Born: 1965 (as Charles E Palmer)
Episodes Broadcast: 2007, 2017

Charles Palmer was born in Amersham, Buckinghamshire. He was the son of Geoffrey Palmer, a well-respected actor whose career included three Doctor Who appearances starting with 1970's The Silurians. In the early Nineties, the younger Palmer began to forge a career in television himself, although he charted a different path from his father. He initially worked as a member of the camera crew, graduating from clapper loader to focus puller to camera operator. Meanwhile, a rare on-screen appearance came in the title sequence of the sitcom As Time Goes By, where his photograph was used to represent a youthful version of the character played by the elder Palmer. While working on A Dance To The Music of Time in 1997, he became romantically linked with Claire Skinner, who would later co-star as Madge Arwell in the 2011 Doctor Who Christmas special, The Doctor, The Widow And The Wardrobe. They had a son, William, in 1999. After Palmer and Skinner married in 2001, their family grew to include a second son named Thomas, born in 2002.

Palmer was soon earning credits on notable films, such as 2002's acclaimed Bend It Like Beckham. But his ambition was to direct, and his first project in this capacity was a short film called The Magic Of Vincent in 2000. The following year, he moved into television with episodes of Linda Green and Night & Day. It wasn't long before Palmer was directing full-time, including programmes such as Agatha Christie's Marple, The Ghost Squad, and Vital Signs, which he had also helped to develop. In 2007, he directed four Doctor Who episodes for David Tennant's Tenth Doctor. Amongst them were Smith And Jones, which introduced new companion Martha Jones, and the celebrated Human Nature / The Family Of Blood, in which the Doctor temporarily became human. He wrapped up the decade with work on Lark Rise To Candleford and Poirot.

During the 2010s, Palmer's credits came on shows like Death In Paradise, Doc Martin, Poldark and Silent Witness. He and Skinner divorced in 2015. In 2017, Palmer returned to Doctor Who for two episodes starring Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor, including the pulse-pounding Oxygen which saw the Doctor suffer a traumatic injury. During the Twenties, Palmer moved into producing with the fourth season of Agatha Raisin.