Russell was born in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, UK and currently divides his time between his home in Brockley, South East London, and Cardiff Bay. His on-screen acting career ranged from leading roles in the BBC's adaptation of E. Nesbit's novel The Phoenix and the Carpet and ITV's adaptations of Enid Blyton's Famous Five novels (as Dick) to a very minor walk-on part in the James Bond movie Octopussy. He has also appeared on stage.He was editor of Doctor Who Magazine between 1992 and 1995. He was the producer for the Doctor Who licensed audio drama tie-ins at Big Finish Productions from its inception in 1998 until July 2006, when he stepped down to work for BBC Wales on Doctor Who and Torchwood. He has written a number of Doctor Who spin-off novels and in 2000 co-wrote with executive producer Philip Segal the book Doctor Who: Regeneration (HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-710591-6), the making-of book of the 1996 Doctor Who television movie, as well as the TV movie's novelisation in 1996.

He wrote The Art of The Lord of the Rings, which was also published as three separate books (one for each film), and contributed to Gollum: How We Made Movie Magic with Andy Serkis. His behind-the-scenes book Doctor Who: The Inside Story was published in October 2006, coinciding with his joining the Doctor Who production team. His most recent reference work was also for Doctor Who; published in 2007 by BBC Books, The Doctor Who Encyclopedia is a guide to the current Doctor Who series (2005 - present). In 2007 he directed the animated mini series The Infinite Quest which tied in with the 2007 television series of Doctor Who.

Comics

• Doctor Who (in Doctor Who Magazine #173, 235-237, 1991, 1996, and in Radio Times issues dated 1 June 1996–2 March 1997)

IDW Doctor Who comic book

At the 2007 San Diego Comic Con, IDW Publishing announced their intention to publish a new series of Doctor Who comics, which will follow the adventures of the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones. The first six issues of this series, later collected as Agent Provocateur, were scripted by Russell and published in early 2008. The next run was handled by Tony Lee, as Russell has informally retired from writing original Doctor Who fiction for the rest of his duration at BBC Wales.

Novels

• Virgin New Adventures:
• Legacy
• Deadfall

• Virgin Missing Adventures:
• Invasion of the Cat-People
• The Scales of Injustice

• Eighth Doctor Adventures:
• Placebo Effect

• Past Doctor Adventures:
• Business Unusual
• Divided Loyalties
• Instruments of Darkness
• Spiral Scratch

• New Series Adventures:
• Beautiful Chaos
• The Glamour Chase

• Torchwood:
• The Twilight Streets