Russell T. Davies made his name in television as the writer and creator of the groundbreaking BBC series Queer As Folk, but by far his biggest success has been the revival of Doctor Who, the venerable British science-fiction show following the adventures of the peripatetic time-traveling alien known only as The Doctor. An institution in Britain and a cult success in the States, Doctor Who fell into relative obscurity after its 1989 cancellation, becoming (perhaps rightly) viewed with a certain embarrassment for its cheap production values and shoddy storytelling. Davies brought a new energy and a modern look and feel to the show, which has become a full-fledged hit for the BBC. After shepherding the program through five seasons, a change of lead actors (from Christopher Eccleston to David Tennant), and the spin-offs Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures, Davies recently announced that he would be leaving the show, handing over the reins to incoming producer Steven Moffat at the same time that The Doctor will regenerate again, with Tennant replaced by new actor Matt Smith. Davies will preside over four more Doctor Who specials through 2009. The next, Planet Of The Dead, premières on BBC America on July 26. Davies recently took a break from editing his Doctor Who finale to talk to The A.V. Club about endings, new beginnings, and the right way to bring a time traveler into the 21st century.

The A.V. Club: Before 2005, a Doctor Who revival wasn’t a sure thing; the show struggled in the ’80s before being cancelled, and the American attempt to revive it in 1996 was a bust. What qualities did you think the show would need in order to be successful?

Russell T. Davies: I think it simply needed to look like a show made in the year 2005. It should not look like a retro piece, a nostalgic reinvention. I sort of thought it should be “If the program had never gone off the air, what would it look like now?” Because I’d always loved it; I didn’t think there was any problem with the format. As an old fan of the show, I loved those things, and wasn’t setting out to change it. You just had to make it look like it was part of the modern world, and had to make it appeal to children again, because… It’s not quite the same in America, I know. But over here, there was a 46-year tradition of—not being a children’s show, but appealing to children constantly. I just had to keep all that intact, really. Trust the program and not wander off the brief.

AVC: Did you have other shows in mind as models for what you wanted to do?

RTD: Well, every well-written show, really. I mean, I loved what Joss Whedon did with Buffy The Vampire Slayer, obviously. Particularly, I love The West Wing. I loved all sorts of modern dramas in Britain, this drama called Shameless written by Paul Abbott that’s got a ferocious energy to it. To be honest, my own shows, too. I have a long history of inventing my own shows for British television. It’s the first time I’ve gone to someone else’s property and revived it. And I have to feel, whether it’s arrogant or not, that when the BBC came to me, they wanted me to write it like I write my shows, in the voice of the writer of Queer As Folk and The Second Coming and the other dramas I’ve done. So I had to have the nerve and the confidence to write it in my tone of voice. That was the important thing. And for once, it worked. [Laughs.] It doesn’t always.

You can read more at the Source

Comments (0) »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.