Born: 10th November 1960 (as Neil Richard Gaiman)
Episodes Broadcast: 2011, 2013

Neil Gaiman was born in Portchester, Hampshire and was a voracious reader even before he started school. Particular influences included the works of CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien and, later, Roger Zelazny. While trying to establish himself as a writer of fiction during the Eighties, Gaiman worked as a journalist and a reviewer. His first book was the pop music biography Duran Duran: The First Four Years Of The Fab Five in 1984. The following year, he collaborated with Kim Newman on a book of risible quotations called Ghastly Beyond Belief. This phase of Gaiman's career ended in 1988 with the release of Don't Panic, his biography of writer Douglas Adams. He married Mary McGrath in 1985, following the birth of their son, Anthony. They would later have daughters Holly and Maddy.

Having enjoyed comic books like Batman during his youth, Gaiman rediscovered the medium through Alan Moore's groundbreaking work on the DC Comics horror title Swamp Thing in 1984. He was soon a regular contributor to British comics magazines like 2000 AD, and developed the graphic novel Violent Cases with artist Dave McKean in 1987. It wasn't long before DC Comics came to call, and after collaborating with McKean on a post-modern reimagining of the super-hero Black Orchid in 1988, Gaiman launched the title that would ignite his career. Running from 1989 to 1996, with occasional subsequent revivals and spin-offs, The Sandman was a revolutionary blend of fantasy and horror, mystery and myth. Its success paved the way for Gaiman to write virtually any comic book character he wished, and he began creating a variety of projects for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and other publishers.

In 1990, Gaiman co-wrote Good Omens with Terry Pratchett

Despite the popularity of his comics, Gaiman retained an ambition to be a novelist. It was finally achieved in 1990, when he co-wrote Good Omens with Terry Pratchett. Then, with the success of The Sandman behind him, Gaiman dipped his toes into the world of television with 1996's Neverwhere, a six-part serial he devised with comedian Lenny Henry for the BBC. Its novelisation was published the same year. The first of several occasional books for children arrived in 1997, in the form of The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish. The following year, Gaiman wrote an episode of the science-fiction series Babylon 5. An original, novel-length fairy tale called Stardust was issued in 1999.

After the turn of the century, Gaiman wrote the acclaimed novels Coraline, American Gods, Anansi Boys and The Graveyard Book. He scripted the 2005 fantasy film Mirrormask and a 2007 adaptation of Beowulf starring Angelina Jolie, for which he was also an executive producer. He likewise earned a producer's credit on the 2007 movie version of Stardust. Gaiman twice worked as a director, on 2003's A Short Film About John Bolton and a 2009 installment of 10 Minute Tales. His marriage to McGrath having ended in divorce in 2007, Gaiman began dating singer Amanda Palmer in 2009. They would marry in 2011, and have son Michael in 2015.

A longtime Doctor Who fan whose memories stretched back to The Web Planet in 1965, Gaiman was invited to contribute to Matt Smith's first season as the Eleventh Doctor in 2010. Budgetary considerations wound up delaying The Doctor's Wife by a year, but it nonetheless struck a chord amongst viewers for its heartfelt portrayal of the relationship between the Doctor and the TARDIS. Gaiman returned to Doctor Who in 2013 to revamp the Cybermen for Nightmare In Silver. The same year, he wrote an Eleventh Doctor short story called Nothing O'Clock, which Puffin Books initially published as an e-book.

Gaiman's other work during the 2010s included the critically-acclaimed novella The Ocean At The End Of The Lane and the children's book Fortunately, The Milk, both published in 2013. 2015's Trigger Warning was just the latest of several collections of his numerous short stories. Having attained celebrity status, Gaiman made occasional appearances as himself in shows like The Simpsons and The Big Bang Theory. Television, rather than film, now became the preferred medium to adapt Gaiman's work. He was the executive producer of both American Gods and Good Omens, with the latter boasting a starring role for the Tenth/Fourteenth Doctor, David Tennant. The Twenties then saw Gaiman shepherd The Sandman to television, after years stuck in development hell. It featured an appearance by Jenna Coleman, who had played companion Clara Oswald in Nightmare In Silver.