Adrian Rigelsford

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Adrian Rigelsford (born Cambridge, 1969) is a writer and TV historian whose factual work has been subject to controversy. In June 2004, he was convicted of stealing photographs[1] from the Daily Mail/Associated Newspapers archive in Kensington.

[edit] Biography

Rigelsford has written several works on a variety of television and film subjects, ranging from Peter Sellers to Doctor Who. The accuracy of his work has been disputed, for example for unsourced and previously unheard of quotes from William Hartnell or the omission of the entirety of Season 17 from one of his Doctor Who reference works. However, it was the publication in TV Times of a "final" interview with director Stanley Kubrick supposedly conducted on the set of Eyes Wide Shut that caused the most controversy: Kurbrick was notorious for filming on strictly closed sets, and Anthony Frewin found this odd and began to investigate.

Although he found no conclusive evidence, Frewin's investigation uncovered that a supposed tape of the interview that Rigelsford claimed existed in reality did not and in the light of this and Frewin's expert doubts, TV Times ran an apology about the interview and it is now generally considered to be fraudulent. [2]

In June 2004 Rigelsford was convicted of stealing an amazing 56,000 photographs from the Daily Mail/Associated Newspapers research library over an eight year period and reselling them for approximately 76,000 British pounds. Rigelsford was sentenced to eighteen months. [3]

Also in 2004, Big Finish Productions produced the Rigelsford written The Roof of the World as part of their range of Doctor Who audio plays.