Julie Gardner

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This page is about the television producer. For the water polo player of the same name, see Julie Gardner (athlete).

Julie Gardner is a Welsh television producer who is currently both Controller of Drama Commissioning at BBC Television and Head of Drama for BBC Wales. Her most prominent work has been serving as executive producer on the 2005 revival of Doctor Who.

Gardner was born in Neath in June 1969, and grew up in Glynneath. She attended Neath Tertiary College and read English at the University of London. She initially worked as a teacher at GCSE and A-Level level, before in the mid-1990s she decided to switch to working in the television industry. Her first job was as a producer's secretary on the second production block of the acclaimed BBC Two drama serial Our Friends in the North (starring Christopher Eccleston). Subsequently, she became a script reader and then a script editor, before working as a producer on BBC dramas such as Silent Witness and The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries.

In 2000, Gardner began working as a Development Producer at London Weekend Television. There, she produced dramas including Me and Mrs. Jones and an updated version of Othello written by Andrew Davies and starring Eamonn Walker and Christopher Eccleston (in the Iago role). While at LWT, Gardner began working with Welsh writer Russell T. Davies on the period drama Casanova.

In 2003, Gardner returned to the BBC as Head of Drama for BBC Wales. She brought Davies' Casanova project with her. Gardner's first assignment from BBC Head of Drama Jane Tranter was to head up the revival of Doctor Who. Gardner immediately contacted Davies (who had previously expressed an interest in writing and producing Doctor Who) and began working with him on bringing the programme back to British screens. The new series of Doctor Who debuted in March 2005, to critical and popular acclaim.

Gardner was the BBC's representative in the production of the political romantic comedy The Girl in the Café (2005), written by Richard Curtis in conjunction with the Make Poverty History campaign. Other BBC One network dramas commissioned by Gardner at BBC Wales have included the multiple personality disorder drama May 33rd (2004); domestic abuse-themed one-off Dad (2005); courtroom reconstruction The Chatterley Affair (2006) and the time travel police series Life on Mars (2006–), produced independently by Kudos Film & Television.

Gardner and Davies are producing two Doctor Who spin-offs: Torchwood, an adult (post-watershed) science fiction drama to be aired on BBC Three, and The Sarah Jane Adventures, a children's fantasy thriller to be aired on BBC One and CBBC.

In September 2006 it was announced that Gardner would succeed Jane Tranter as the overall Controller of Drama Commissioning at BBC Television, following Tranter's promotion to the new "Head of Fiction" role.[1] However, Gardner will remain in her position at BBC Wales, performing the two jobs simultaenously. She also commentated on Doctor Who The Complete First Series Boxset, on the episodes Rose, Aliens of London]], Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ BBC Vision appoints Gardner as head of drama commissioning. The Stage (2006-09-21). Retrieved on 2006-09-21.

[edit] References

Books:

  • Lyon, J Shaun. Back to the Vortex. (Chapter Three: "The Executive Three", pages 42 and 43). Tolworth. Telos Publishing Ltd. 2005. ISBN 1-903889-78-2.

Magazines:

[edit] External links

Media Offices
Preceded by:
Matthew Robinson		 BBC Wales Head of Drama
2003-Present		 Succeeded by:
(current incumbent)
Preceded by:
Jane Tranter		 BBC Television Controller of Drama Commissioning
2006-Present		 Succeeded by:
(current incumbent)
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