Craig Hinton
Encyclopedia
Craig Paul Alexander Hinton (7 May 1964 – 3 December 2006) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 writer best known for his work on various spin-offs
Doctor Who spin-offs
Doctor Who spin-offs refers to material created outside of, but related to, the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who....

 from the BBC Television
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...

 series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...

.
He also wrote articles for various science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 magazines, and was the Coordinator of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society
Doctor Who Appreciation Society
The Doctor Who Appreciation Society is a society for fans of the television series Doctor Who. It was founded in May 1976, emerging from the Westfield College Doctor Who Appreciation Society and the editors and readers of the fanzine Tardis...

. He most recently lived in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, where he taught mathematics. Hinton was found dead in his home on 3 December 2006. The cause of death was given as heart attack.

Work

Hinton first became known for his articles about various science fiction television programmes, including Doctor Who and Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...

. These brought him to the attention of the editor of Marvel UK
Marvel UK
Marvel UK was an imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint US produced stories for the British weekly comic market, though it later did produce original material by British creators such as Alan Moore, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons, Steve Dillon and Grant Morrison.Panini Comics obtained the...

's Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...

, who offered him the role of reviewing merchandise for the magazine's Shelf Life section. It was whilst writing for the magazine that Hinton had his first novel published, The Crystal Bucephalus
The Crystal Bucephalus
The Crystal Bucephalus is an original novel written by Craig Hinton and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Fifth Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and Kamelion.-External links:*...

, as part of Virgin Publishing's Missing Adventures
Virgin Missing Adventures
The Virgin Missing Adventures were a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which had been cancelled in 1989, featuring stories set between televised episodes of the programme. The novels were published from 1994 to 1997, and...

range. The book — which Hinton often referred to as "The Crystal Bucket" — was originally submitted for Virgin's New Adventures
Virgin New Adventures
The Virgin New Adventures were a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who...

, and 50,000 words of this version were written before the change was made.

This novel was followed by a further Missing Adventure, Millennial Rites
Millennial Rites
Millennial Rites is an original novel written by Craig Hinton and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...

in 1995, and then by Hinton's only New Adventure in 1996, GodEngine
GodEngine
GodEngine is an original novel written by Craig Hinton and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Seventh Doctor, Chris, Roz, the Ice Warriors and the Daleks....

, which features the Ice Warrior
Ice Warrior
The Ice Warriors are a fictional extraterrestrial race of reptilian-like humanoids in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The race originated on Mars, and first appeared in the 1967 serial The Ice Warriors where they encountered the Second Doctor and his...

s as well as oblique appearances by the Dalek
Dalek
The Daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Within the series, Daleks are cyborgs from the planet Skaro, created by the scientist Davros during the final years of a thousand-year war against the Thals...

s.

Following Virgin's loss of their licence to produce Doctor Who merchandise, Hinton began submitting proposals to BBC Books
BBC Books
BBC Books is an imprint majority owned and managed by Random House. The minority shareholder is BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation...

 and in 2001 they published his novel The Quantum Archangel
The Quantum Archangel
The Quantum Archangel is a BBC Books original novel written by Craig Hinton and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Sixth Doctor and Mel, the Master, and an appearance by an alternate version of the Third Doctor...

as part of their Past Doctor Adventures
Past Doctor Adventures
The Past Doctor Adventures were a series of spin-off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and published under the BBC Books imprint. For most of their existence, they were published side-by-side with the Eighth Doctor Adventures...

 range. This was followed in 2004 by the novel Synthespians™
Synthespians™
Synthespians™ is a BBC Books original novel written by Craig Hinton and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...

, which again had started life as a proposal for the current incumbent Doctor
Doctor (Doctor Who)
The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....

 before being altered to feature a previous Doctor. Synthespians™ also came into difficulties when an image of the television show Dynasty
Dynasty (TV series)
Dynasty is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 12, 1981 to May 11, 1989. It was created by Richard & Esther Shapiro and produced by Aaron Spelling, and revolved around the Carringtons, a wealthy oil family living in Denver, Colorado...

was used on the cover: the cover's creators had arranged for permission to use the copyrighted image, but had neglected to arrange permission to alter it, and so at the last minute a replacement cover had to be produced. It is this that appears on the cover of the novel.

Hinton's Doctor Who novels often contain references to or explanations of elements of past continuity. He was the originator of the term "fanwank", which he applied to his own work.

Hinton also continued to work with Virgin, writing pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...

ously under the name Paul C. Alexander for their Idol range. He authored three books in the range: Chains of Deceit, The Final Restraint and Code of Submission. These titles were a major departure from his science fiction, and explored aspects of his sexuality that were only suggested in his other works.

Hinton wrote for Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...

' audio adventures, with the play Excelis Decays
Excelis Decays
Excelis Decays is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is the final part of the Excelis trilogy which commenced in Excelis Dawns and continued in Excelis Rising...

being produced in 2002 for their Doctor Who range and The Lords of Forever in 2005 for their Tomorrow People
The Tomorrow People
The Tomorrow People is a British children's science fiction television series, devised by Roger Price. Produced by Thames Television for the ITV Network, the series first ran between 1973 and 1979. The series was re-imagined in 1992, Roger Price acting as executive producer...

range. Hinton also wrote short stories for a variety of their short fiction collections.

Before his death, Hinton had proposed a Doctor Who novel to BBC Books dealing with the final adventure of the Sixth Doctor
Sixth Doctor
The Sixth Doctor is the sixth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Colin Baker...

. His proposal was rejected, but Hinton continued to work on the manuscript. After his death, the novel, Time's Champion
Time's Champion
Time's Champion is a work of Doctor Who fan fiction, written by Chris McKeon on the basis of an original novel outline by the late Craig Hinton, and incorporating fragments of text by Hinton...

, was completed by Chris McKeon, and edited and published by David J. Howe
David J. Howe
David J. Howe is a British writer, journalist, publisher, and media historian.-Biography:David Howe was born in 1961 and established himself as an authoritative media historian through writing articles for fanzines and other publications...

 using the facilities of Telos Publishing Ltd.
Telos Publishing Ltd.
Telos Publishing Ltd. is a publishing company, originally established by David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker, with their first publication being a horror anthology based on the television series Urban Gothic in 2001...

, as a benefit for the British Heart Foundation
British Heart Foundation
The British Heart Foundation is a charity organisation in Britain that funds research, education, care and awareness campaigns aimed to prevent heart diseases in humans.-Foundation:...

.. In addition to this an anthology, Shelf Life (named after his review column), was edited and published by Jay Eales, David A. McIntee
David A. McIntee
-Biography:McIntee has written many spin-off novels based on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, as well as one each based on Final Destination and Space: 1999. He has also written a non-fiction book on Star Trek: Voyager and one jointly on the Alien and Predator movie franchises...

 and Adrian Middleton, also for the benefit of the British Heart Foundation
British Heart Foundation
The British Heart Foundation is a charity organisation in Britain that funds research, education, care and awareness campaigns aimed to prevent heart diseases in humans.-Foundation:...

.

Outside of the science fiction world Hinton was a noted IT journalist in the UK, editing magazines in the mid-1990s for VNU Business Publications in London and moving on to ITNetwork.com shortly afterwards.

External links

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