---
name: "Chris Chibnall"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/chris-chibnall"
fi1m_id: "chris-chibnall"
imdb_id: "nm1163823"
tmdb_id: 204037
wikidata_id: "Q2964683"
roles: ["Writer"]
born: "21 March 1970"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 5
average_fi1m_score: 78
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 5
updated: "2026-10-07T16:41:55.449874+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Chris Chibnall

## Identity

Chris Chibnall

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/chris-chibnall
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** chris-chibnall
- **IMDb ID:** nm1163823
- **TMDB ID:** 204037
- **Wikidata ID:** Q2964683
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Chibnall, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2964683, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1163823/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/204037

Writer. Born 21 March 1970 in England, UK.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer
- **Born:** 21 March 1970, England, UK
- **Active:** 2005–2013
- **Frequently works with:** [James Strong](https://film.one/person/james-strong.md), [Euros Lyn](https://film.one/person/euros-lyn.md), [Alice Troughton](https://film.one/person/alice-troughton.md), [Andrew Gunn](https://film.one/person/andrew-gunn-1230489.md), [Ashley Way](https://film.one/person/ashley-way.md), [Bharat Nalluri](https://film.one/person/bharat-nalluri.md), [Catherine Tregenna](https://film.one/person/catherine-tregenna.md), [Colin Teague](https://film.one/person/colin-teague.md)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 78, as writer, over 5 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 78 (3), 2010s 77 (2)
- **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 3 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 5, Sci-Fi & Fantasy 3, Action & Adventure 2, Crime 2, Mystery 2
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Chibnall, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2964683, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1163823/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/204037

## Streaming the US now

- **BritBox:** [*Life on Mars*](https://film.one/tv/life-on-mars.md) (84)
- **Netflix:** [*Broadchurch*](https://film.one/tv/broadchurch.md) (81)
- **AMC+:** [*Doctor Who*](https://film.one/tv/doctor-who-2005.md) (78)
- **Pluto TV:** [*The Great Train Robbery*](https://film.one/tv/the-great-train-robbery-2013.md) (73)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Chris Chibnall

> Chris Chibnall writes crime as a town watching itself. At his best, in the first series of *Broadchurch*, the grief matters more than the puzzle; away from small communities, on *Doctor Who* and the weaker *Torchwood* hours, the structure shows and the people thin.

Chris Chibnall's best hour of television begins with a plumber saying good morning. Mark Latimer crosses a small Dorset town at the start of *Broadchurch* (2013), greeting the shops, the hotel and the church, and by the end of the episode a boy is dead at the foot of the cliffs and every face he greeted is a suspect. That is the Chibnall move: a community shown whole, then a crime, then eight hours of watching the community look at itself. He is not much interested in who did it. He is interested in the local paper deciding what to print and neighbours crossing the street to avoid each other.

He came to that late. He started as a playwright on the Edinburgh Fringe, entered television with *Born and Bred* (2002), then spent the middle of the decade writing for other people's programmes: episodes of *Life on Mars* (2006), the first two series of Russell T Davies's *Torchwood* (2006), then *Law & Order: UK* (2009) and *Camelot* (2011). Much of the *Torchwood* he oversaw is a teenager's idea of grown-up, and it embarrassed us slightly. His own episode *Countrycide*, which sends the team into the Brecon Beacons, is the exception, nasty enough to earn the certificate by itself, and it is the first sign of the writer who would make *Broadchurch*: a small place, something terrible in it, ordinary people at the door.

What he does well is build. He works in four acts with a cliffhanger every twelve minutes, and he can hold an ensemble together across years. Olivia Colman is the reason the first series of *Broadchurch* holds, with David Tennant opposite her, and Chibnall gives them both something to do in every scene rather than a speech every third episode. When the third series (2017) turned to an assault on a grown woman, he researched it with survivors and wrote it plainly, and Julie Hesmondhalgh played it the same way. It moved us more than we expected, because the programme declined to decorate anything she did.

What he does less well is let go of the machinery. The second series of *Broadchurch* (2015) moved to the trial and lost the town, and the structure that had carried grief now carried only twists. The same complaint followed him to *Doctor Who* (2018–22), where he ran the programme for three series with Jodie Whittaker: most critics found the characters thin and the reveals abrupt, and the complaint has a familiar shape. Cliffhangers are a means. When the community goes, they are all that is left.

He has since gone back to crime, with a novel, *Death at the White Hart* (2025), and an adaptation of Agatha Christie's *The Seven Dials Mystery* (2026). On the evidence of everything he has written, that is the right place for him.

## Biography

Chris Chibnall is an English television writer and producer. He studied drama at St Mary's University, Twickenham, and later gained an MA in Theatre and Film from the University of Sheffield. His early career included work as a football archivist and floor manager for Sky Sports, followed by administrative roles with theatre companies including Complicité.

Chibnall's television work includes writing episodes of *Life on Mars* (2006–07). He created and wrote the ITV crime drama *Broadchurch* (2013–17) and served as showrunner of *Doctor Who* (2018–22), having previously written five episodes of the series and acted as head writer on the first two series of *Torchwood* (2006–08). Other credits include *Born and Bred* (2002–05), *Law & Order: UK* (2009) and *The Great Train Robbery* (2013).

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, themoviedb.org.*

## On Fi1m (5)

- *Broadchurch* (2013), Fi1m 81, Creator, Writer — [page](https://film.one/tv/broadchurch.md)
- *The Great Train Robbery* (2013), Fi1m 73, Creator, Executive Producer, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-great-train-robbery-2013.md)
- *Life on Mars* (2006), Fi1m 84, Writer — [page](https://film.one/tv/life-on-mars.md)
- *Torchwood* (2006), Fi1m 73, Writer — [page](https://film.one/tv/torchwood.md)
- *Doctor Who* (2005), Fi1m 78, Writer — [page](https://film.one/tv/doctor-who-2005.md)

## Complete filmography (26)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Doctor Who Reboot* (2026), series, Thanks
- *Agatha Christie's Seven Dials* (2026), series, Executive Producer, Writer, Creator
- *Doctor Who: Legend of the Sea Devils* (2022), Writer
- *Doctor Who: Eve of the Daleks* (2022), Writer
- *Doctor Who: Revolution of the Daleks* (2021), Writer
- *Doctor Who: Resolution* (2019), Writer
- *Doctor Who: The Woman Who Fell to Earth* (2018), Executive Producer, Writer
- *Doctor Who: Friend from the Future* (2016), Writer
- *Malaterra* (2015), series, Original Story
- *Gracepoint* (2014), series, Executive Producer, Creator, Original Story
- *The Great Train Robbery* (2013), series, Screenplay, Executive Producer, Creator — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-great-train-robbery-2013.md)
- *Broadchurch* (2013), series, Writer, Creator — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/tv/broadchurch.md)
- *Doctor Who: P.S.* (2012), Writer
- *Doctor Who: Pond Life* (2012), Writer
- *Pond Life* (2012), series, Writer, Creator
- *Camelot* (2011), series, Writer, Creator
- *United* (2011), Writer, Co-Executive Producer
- *Law & Order: UK* (2009), series, Writer, Teleplay, Executive Producer
- *Trials and Tribulations* (2008), as (archive footage)
- *Spooks: Code 9* (2008), series, Writer
- *Torchwood* (2006), series, Writer — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/tv/torchwood.md)
- *Life on Mars* (2006), series, Writer — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/tv/life-on-mars.md)
- *Doctor Who* (2005), series, Writer, Executive Producer — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/tv/doctor-who-2005.md)
- *Born and Bred* (2002), series, Writer, Consulting Producer, Executive Producer, Creator
- *Stormin' Norman* (2000), Writer
- *Death at the White Hart*, series, Executive Producer, Writer, Novel, Creator

## Gallery

- ![Chris Chibnall](https://film.one/media/person/60852/gallery-cde867987579.jpg) Chris Chibnall — Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/Chris_Chibnall_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg/1280px-Chris_Chibnall_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Chris Chibnall speaking at the 2018 San Diego Comic Con International, for "Doctor Who", at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Please att](https://film.one/media/person/60852/gallery-03b3b1769b33.jpg) Chris Chibnall speaking at the 2018 San Diego Comic Con International, for "Doctor Who", at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Please att — Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/Chris_Chibnall_%2828712164137%29.jpg/1280px-Chris_Chibnall_%2828712164137%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Chris Chibnall speaking at the 2018 San Diego Comic Con International, for "Doctor Who", at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Please att](https://film.one/media/person/60852/gallery-78053d34f192.jpg) Chris Chibnall speaking at the 2018 San Diego Comic Con International, for "Doctor Who", at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Please att — Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/Chris_Chibnall_%2828712170337%29.jpg/1280px-Chris_Chibnall_%2828712170337%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Chris Chibnall speaking at the 2018 San Diego Comic Con International, for "Doctor Who", at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Please att](https://film.one/media/person/60852/gallery-3f44bc566d8b.jpg) Chris Chibnall speaking at the 2018 San Diego Comic Con International, for "Doctor Who", at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Please att — Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/Chris_Chibnall_%2841791577090%29.jpg/1280px-Chris_Chibnall_%2841791577090%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Chris Chibnall](https://film.one/media/person/60852/gallery-344cd0cca927.jpg) Chris Chibnall — Image via TMDB
- ![Chris Chibnall speaking at the 2018 San Diego Comic Con International, for "Doctor Who", at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Please att](https://film.one/media/person/60852/gallery-67e2b4df8ee5.jpg) Chris Chibnall speaking at the 2018 San Diego Comic Con International, for "Doctor Who", at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Please att — Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/Chris_Chibnall_%2842881756184%29.jpg/1280px-Chris_Chibnall_%2842881756184%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Chris Chibnall speaking at the 2018 San Diego Comic Con International, for "Doctor Who", at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Please att](https://film.one/media/person/60852/gallery-eeaaa36783e4.jpg) Chris Chibnall speaking at the 2018 San Diego Comic Con International, for "Doctor Who", at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Please att — Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a2/Chris_Chibnall_%2842881937394%29.jpg/1280px-Chris_Chibnall_%2842881937394%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/chris-chibnall