As Doctor Who returns for a fourth series writer Russell T Davies tells Andrew Pettie about the Doctor's new companion played by Catherine Tate, and what his favourite monster is...One of the few underwhelming things about Russell T Davies is that the ‘T’ in his name doesn’t stand for anything. Davies inserted it early in his career to distinguish himself from the Radio 2 presenter Russell Davies. Now, though, he prefers to use it as the excuse for a series of preposterous fibs. ‘I always make stories up about what the T stands for,’ he says. ‘Like “The” or “Tussle”. That’s my favourite one: Russell Tussle Davies. Though I actually hate the T. It always looks strange to me.’
These days, as the writer and executive producer of the regenerated Doctor Who, which returns for a fourth series on Saturday, Davies is famous enough to discard it. Unlike most television writers, he is regularly recognised in the street. ‘It happens all the time, especially in Cardiff [where Doctor Who and its sister show Torchwood are filmed],’ he says. ‘Kids walk up and start talking to you. I think it’s nice that children realise that somebody like a writer even exists on a TV drama, because I don’t think I did at that age. Also, whereas adults might complain about a character they didn’t like or tell you who they want to see as the next companion, children ask you what’s your favourite monster and why – which is much more fun.’
Davies’s favourite monsters, in case your children have yet to ask him, are the Daleks. He has one in his front hall. ‘I love Daleks,’ he says. ‘I think they’re brilliant. That’s why I insisted that we shouldn’t change the design. They still work after 45 years – Daleks are a design classic. I honestly think they’re iconically beautiful.’
Although Davies is anxious to preserve some of Doctor Who’s cherished traditions, he also feels compelled to reinvent it. For the fourth series, the Doctor (David Tennant) will have a new companion, Donna Noble (Catherine Tate), who previously appeared in the 2006 Christmas special, The Runaway Bride. ‘There’s a danger that we could settle into a rut,’ Davies explains. ‘That’s why we’ve started each series with a new set of lead actors. It reinvigorates the show. I love the fact that Donna’s a little bit older than the Doctor, and that she’s not in love with him, as our other companions have each been to some extent. He needs a challenge.’ That’s not to say Donna’s predecessor Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) has been airbrushed from history. As well as appearing in Torchwood, Agyeman will return in episodes four and five of the new series of Doctor Who.
Other special guests include Sarah Lancashire, Alex Kingston and Felicity Kendal, who Davies says stars in an ‘Agatha Christie-style murder mystery. She plays Lady Edison, the lady of the house with secrets to keep…’ Davies sounds most excited, however, about episode two, which is set in Pompeii. Any of the 13million viewers who saw last year’s Christmas episode, in which a space ship named The Titanic almost crashed into Buckingham Palace, will expect the spectacular. ‘The Pompeii episode is so ambitious,’ Davies says, ‘that we had a script that was easier to film standing by, in case someone turned round and said, “This is impossible.” The whole thing was terrifying, and a nightmare to film, but that’s what makes it good in the end. It’s a glorious episode.’
Davies, who seems almost alarmingly enthusiastic about Doctor Who, sounds as if he could go on making it forever. He has already written this year’s Christmas special (‘It’s set in the Victorian era. So expect plum pudding, death and disaster’). But after a hiatus in 2009, when there will only be two one-off specials, Davies will step aside for a new executive producer, Piers Wenger, to oversee series five, which is scheduled to air in 2010. Davies, a perfectionist, doesn’t strike you as someone who will find it easy letting go. But he insists he’ll cope. ‘The day I leave Doctor Who I will just walk away,’ he says. ‘I would never want to hang on as a ghost of what I was. I would be a nightmare! I’d be that voice at the back of the set going, “Oh, I wouldn’t do it that way.”’
Davies already has plans for what he’ll write next. He’s keeping his ideas to himself (‘In case someone steals them’) but the writer of Channel 4’s groundbreaking gay drama Queer as Folk says he’s eager to return to similarly grown-up themes. ‘I’d love to do another nine o’clock drama,’ he says. ‘There’s a whole world of drama and emotion and honesty that has no place in Doctor Who. I once got very, very stuck writing an episode of Doctor Who and on that night I watched Peter Morgan’s Longford. I’m dying to do something that risky, that real. It was just so brilliant and there I was writing about the interior of a space ship. I thought, “What am I doing with my life?” Luckily, though,’ he beams, ‘the space ship was fantastic.’
