WRITER Russell T Davies has revealed that one of his main aims when reviving Doctor Who was to create a weekly “event” for the whole family.
Despite the fact that episodes of the cult sci-fi show may feature the infamous Daleks and much gore, the Welshman was keen to resurrect the Time Lord after generations of children missed out on his adventures.
The fourth series penned by Davies starts on Saturday when David Tennant, in the title role, is reunited with TV funny woman Catherine Tate, who appeared in the Christmas Day 2006 episode.
She is one of a handful of big names, including ER actress Alex Kingston, Felicity Kendal and Sarah Lancashire, who Davies has introduced in a bid to make the show “bigger and blowsier”.
The series was revived by BBC Wales in 2005 and it is stars like Tate and Kylie Minogue, who appeared in the last festive episode, who are helping pull in younger audiences.
“We knew there were lots of people who’d not seen it before. We were writing for them, really,” says Davies on bringing back Doctor Who after 16 years.
“All the elements of the show were there, the Tardis, the sonic screwdriver, but it was a clean start,” he says. “The dread was that mum and dad would sit down and watch the show, but the kids wouldn’t because, let’s face it, you don’t want to do what your parents do when you’re a kid, and anything they watch is automatically bad.
“That was a very big worry at first, but I think it was a cynical view of families. It turns out kids love sitting with their mums and dads to watch TV, especially ‘event’ television like X Factor finals and things like that.
“I just knew if we could create that sense of event every week we’d stand a chance of being successful and getting an audience. And I was right,” he says.
And it is not just families which Doctor Who is appealing too – it seems famous names are also queuing up to appear in the show.
After starring in the Christmas 2006 special, The Runaway Bride, Tate loved the show so much that she wanted to commit to a full run of the programme.
“We had no idea Catherine was going to come back to us, none at all,” says Davies, whose other credits include writing award-winning series Queer As Folk and creating hit Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood.
“We couldn’t believe we got her for the special really, she’s so in-demand. And not just that, Catherine generates her own stuff, she’s a writer too, so she’s always busy.
“It came about after Catherine had a meeting with Jane Tranter, BBC Head of Fiction. Jane rang me and said Catherine had gone on and on about Doctor Who and how much she’d enjoyed the special. Jane said, ‘I might be mad, but if you ask her to do the series, I think she’ll say yes.’
“I thought it was ridiculous, but my colleague Julie [Gardner, BBC Wales’ head of drama] jumped on a train to go and meet with Catherine two days later. I didn’t go because I was busy saying, ‘Don’t be ridiculous, we’ll never get her’.
“But Julie went and Catherine agreed to a whole series and cancelled all her plans there and then! She moved to Cardiff for nine months to film as well, which is some commitment.”
And Davies is delighted to have secured the star, who has won critical acclaim for her sketch series The Catherine Tate Show.
“She’s absolutely fantastic,” he says. “That’s why we wanted to bring Donna back and why I wanted to write more for her.
“Obviously Catherine can do comedy with her eyes shut, and there’s a lot of comedy in Doctor Who, but when she hits the tragedy – and there’s a lot of tragedy for her character in this series – Catherine gives the most stunning performance.
“Seriously, when I pack my bags on Doctor Who, I am knocking on Catherine’s door and asking what we’re doing next. She’s brilliant.” Davies also heaps praise on Scottish actor Tennant – the second Doctor Who he has worked with.
“There’s a danger we don’t talk about David often enough. He’s so powerful, and brave, and scintillating as The Doctor, there’s almost a danger of him blinding everything else. That’s why we have to have an equal aboard the Tardis in the companion. Suddenly it becomes a different dynamic and we see
David upping his game to compete with Catherine. It’s amazing.”
But Davies admits that when it comes to guest stars, it can be difficult writing scenes for them.
“You can’t really write with a guest star in mind – well only in very exceptional cases.
“Kylie Minogue was one, and Catherine Tate’s first appearance another, where we booked them up well in advance,” Davies tells the Radio Times.
“But normally, it’s not possible because you only really start on an episode six weeks before you film it, so you never know whether someone’s going to be free.
“There’s a great danger in writing for someone and then they get offered a film, or they just don’t fancy it. So it’s dangerous territory to enter.
“If anything, we’ve tried to make the casting bigger because we’ve tried to make it a bigger and blowsier show.”
Davies is also keen to recruit the cream of the crop.
“You’ve just got to cast well. When you have David Tennant in the leading role, you can’t surround him with rubbish. You owe it to him to give him a cast that will excite him.”
One thing Davies won’t give away is storylines but he says there’s a lot to look forward to during the 13-episode run, including more in the way of darker material for Tennant as well as some comedy moments.
“I can say monster race the Ood are back, and they look fantastic, plus there are various other surprises, with everything building toward the most staggering climax you will ever see!”
A Guide To Season 4 of Doctor Who [SPOILER ALERT]
Episode 1: Partners in Crime (guest star: Sarah Lancashire)
Set in modern-day London where a brand new diet pill is being tested by the mysterious Adipose Industries. The Doctor starts investigating when there are unexplained deaths and strange creatures in the shadows – but an old friend of his is also on the case.
Episode 2: The Fires Of Pompeii (guest stars: Phil Davis, Peter Capaldi and Sasha Behar)
Set in Pompeii AD79 where psychic powers are running rampant, a secretive Sisterhood conceals a horrifying High Priestess and beneath the ground, vast creatures are stirring. Donna challenges the Time Lord like no one has ever done before.
Episode 3: Planet Of The Ood (guest star: Tim McInnerny)
It’s Donna’s first visit to an alien world but, on the icescapes of a distant planet, the greatest danger might be from the human race itself.
Episode 4: The Sontaran Stratagem and Episode 5: The Poison Sky (guest star: Christopher Ryan)
Freema Agyeman returns as Martha Jones who is back home again in her new job as medical officer for a worldwide army dedicated to fighting alien menaces. But the menace is bigger than ever.
Episode 6: The Doctor’s Daughter (guest stars: Georgia Moffett and Nigel Terry)
David Tennant takes the Doctor into new territory with what is described as his “most spellbinding performance yet”.
Episode 7: The Unicorn And The Wasp (guest stars Felicity Kendal and Fenella Woolgar)
A classic murder mystery with a country house, vintage cars, a flapper, a vicar, a body in the library – and the disappearance of Agatha Christie.
Episode 8: Silence In The Library and Episode 9: River’s Run (guest stars Alex Kingston and Colin Salmon)
Two episodes of terror with an abandoned library, moving shadows, the gruesome Nodes and the horrifying Data Ghost.
Episode 10: Midnight (guest stars: Lesley Sharp, Lindsey Coulson, David Troughton)
Midnight is a planet leisure world with golden spas, diamond landscapes and anti-gravity restaurants. For once the Doctor’s left powerless and terrified as the knocking on the wall begins...
Episode 11: Turn Left (guest star: Chipo Chung)
The strands of Donna’s story begin to draw to a terrible climax as she finds her life, her family, her entire world being devastated. Only one person can help – and it’s not the Doctor.
Episode 12: Untitled and Episode 13: Journey’s End (guest star: Sarah Lancashire)
The finale is a double bill but the title of episode 12 is remaining under wraps so it doesn’t give the game away. But there’s a threat on an epic scale as an ancient enemy is resurrected and the whole universe is thrown into danger.
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And it is on iPlayer, if you can get that in the states.