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Phil Collinson

Phil Collinson is a British television producer. He was initially an actor, before switching to working behind the cameras in the industry as a script editor and writer on programmes such as Springhill and Emmerdale, later becoming the producer of Peak Practice.

He has produced several series for the BBC, including the comedy drama Linda Green, and the first seasons of 1950s-set Born and Bred and paranormal thriller Sea of Souls. In January 2004, he started work as the tenth full-time in-house producer of the BBC science-fiction programme Doctor Who.

While he was an actor, the role of Alexander in the 1999 Channel 4 drama Queer as Folk was written especially for him by his friend Russell T. Davies. However, after Antony Cotton auditioned for the production team, Davies and his fellow producers felt they had no choice but to offer the role to him.

Collinson took a vacation from his Doctor Who production responsibilities for at least part of the 2007 series; Susie Liggat took his place for a month according to issue 372 of Doctor Who Magazine, while Collinson took a holiday. ^[1] There was some confusion when Collinson's break was first announced, with some reports claiming that Collinson was leaving the series. "There was this whole madness last year when it was announced that... Susie was going to produce a couple of episodes," Collinson told DWM in issue 380, "cos everyone immediately thought that I was leaving, and she was taking over. My friends thought I was seriously ill! Why else would I leave Doctor Who?" ^[2]

Collinson also serves as Executive Producer on the CBBC Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures.^[3] He also provided audio commentaries on Doctor Who — The Complete First Series Boxset DVD release, on the episodes Rose, The End of the World, World War Three and Bad Wolf.

Collinson is openly gay, and admits that Doctor Who has a special appeal for LGBT people: "I can only talk for myself, and when I was a teenager," he said in a March 2007 interview. "For me, as a young boy and a teenager, growing up in the north of England, in a world where I could never imagine being a gay man, let alone settling down and finding someone, I think Doctor Who was really asexual. There were programmes like The Sweeney which were very much about men chasing women, men getting women, whereas with Doctor Who you had a show that never really dealt with that." ^[4]

1. ^ A New Producer. bbc.co.uk (2006-06-19). Retrieved on June 23, 2006.
2. ^ "With a Little Help from My Friends: Julie Gardner & Phil Collinson," interview by Benjamin Cook. Doctor Who Magazine, issue 380, 28 March 2007.
3. ^ BBC (2006-09-14). Russell T Davies creates new series for CBBC, starring Doctor Who's Sarah Jane Smith. Press release. Retrieved on 2006-09-14.
4. ^ An unambitious man. shoutweb.co.uk (2007-03). Retrieved on March 26, 2007.

• Phil Collinson at the Internet Movie Database