley |url=http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=26828 |title=Paul Cornell: A DC Exclusive |publisher=Comic Book Resources |date=22 June 2010 |access-date=23 June 2010 }} His 16-issue run on the series included number 900. In late 2010 and early 2011, Cornell completed nine issues set in Batman's world: Knight & Squire, a six-issue miniseries, and a three-issue run in Batman & Robin, #17–19.

In September 2011, as part of DC's The New 52 relaunch, Cornell became the writer for the DC Comics titles Demon Knights{{cite web |first=Vaneta |last=Rogers |url=http://www.newsarama.com/comics/dcnu-paul-cornell-demon-knights-110607.html |title=CORNELL Creates Sword & Sorcery Superheroes in DEMON KNIGHTS |publisher=Newsarama |date=7 June 2011 |access-date=22 September 2011 }}{{cite web |first=Shaun |last=Manning |url=http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=32699 |title=Cornell Summons "Demon Knights" |publisher=Comic Book Resources |date=9 June 2011 |access-date=22 September 2011 }}{{cite web |first=Vaneta |last=Rogers |url=http://www.newsarama.com/comics/dcnu-take-2-demon-knights-110826.html |title=The DCnU Take 2: Paul Cornell's DEMON KNIGHTS |publisher=Newsarama |date=26 August 2011 |access-date=22 September 2011 }} and Stormwatch.{{cite web |first=Vaneta |last=Rogers |url=http://www.newsarama.com/comics/dcnu-paul-cornell-stormwatch-110611.html |title=CORNELL Calls STORMWATCH "Kingpin" DCnU Title |publisher=Newsarama |date=11 June 2011 |access-date=22 September 2011 }}{{cite web |first=Jeffrey |last=Renaud |url=http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=32856 |title=Cornell Checks the Temperature of "Stormwatch" |publisher=Comic Book Resources |date=20 June 2011 |access-date=22 September 2011 }}{{cite web |first=Vaneta |last=Rogers |url=http://www.newsarama.com/comics/dcnu-take-2-stormwatch-110818.html |title=THE DCnU Take 2: Paul Cornell's STORMWATCH |publisher=Newsarama |date=18 August 2011 |access-date=22 September 2011 }} Cornell's last DC work was the 14-issue science fiction series Saucer Country, which ended with the June 2013 issue.

Cornell is part of the regular panel of the podcast SF Squeecast, which won the 2012 and 2013 Hugo Award for best fancast.{{cite web |url=http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2012-hugo-awards/ |title=2012 Hugo Awards |publisher=The Hugo Awards |date=3 September 2012 |access-date=3 April 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120408045604/http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2012-hugo-awards/ |archive-date=8 April 2012 |df=dmy }}

In January 2016, Cornell announced his return to television drama work with his first script for US television, contributing an episode to the CBS Sherlock Holmes series Elementary.{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/Paul_Cornell/status/687025787178987520|first=Paul|last=Cornell|author-link=Paul Cornell|publisher=Twitter.com|title=9:38 PM - 12 Jan 2016}}

In 2018, he started co-hosting (with Lizbeth Myles from the Verity! podcast) a podcast reviewing horror films made by Hammer Film Productions entitled Hammer House of Podcast.https://hammerhouseofpodcast.wordpress.com/ {{User-generated source|date=August 2022}}

Personal life

In an interview on the Doctor Who: DWO Whocast, Cornell stated that this entry in Wikipedia described him as "both a Christian and a pagan", which he has chosen not to correct as it illustrates his sympathies for the pagan world. He then goes on to state that he is an Anglican but is very "Low Church, almost a Calvinist" and this is partly because he doesn't enjoy hymns.{{Cite web |title=New Podcast Interview |url=https://www.paulcornell.com/2007/09/new-podcast-interview-2/ |access-date=2024-04-29 |website=www.paulcornell.com}}

Spiritual themes are not uncommon in his work (for example, his novel Something More). Other frequent references in his work include owls.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/ebooks/human_nature/adaptation.shtml BBC – Doctor Who – Classic Series – Ebooks – Human Nature – Adaptation] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070701182612/http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/ebooks/human_nature/adaptation.shtml |date=1 July 2007 }}

Cornell is married to Caroline Symcox, currently the Vicar of St Mary's Church, Fairford,{{cite web | url=https://www.wiltsglosstandard.co.uk/news/11731181.from-doctor-who-to-vicar-of-fairford-meet-church-leader-and-her-writer-husband/ | title=From Doctor Who to vicar of Fairford - meet church leader and her writer husband | date=17 January 2015 }} who also has written Doctor Who-based audio plays for Big Finish Productions on her own and with Cornell. In 2021 Cornell stated that he and Symcox had a son, then ten years old.{{Cite web |last=Sullivan |first=Shannon |date=2 September 2021 |title=Paul Cornell {{!}} A Brief History of Time (Travel) |url=http://www.shannonsullivan.com/drwho/bio/paul-cornell.html |website=Shannon Sullivan}}

Bibliography

He has written novels, non-fiction, audio plays and comic scripts.

= Novels =

==''Doctor Who'' and related==

===Virgin New Adventures===

==Virgin Missing Adventures==

==Eighth Doctor Adventures==

==Other related works==

==Shadow Polices==

The following three novels in the series have been published by Tor Books, with two further novels remaining unpublished.{{Cite web|url=https://www.paulcornell.com/2017/10/the-future-of-the-shadow-police/|title = The Future of the Shadow Police}}

  • London Falling ({{ISBN|0-2307-6321-9}})
  • The Severed Streets ({{ISBN|0-7653-3028-8}}){{cite news|title=Paul Cornell – The Severed Streets cover art and synopsis reveal|url=http://upcoming4.me/news/book-news/paul-cornell-the-severed-streets-cover-art-and-synopsis-reveal|access-date=10 July 2013|newspaper=Upcoming4.me|date=9 July 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130713080426/http://upcoming4.me/news/book-news/paul-cornell-the-severed-streets-cover-art-and-synopsis-reveal|archive-date=13 July 2013|df=dmy-all}}Briefly reviewed in the May 2015 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction, pp.107–111
  • Who Killed Sherlock Holmes? ({{ISBN|1-4472-7326-5}})

==Other novels==

=Short fiction=

  • "[http://www.tor.com/stories/2012/12/the-ghosts-of-christmas The Ghosts of Christmas]" on Tor.com, 19 December 2012
  • "[http://www.tor.com/stories/2013/05/the-elephant-in-the-room The Elephant in the Room]" on Tor.com, 29 May 2013 – a Wild Cards story
  • Rosebud (novella), Tordotcom, 26 April 2022

== Jonathan Hamilton stories ==

About an out-of-uniform soldier in a parallel world where the ‘great game’ of European espionage continues into space.

  • Catherine Drewe (2008) Available to read for free at the [https://pyrsamples.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/fast-forward-2-catherine-drewe-by-paul.html Pyr Books Sample Chapters blog]
  • One Of Our Bastards Is Missing (2009) Available as a pdf download from [https://web.archive.org/web/20110921143238/http://www.solarisbooks.com/downloads/New_SF_3_-_One_of_Our_Bastards.pdf Solaris Books]
  • The Copenhagen Interpretation (2011) Available as a pdf download from [https://web.archive.org/web/20120131045928/http://www.asimovs.com/2012_02/images/thecopenhageninterpretation_cornell.pdf www.asimovs.com] (Hugo 2012 Nominee Novelette)
  • A Better Way to Die (Novella, 2014) Included in Rogues

== Witches of Lychford novella series ==

  • Witches of Lychford ({{ISBN|9780765385239}})
  • The Lost Child of Lychford ({{ISBN|9780765389770}})
  • A Long Day in Lychford ({{ISBN|9780765393180}})
  • The Lights Go Out in Lychford ({{ISBN|9781250249470}})
  • Last Stand in Lychford ({{ISBN|9781250752123}})

=Non-fiction=

  • Avengers Dossier: The Definitive Unauthorised Guide ({{ISBN|0-86369-754-2}}) with Martin Day and Keith Topping
  • Licence Denied: Rumblings from the Doctor Who Underground ({{ISBN|0-7535-0104-X}}) (editor)
  • X-treme Possibilities: A Paranoid Rummage Through The X-files ({{ISBN|0-7535-0228-3}}) with Day and Topping
  • The Discontinuity Guide ({{ISBN|0-426-20442-5}}) with Day and Topping
  • The Guinness Book of Classic British TV with Day and Topping
  • The New Trek Programme Guide ({{ISBN|0-86369-922-7}}) with Day and Topping

=Audio plays=

==Doctor Who==

==Professor Bernice Summerfield==

=Comics=

=Screenplays=

==Debut on Two==

==Casualty==

  • "Crash Course" (2001)
  • "You're Going Home in the Back of an Ambulance" (2002)
  • "Past, Present, Future" (2002)
  • "Code Red" (2002)
  • "An Accident Waiting To Happen" (2003)

==Holby City==

  • "Under Pressure" (2004)

==Doctor Who==

===Related===

==Robin Hood==

==Primeval==

==''[[Elementary (TV series)|Elementary]]''==

  • "You've Got Me, Who's Got You?" (2016)

==Other work==

  • Pulse (pilot for unproduced series, 2010)

References

{{Reflist|33em}}

External links

  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20080811194336/http://paulcornell.blogspot.com/ Paul Cornell's weblog]
  • {{isfdb name|id=Paul_Cornell|name=Paul Cornell}}
  • {{IMDb name|id=0180280|name=Paul Cornell}}
  • {{comicbookdb|type=creator|id=5385|title=Paul Cornell}}
  • [http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=droid&page=profiles&choice=PAULC Paul Cornell] at Barney

=Interviews=

  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20110715104159/http://media.podcastingmanager.com/8/8/3/5/3/245067-235388/Media/The%20Omega%20Podcast%20Episode%2019.mp3 Paul Cornell interviewed at CONvergence 2010 by The Omega Podcast (in mp3 format)]
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20110728032027/http://www.thewhocast.com/podcast/WC-EP-55-17-09-07.mp3 Podcast Interview with Paul Cornell (in mp3 format)]
  • [http://bullpenbulletinspodcast.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=241&Itemid=2 Interview with Paul Cornell on the Bullpen Bulletins Podcast]
  • [http://themagazine.millarworld.tv/index.php/?p=227 Interview with Paul Cornell at Millarworld]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20110425120013/http://www.ymca.org.uk/spiritual/greenbelt/default.asp?xsl_argx=3 Interview with Paul Cornell at YMCA England]
  • [http://www.sfx.co.uk/page/sfx?entry=author_interview_paul_cornell Author interview: Paul Cornell], SFX, 10 June 2008
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20081216131610/http://www.ifanboy.com/podcasts/audio/07_03_2008_-_Paul_Cornell Special Edition Podcast: Paul Cornell], iFanboy, 3 July 2008
  • [http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=18183 X-POSITION: Paul Cornell], Comic Book Resources, 23 September 2008
  • [http://media.libsyn.com/media/geeksyndicate/GSepisode72.mp3 Geek Syndicate Podcast Interview with Paul Cornell (in mp3 format)]
  • [http://geeksyndicate.wordpress.com/2008/10/08/dave-gibbons-doug-braithwaite-paul-cornell-and-mark-buckingham-recorded-live-on-one-panel/ Paul Cornell live at BICS 2008 on the Geek Syndicate Panel]

{{s-start}}

{{succession box | title=Batman and Robin writer| before=Grant Morrison| after= Peter Tomasi | years=2010–2011}}

{{succession box | title=Wolverine writer| before=Cullen Bunn| after= Benjamin Percy | years=2013–2014}}

{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cornell, Paul}}

Category:1967 births

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Category:20th-century British novelists

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Category:British bloggers

Category:British comics writers

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Category:Writers of Doctor Who novels