Throughout most people’s childhoods, there is a longing at some point to emulate a superhero of some kind. Whether it’s James Bond or The Doctor, this imaginative world often maintains children’s innocence for decades. Born in 1971, writer and author Steve Cole grew up with a fascination of action movies and storytelling but his first love was Doctor Who. This was the era of Tom Baker’s eccentric version of the Fourth Doctor with his trademark elongated multicoloured scarf and outlandish outfits. For a young Steve Cole, this was an important part of his cultural awakening and unbeknownst to him, would in part, influence his own career. Graduating from the University of East Anglia with a first class honours degree in English and film studies, he had no real plan for his career. When offered work experience at BBC Radio Bedfordshire, Steve accepted and was promptly offered a position as a broadcaster. Climbing the ranks at the local radio station proved vital grounding for the future wordsmith, working alongside Blue Peter’s Simon Groom. Yet another opportunity would arise and take his career in a new direction.
In 1993 Steve secured the role as junior assistant editor for BBC Children’s magazines and quickly identified with the targeted demographic. Blessed with an excitable, creative mind that has the potential to tap into a variety of topics, he found it easy to create a world which children would enjoy. He knew what was important to them and understood what would keep their interest. This talent was rewarded in 1997 when he was chosen to revive the Doctor Who series for an audio series for the BBC. As a lifelong “Whovian”, this was a dream come true and to put his own stamp on such a beloved franchise was one of the highlights of his career. This was eight years into the show’s sixteen year hiatus and the movie that had been released the same year hadn’t enjoyed the same success as the original TV show. Therefore this felt a significant gamble but one that would ultimately pay off and become one of the many highlights of his career.
As a writer, Steve is fascinated by the lives of characters both before and after we encounter them. In 2013 he was selected to take the mantle from the writer and comedian Charlie Higson as the writer of the 6th novel inThe Young Bond series. This offered him the unique opportunity to explore the legendary character in a totally different way. The astonishing thing about James Bond is that despite a formidable franchise, we know very little about his early life and this was something that enthralled him. For this, Steve was allowed to create a whole backstory of one of the most iconic characters in cinema and explore how he became 007. As an audience, we opt into a suspended reality that our secret agent protagonist has been middle aged for the past sixty years, devoid of the effects of the inevitable fullness of time. However, in creating The Young Bond, Steve put some context to the story of James Bond which arguably allows fans to view this iconic character in a different way.
Yet arguably, Cole’s greatest contribution to popular culture came in 2005 when he published the first volume of the Astrosaurs series. A portmanteau of astronauts and dinosaurs: two concepts that never fail to amaze children, Steve brought the same passion for storytelling to create an exciting and engaging story that would entertain both children and adults. To date, there has been a total of twenty two volumes, making it one of the most successful literary franchises in the modern era. It was a pleasure to welcome the great Steve Cole to Beyond The Title and it’s exciting to see what’s next for him.
Beyond The Title