Ben Aaronovitch

Ben Dylan Aaronovitch (born 22 February 1964) is an English author and screenwriter. He is the author of the series of novels Rivers of London. He also wrote two Doctor Who serials in the late 1980s and spin-off novels from Doctor Who and Blake's 7.

Biography

Born in Camden, Aaronovitch is the son of the economist Sam Aaronovitch who was a senior member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, and the younger brother of actor Owen Aaronovitch and journalist David Aaronovitch. He attended Holloway School.

Aaronovitch left school with no particular plan. "Instead of going to university I basically faffed about. I had a series of terrible jobs, the kind you get when you have no qualifications." These included working as a security guard for Securitas, which he says taught him "to understand shoplifting a lot better. ... So it did come in quite handy later, for work". During one of the short-term jobs he submitted some scripts to the BBC, which led to him writing Doctor Who stories, and finally, while working at Waterstones, publishing his first Rivers of London novel. The book rapidly became a word-of-mouth success, enabling him to write full-time. He is passionate about diversity in literature, and in 2020 he founded the Future Worlds Prize, then known as the Gollancz and Rivers of London BAME SFF Award, aimed at opening up science fiction and fantasy publishing to more diverse writers.

In 2023 it was announced that Rivers of London would be adapted for TV as a co-production between Pure Fiction Television, See-Saw Films and Aaronovitch's own production company, Unnecessary Logo.

Aaronovitch lives in Wimbledon, London. He has a son.

Doctor Who and television work

Aaronovitch wrote two Doctor Who serials, Remembrance of the Daleks (1988) and Battlefield (1989), for BBC television, and also the novelization of the former.

He wrote one episode for Casualty (1990) and was then a regular writer on the science fiction series Jupiter Moon.

He subsequently wrote or co-wrote three Doctor Who spin-off novels in the Virgin Publishing New Adventures range; he created the character Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart who became a semi-regular in the New Adventures. He has written a novel and several short stories published by Big Finish Productions featuring the character of Bernice Summerfield, who was originally developed in the New Adventures. He also co-wrote a Doctor Who audio drama for Big Finish, and has written a number of Blake's 7 spin-off audio dramas.

Proposed serials

In May 1987, Aaronovitch submitted Knight Fall to the Doctor Who production office for season 25. The story concerned privatization. Script editor Andrew Cartmel liked the story ideas, but felt that the script was inappropriate for the series and had too many supporting characters.

After failing to feature Aaronovitch's Knight Fall storyline to production, Aaronovitch submitted a story in June 1987, entitled Transit. The story would see the Doctor and Ace in the future, land in a metro station, and discover transportation portals that led throughout the Solar System, but one of the portals is a gateway to hell. Even though Aaronovitch's scripts of Transit never came to fruition, he would adapt the story as a book for Virgin New Adventures series in December 1992.

In 1988, Aaronovitch submitted a three-part adventure story called Bad Destination for the 27th season of Doctor Who. The story would feature The Doctor seeing Ace as a captain of a hospital spaceship which is under attack by the Metatraxi. It went unused when declining audiences led the BBC to cancel Doctor Who in September 1989 after its 26th season. In July 2011, Big Finish Productions released the story as Earth Aid, by Aaronovitch and Cartmel.

Works

Doctor Who

Remembrance of the Daleks (1988)

Battlefield (1989)

Casualty

Results (1990)

Jupiter Moon

Episode 69 (1990)

Episode 70 (1990)

Episode 80 (1990)

Episode 81 (1990)

Episode 95 (1990)

Episode 119 (1996)

Episode 120 (1996)

Episode 131 (1996)

Episode 132 (1996)

Episode 148 (1996)

Dark Knight

Stonegod (2001)

Blake's 7

Rebel (2007)

When Vila Met Gan (2008)

Eye of the Machine (2008)

Blood and Earth (2009)

Doctor Who

Earth Aid (with Andrew Cartmel; 2011)

Doctor Who

Novelizations:

Remembrance of the Daleks

Virgin New Adventures:

Transit

The Also People

So Vile a Sin (with Kate Orman)

Rivers of London

Rivers of London (published as Midnight Riot in the US) (2011) ISBN 9781782761877

Moon Over Soho (2011) ISBN 9780345524591

Whispers Under Ground (2012) ISBN 9780345524614

Broken Homes (2013) ISBN 9780575132467

Foxglove Summer (2014) ISBN 9780575132504

The Hanging Tree (3 November 2016) ISBN 9780575132559

The Furthest Station (28 September 2017) ISBN 9781473222427—novella, set between Foxglove Summer and The Hanging Tree

Lies Sleeping (6 November 2018) ISBN 9781473207813

The October Man (31 May 2019) – novella, set after Lies Sleeping in Germany, with Tobias Winter as the main character

False Value (20 February 2020) ISBN 9781473207851 (Hardback); ISBN 9781473207868 (Export Trade Paperback); ISBN 9781473207882 (eBook)

Tales from the Folly (November 2020) – short story collection

What Abigail Did That Summer (18 March 2021) – novella ISBN 9781473224346 (Hardback); ISBN 9781473224360 (eBook)

Amongst our Weapons (7 April 2022) ISBN 9781473226661 (Hardback)

Winter's Gifts (novella) (8 June 2023) (Hardback / eBook / AudioBook)

The Masquerades of Spring (novella) (5 September 2024) ISBN 1473224403 (Hardback / eBook / AudioBook)

Stone and Sky (8 July 2025) ISBN 9780756407230 (Hardback / eBook / AudioBook)

Others

Genius Loci

Short stories

Gone Fishing in Short Trips: Time Signature

Walking Backwards for Christmas in Something Changed

The Evacuation of Bernice Summerfield Considered as a Short Film by Terry Gilliam in Missing Adventures

Rivers of London series

The short stories below are published in Tales from the Folly:

The Home Crowd Advantage in the 'London Edition' of Rivers of London and on Aaronovitch's blog

The Domestic in the special Waterstones edition of Whispers Under Ground

The Cockpit in the special Waterstones edition of Broken Homes

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Granny in the special Waterstones edition of Foxglove Summer