Keith Topping
Encyclopedia
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...
and for writing numerous official and unofficial guide books to a wide variety of television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
series, specifically Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
He is also the author of two books of rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
critique. To date, Topping has written over 40 books.
Early life and background
Keith Topping's parents were Thomas Topping (1918–1991) and Lily Lamb (b. 1920) and he has two older brothers, Terrence John (b. 1944) and Thomas Colin (b. 1948). Topping's family have IrishIreland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, East Anglian (Snape, Suffolk
Snape, Suffolk
Snape is a small village in the English county of Suffolk, on the River Alde close to Aldeburgh. It has about 600 inhabitants. Snape is now best known for Snape Maltings, no longer in commercial use, but converted into a tourist centre together with a concert hall that hosts the major part of the...
, Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is at the mouth of the River Yare, east of Norwich.It has been a seaside resort since 1760, and is the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the sea...
) and Cumbrian (Crosby-on-Eden
Crosby-on-Eden
Crosby-on-Eden is the combined name for two villages within the civil parish of Stanwix Rural near Carlisle, Cumbria, England.The two small villages are by the River Eden north-east of Carlisle, joined by a road that previously was the line of the Stanegate Roman road . and are called High Crosby...
) roots as well as North Eastern. He is a distant relative of the Morpeth landscape artist Thomas Bowman Garvie (1859–1944). Topping could be said to be following in a family tradition through his writing as his great- great-uncle was the Tyneside journalist and columnist Albert Elliott.
Topping attended Wharrier Street Infant and Junior school between 1968 and 1975 and Walker Comprehensive School between 1975 and 1982 leaving with an 'A' level in History and 6 'O' levels.
He worked for the Civil Service
Civil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....
as an Administrative Officer in the, then, Department of Employment between 1983 and 2001 when he left to pursue a full-time freelance writing career.
Work
One of the leading players in British Doctor Who fandom's fan-fiction movement during the 1980s, Topping's first published fiction was the BBC BooksBBC 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...
"Past Doctor Adventure
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...
" The Devil Goblins from Neptune
The Devil Goblins from Neptune
The Devil Goblins from Neptune is a BBC Books original novel written by Martin Day and Keith Topping and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
in 1997. The novel was co-written with his friend and frequent collaborator Martin Day
Martin Day
Martin Day is a screenwriter and novelist best known for his work on various spin-offs related to the BBC Television series Doctor Who, and many episodes of the daytime soaps Doctors and Family Affairs.-Work:...
.
The pair quickly followed this up with the acclaimed novel The Hollow Men
The Hollow Men (Doctor Who)
The Hollow Men is a BBC Books original novel written by Martin Day and Keith Topping and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Seventh Doctor, and Ace and uses elements from the Fifth Doctor serial The Awakening.-Synopsis:Hexen Village,...
in 1998.
Following Day's move into TV scripting, Topping wrote the novels The King of Terror
The King of Terror
The King of Terror is a BBC Books original novel written by Keith Topping and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
(2000) and Byzantium!
Byzantium!
Byzantium! is a BBC Books original novel written by Keith Topping and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the First Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Vicki.-Synopsis:...
(2001) solo. The latter novel is the only BBC Books Past Doctor Adventure
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...
to be set entirely within one episode of the television series Doctor Who — 1965's The Romans
The Romans (Doctor Who)
The Romans is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from January 16 to February 6, 1965. The story is set during the era of the Roman Empire in the reign of Nero.-Plot:...
by Dennis Spooner
Dennis Spooner
Dennis Spooner was an English television screenwriter and story editor, known primarily for his programmes about fictional spies and his work in children's television in the 1960s...
.
Topping also wrote the Telos Doctor Who novella Ghost Ship
Ghost Ship (Doctor Who)
Ghost Ship is an original novella written by Keith Topping and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Fourth Doctor. It was released both as a standard edition hardback and a deluxe edition featuring a frontispiece by Dariusz Jasiczak, and a...
which was published in 2002 and proved so popular that it was one of only two novellas reissued as a paperback edition in 2003.
As well as writing fiction, Topping has also authored numerous programme guides to television series as diverse as The X Files, The Avengers
The Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...
, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
, The Sweeney
The Sweeney
The Sweeney is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London...
and The Professionals
The Professionals (TV series)
The Professionals was a British crime-action television drama series produced by Avengers Mk1 Productions and London Weekend Television that aired on the ITV network from 1977 to 1983. In all, 57 episodes were produced, filmed between 1977 and 1981. It starred Martin Shaw, Lewis Collins and Gordon...
. These were all published by Virgin Books
Virgin Books
Virgin Books is a United Kingdom book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Enterprises, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company.-History:...
, and co-written with Martin Day
Martin Day
Martin Day is a screenwriter and novelist best known for his work on various spin-offs related to the BBC Television series Doctor Who, and many episodes of the daytime soaps Doctors and Family Affairs.-Work:...
and Paul Cornell
Paul Cornell
Paul Cornell is a British writer best known for his work in television drama as well as Doctor Who fiction, and as the creator of one of the Doctor's spin-off companions, Bernice Summerfield....
.
Cornell, Day and Topping also collaborated on the popular Doctor Who Discontinuity Guide
The Discontinuity Guide
The Discontinuity Guide, by Paul Cornell, Martin Day and Keith Topping, is a humorous guidebook to the serials of the original run of the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who. It was first published in 1995 by Virgin Books, which at the time also published licensed Doctor Who...
, published by Virgin Books
Virgin Books
Virgin Books is a United Kingdom book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Enterprises, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company.-History:...
in 1995 and re-issued, in the US, by MonkeyBrain Books
MonkeyBrain Books
MonkeyBrain Books is an independent American publishing house based in Austin, Texas, specialising in books comprising both new content and reprinting online, international or out-of-print content, which show "an academic interest," but which "reach a popular audience as well."-A brief history of...
in 2004, a lighthearted guide to the mistakes and incongruities of the television series.
The trio had first worked together co-writing two editions of The Guinness Book of Classic British Television (1993 and 1996 respectively).
Subsequently, Topping wrote The Complete Slayer: An Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Every Episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and a number of related texts on this popular series as well as guide books to The West Wing (Inside Bartlet's White House), Angel
Angel
Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
(Hollywood Vampire), 24
24 (TV series)
24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...
(A Day in the Life) and Stargate SG-1
Stargate SG-1
Stargate SG-1 is a Canadian-American adventure and military science fiction television series and part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Stargate franchise. The show, created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, is based on the 1994 feature film Stargate by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich...
(Beyond the Gate), amongst others. According to the 2003 book Slayer Slang by Michael Adams (Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
), Topping was the originator of the word 'vampiry' (adj. "exhibiting features of a vampire") in the January 2000 edition of his book Slayer (pg. 26).
In addition, Topping is a regular contributor of articles and reviews to several TV and genre titles including TV Zone
TV Zone
TV Zone was a British magazine published every four weeks by Visual Imagination that covered cult television. Initially, it mostly covered science fiction, but branched out to cover other drama and comedy series.-History:...
, Xposé and Shivers
Shivers (magazine)
Shivers was a UK-based magazine that began publication in 1992. It was dedicated to horror movies, television shows and literature.-History:...
and is a former Contributing Editor of Dreamwatch
Dreamwatch
Dreamwatch was a British magazine covering science fiction and fantasy films, books and television programmes.Published monthly by Gary Leigh and then Titan Magazines , it was a leading genre entertainment magazine, competing with SFX and Cinescape in the genre magazine market.-Overview:The...
. He also worked as Project Consultant on Charmed
Charmed
Charmed is an American television series that originally aired from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006, on the now defunct The WB Television Network. The series was created in 1998 by writer Constance M...
: The Complete DVD Collection.
On radio, Topping was the Producer/Presenter of the monthly Book Club (2005–2007) and currently co-presents a daily television review slot, Monday to Friday, on The Simon Logan Show for BBC Newcastle.
He has also contributed to the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television series' I Love the '70s
I Love the '70s (UK TV series)
I Love the '70s is a television mini-series produced by the BBC that examines the pop culture of the 1970s. It was broadcast in ten hour-long episodes, one dedicated to each year, with the first episode, I Love 1970, premiering on BBC Two on 22 July 2000, and the last, I Love 1979, premiering on 23...
, Call The Cops and The Perfect Detective and has written for Sounds, the Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
Culture Supplement and many other magazines and periodicals.
Topping writes, and occasionally performs, stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Usually, a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television...
and has written radio comedy sketches, an (unproduced) stage play and a TV pilot (with Martin Day
Martin Day
Martin Day is a screenwriter and novelist best known for his work on various spin-offs related to the BBC Television series Doctor Who, and many episodes of the daytime soaps Doctors and Family Affairs.-Work:...
) that is, currently, stuck in “Development Hell.”
Topping continues to live and work on Tyneside. He achieved a lifetimes ambition in 2005 when his book on The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, Do You Want to Know a Secret was published by Virgin Books
Virgin Books
Virgin Books is a United Kingdom book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Enterprises, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company.-History:...
.
Short stories
- In the Midst of Life We Are in Death, Et Cetera (in Drabble Who, Beccon Publications, 1993, ISBN 1-870824-21-0)
- Chain Male (in Perfect Timing. Privately Printed, 1998)
- Disturbance at the Heron House (in Missing Pieces, Gallifrey Publishing, 2001)
- Skulduggery? (co-written with Suzanne M Campagna, in Lifedeath, Ambrosia Press, 2001).
- Prisoner of Conscience. To be published in 2007.