 At this time Shearman was also encouraged to become a director for the theatre, largely reviving productions of his work abroad; in the 1990s he had a recurring engagement with the Teatro Agora in Rome, and, in 2007, the revival he directed of his comedy "Shaw Cornered", was the stand-out hit as international guest at the Old World Theatre Festival in Delhi.His association with "Doctor Who" began with a play written for BBV Audios, "Punchline", in which Sylvester McCoy played the Dominie, a disguised version of the Seventh Doctor.This was penned under the pseudonym "Jeremy Leadbetter" (the name of a character from the popular BBC sitcom "The Good Life").