“Doctor Who is mad, exciting and bold. We can do anything and travel to anywhere and that’s why it’s the best show ever made.” ~ Tony Redston, 2003
With, Doctor Who: Revelation on the horizon, Producer, Tony Redston looks back on his time on the show…
TONY REDSTON Interview
Interview by BENJAMIN COOK
It’s the early evening of 17th May 2006, and outside a café in Cardiff Bay, a group of normal people are sitting having a drink, chatting about Doctor Who. Nothing too unusual about that. However these people include Doctor Who Producer Tony Redston, Script Editor Paul Cornell, Executive Producer Ira Steven Behr as well as myself and fan and former writer of Doctor Who Clayton Hickman who also happens to be editor of this very magazine.
Half an hour ago, today’s filming concluded on Doctor Who: Revelation and tomorrow’s scenes are set to be recorded for both Doctor Who: Revelation and the final episode of Season 43 which you will have seen many months ago, by the time this interview is published. It’s also daunting as in less than two months time, the cameras will capture Anthony Head’s final scenes during the last block of principal photography for Doctor Who: Revelation. The Eleventh Doctor’s era will be over. Not only that but the Tony Redston era will be over. There is still the small matter of the new Doctor which Tony is keeping ‘top secret’ as once again no one will know until they see it in the cinema. Right now, it seems only me and Clayton don’t know who the new Doctor is as we look over the smug faces of the other three men looking over at us.
Earlier this afternoon, when Tony agreed to do this interview, this wasn’t exactly what he had in mind.
“Shall we do it in the Panopticon?” Tony suggests. Tony is of course talking about the brand new Panopticon built for Season 42’s Everlasting War and used from then on. The Panopticon has been a standing set since Doctor Who: The Movie and with the Redston era coming to a close, one would think that it would be pulled down soon. However Tony says that it won’t be pulled down as they have something in the works that may require the Panopticon. More Gallifrey stories in Season 44 and beyond? A Gallifrey spin-off, perhaps? I ask, yet get no response.
As it turns out, the Panopticon isn’t particularly good for conducting interviews as when we arrived we were greeted with the stern face of, director, Graeme Harper, who told us that a pivotal scene was about to be recorded. Tony offered to let me watch and as a fan, I could hardly refuse. The interview could wait until later.
Now outside that café in Cardiff Bay, a couple of hours later, I ask Tony how he feels now that his time on Doctor Who is coming to an end. Back in issue 337 he told us of hints of what was to come in his era. We knew that the Doctor would be President with the Rogue and the Rani at his side guided by the mysterious Keeper but not much else.
“Yes, simpler times. Doctor Who has been a wonderful journey for me. From working on the Mark of the Rani back in 1984, I think, to Doctor Who: Revelation in 2007, it’s been one hell of a journey. Yes, there was a gap of sixteen years, I think, but, yeah, it’s been wonderful,” he tells me.
Was your intent always to do Doctor Who: Revelation as well or did you just want to do the television series, I ask him.
“How could I do the television series and not do a movie?” he exclaims, “the truth is, as great as Gary [Russell, incoming producer] is, I wanted to be the one to send Anthony [Head, the Doctor] off.”
Gary Russell, unlike Tony, is not a consulting producer on Doctor Who: Revelation as Tony was on Doctor Who: the Movie.
“We asked Gary, however he wanted to focus on his era of Doctor Who and he said honestly that he didn’t care how we ended it. He did have one or to suggestions about things he wants to set up and we were more than happy to include them.”
As we chat, it’s been three months since the transmission of the spin-off, mini-series, Rebel Zero. It’s fair to say that the series, as a whole, went down very well and help explain to a lot of viewers the backstory of the mind-blowing events of Season 42. Viewers have loved Ace, played by the brilliant Sophie Aldred with Fen Do’nel and Francs performing terrible deeds for the good.
“Well the idea behind Rebel Zero was to act as a prequel to the final two episodes of Season 42,” he remarks, “the intention was to always do Rebel Zero and Season 42 was made with it in mind and naturally production went straight from Doctor Who to Rebel Zero.”
And, what of the bold decision to make Ace a terrorist? Some fans have expressed concern at this revelation and were not too happy with it in the finale of Season 42.
“Have you seen Dragonfire or Season 25?” Tony laughs, “Ace is always there with her Nitro-Nine ready to blow up what ever comes her way. She beats up a Dalek with a baseball bat for goodness sake. Her being brainwashed into being a terrorist isn’t much of a stretch.”
At the end of On the Eve of War, Here I Stand, the final episode of Rebel Zero, the Master [played by Geoffrey Bayldon] appears to save Ace, Francs and Fen Do’nel and takes with him and then at the end of Auribus Teneo Lupum, the finale of Season 42. Francs was revealed to be the Master’s side.
“The inclusion of the Master was because we wanted to have a proper villain in Season 43 and who better to have than the Master. After the Daleks and the Cybermen, he is probably the most well-known Doctor Who villain,” Tony remarks, “We loved Geoffrey so much in Leftover last year that we just had to get him on the main show.”
Geoffrey Bayldon previously appeared as the Master in Leftover Series Four in the episodes the Future’s Truth and Mastermind, Parts I and II. Geoffrey’s Master was controversially introduced as a future incarnation of the Doctor in the Future’s Truth only to be revealed that he was actually the Master.
“That was Ira [Steven Behr, Executive Producer] who came up with the Master returning for Leftover and originally that was all it was supposed to be. The Master was supposed to be the main villain of Leftover going into Series Five, however as you know Paramount decided that Leftover’s time was up,” explains Tony, “It would’ve been a missed opportunity not to use the character especially as we were on Gallifrey.”
A lot of people have criticised Tony’s Who in the past due to the sheer amount of continuity references in the series as supposed to previous eras.
“I won’t deny that I embrace continuity,” admits Tony, “and yes, some people don’t like that, some people don’t like the show being set on Gallifrey, and I get that but we decided the show would be set on Gallifrey and stay in one place and with that consequences happen. The Doctor can’t just move on the next week to another time and another place. Stories from one to another affect each other and if that means that something that happened in 1976 effects 2006 Doctor Who then it does.”
Let’s turn our attention to Revelation. Earlier today, down on set, we were watching the Eleventh Doctor, Anthony Head, perform a scene in the Panopticon, as you know, which takes place towards the end of the film. But lets talk about Anthony Head’s Doctor and the journey we have seen him be on since the Movie through Season 41 and through Season 42 and into Season 43.
“The planned journey for Anthony Head’s Doctor, always has been a journey from being reluctantly President of Gallifrey to embracing that position to leaving Gallifrey in a safe and stable state as well as getting over the events of the Movie and the death of Sandra Armstrong. Anthony’s Doctor is the Doctor that can’t move on which is exemplified by the fact that he is stuck in one location. He’s always moving but going nowhere and his journey is from going nowhere to going somewhere.”
I suppose that the Keeper’s death played a big part in that as the Keeper was the reason that the Doctor was stuck on Gallifrey. How likely do you think, after the Keeper’s death, would it had been if the Doctor just got in the TARDIS and left Gallifrey?
“The Doctor never wanted to be President in the first place but he got attached,” he explains, “the Doctor is a compassionate old man who believes in kindness and he wouldn’t abandon Gallifrey at such a turbulent time. That just isn’t who the Doctor is. Yes, he’d rather not be there but he has started something and now he has got to end it and he can’t just run away. It’s more about responsibility than anything and us killing the Keeper and keeping the Doctor on Gallifrey shows that he is responsible but also lets him feel free as he could just leave whenever he wants.”
In Tony’s first Doctor Who story in recent years, Doctor Who: the Movie, the Doctor met six of his younger selves. So I’m curious… what would Tony Redston say if he could meet his younger self? Let’s say a version of himself from early 2003, when he first excepted the position of Doctor Who Producer.
“I was actually talking about this with Gary [Russell] recently actually,” he considers. “The truth is really, don’t p**** off Steven Moffat!” he jokes. Steven Moffat was Script Editor of Doctor Who between Season 35 and Season 38 with Chris Sanderman as Producer however Steven has been in recent years very critical of Tony’s Who. Speaking in DWM 340, Steven tells us: “I’d chuck out all gratuitous continuity because it’s dull – and all that yawn-inducing Gallifrey rubbish with it. I don’t care where the Doctor came from or why he travels the universe – I just want him out of those TARDIS doors and having adventures.” So why did you invite Steven to write for the show in Season 42.
“To prove him wrong,” Tony states bluntly, “He did some wonderful things on the show, I won’t deny and Blink is one of my all-time favourite episodes but he didn’t get my Doctor Who. Maybe because he didn’t like it or maybe because he didn’t like Gallifrey or whatever but it didn’t work. I wanted to prove Steven wrong, I wanted to give him a fascinating human story about the Doctor and the Keeper’s relationship, which he wrote brilliantly, but he, through that process, complained about it being set on Gallifrey and kept banging on about how brilliant an idea he has for the Doctor in World War Two is. It didn’t work, it just didn’t and you can see how different our two Who’s are.”
Some would describe Steven’s outspokenness about Tony’s Who rude but Steven said earlier this year in DWM 371 “I am just expressing the views of fans who just long and yearn for the Doctor to return to outer-space and explore the universe in the TARDIS.”
“The thing is,” explains Tony, “is that Doctor Who is a show that is constantly changing and evolving and we go through different eras. My era is the one that stayed in one place… but no, this isn’t the first time that this has happened. In the early ‘70s, the Doctor was stuck on Earth, so why should it make a difference if it were on Gallifrey.”
Between 1970 and 1972, Jon Pertwee spent three series on Earth almost solidly with an ensemble cast including: the Brigadier, Sgt. Benton, Captain Yates and of course Liz Shaw and later Jo Grant. And then even in his final two years and in some later stories, UNIT adventures continued with these same characters. So is the Redston era much different from the Letts era?
“In concept it is the same idea. The truth is Doctor Who was getting a tad stale by the end of Chris’ era and for the good of the show we needed to change it up a bit. The thing is I would have loved to do Doctor Who with Anthony Head and some dashing young assistant roaming the universe but when I took over, I knew that we needed something different – some energy. We’d already done Earth with Jon Pertwee and we wanted to have a shot at serialisation so it was mutually agreed between me, Ira [Steven Behr], Julie [Gardner], Russell [T Davies] and Stephen [Garwood] that we would set Season 41, at least, on Gallifrey.”
You made an interesting point out serialisation. What exactly drew you to taking that route?
“Well, when we were making the first rough plans for Season 41 in 2003 (isn’t that a long time ago), we drew on three main influences: Ronald D. Moore’s Battlestar Galactica mini-series; Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. All three of these used serialisation in significant ways and to keep Doctor Who new and fresh, we felt we needed to use it.”
Ira Steven Behr, who was the show-runner of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, of course, became an Executive Producer on Doctor Who in 2004 with Season 41 as well as Ronald D. Moore becoming a recurring writer for the show in recent years. Did these influences have anything to do with it?
“Most certainly,” he exclaims, “Ronald was, of course, already signed up to be a writer for Season 40 and I was delighted. I phoned up Russell straight away when I found out trying to find out as much information about his story as possible. Naturally, when it came Season 41, I was the first to ask Ronald to become a Staff Writer for us and help as craft the Season and it has worked tremendously.”
“As for Ira,” he explains, “Paramount were already keen to get one of their lot on the show, quite rightfully as they own half of it, and they gave me a choice of some of the people that they thought would be good on Doctor Who and Ira was on that list. As soon as I saw that, a plan formulated in my head and whatever happened, we had to get Ira in. And you know what, he has been brilliant. He has been better than me, truly, and I am so glad that him, Ronald and Julie are staying on with Gary to face a bold new era.”
Obviously, for you first two seasons you worked with Russell T Davies as Script Editor, however for Season 43, you are working with Paul Cornell. How did this come about and how does it differ working with the two different writers?
“Well, Russell, was already there when I joined having, previously, done Seasons 39 and 40 with Chris and I was very much the new boy, Russell had a fantastic way of humanising space which he did with the Bellonsions expertly and that’s something that he was very keen to continue. Naturally, Russell would have preferred to do a few more Earth-y stories and he is brilliant at them. His first story [that he wrote, second broadcast] Damaged Goods, was a brilliant tale set in a contemporary housing estate and what Russell was able to do with Gallifrey was humanise it to make the Rogue, the Rani, Leela and the Outsiders like Presta feel just the same as characters like Winne Tyler in Damaged Goods but still give them a distinctly alien feel.”
Before taking up Doctor Who full time in 2001, Russell had great success with television series like Queer as Folk and Bob & Rose however with Doctor Who as a full time job, this type of television seems to have been somewhat neglected.
“That’s mainly why Russell left. He loved doing Doctor Who but he wanted to go back to doing that sort of thing. He never got to do a Queer as Folk 2 due to his commitments to Doctor Who as a writer and then as Script Editor, so that is something he said he’d really love to do.”
And what of Paul Cornell, how is he different to Russell?
“Well, Paul is great. I have loved working with him on Season 43 and Rebel Zero and he certainly gives Gallifrey a different flavour. Season 43 is much darker, as you’d expect with the Master controlling the President and the Doctor and the Rogue as fugitives. Paul has also done a fantastic job at wrapping up the series and has given characters the send-offs they really deserve.”
Paul is, of course, writing the screenplay for Doctor Who: Revelation with Robert Shearman [acclaimed writer since Season 40] can you give us any taste of how this combination came to be and the mood of the script.
“Well, Paul wrote the finale of Season 43 with Robert and we were blown away. Everyone sat there at the read-through was just delighted with it and Siobhan [Redmond, the Rani] was the funniest as she had not read the script in advanced so she was reacting to everything. Anyway, that script was just amazing and it is a lot of pressure to make Paul write a movie on his own so we asked Robert and he delightedly said ‘yes’ As for the mood of Revelation, the only word I can say to describe it is melancholy.”
Finally, Tony, what was your best memory producing Doctor Who?
“It would have to be when I was at the premier of Doctor Who: the Movie and I watched the audience gasp as they saw Richard E Grant turn into Anthony Head. It was delightful! After the screening, I had an all manner of journalists, celebrities, actors, writers, you name it, come up to me and say how happy they are that Anthony is the Doctor (or as the unenlightened muggles say, Doctor Who). It was a truly joyous experience and I hope that Gary experiences that same feeling in February when the Twelfth Doctor is first shown tot he world...”
Are you still not going to tell us who it is?
“I’m the producer of Doctor Who! Of course not!” DWM
Half an hour ago, today’s filming concluded on Doctor Who: Revelation and tomorrow’s scenes are set to be recorded for both Doctor Who: Revelation and the final episode of Season 43 which you will have seen many months ago, by the time this interview is published. It’s also daunting as in less than two months time, the cameras will capture Anthony Head’s final scenes during the last block of principal photography for Doctor Who: Revelation. The Eleventh Doctor’s era will be over. Not only that but the Tony Redston era will be over. There is still the small matter of the new Doctor which Tony is keeping ‘top secret’ as once again no one will know until they see it in the cinema. Right now, it seems only me and Clayton don’t know who the new Doctor is as we look over the smug faces of the other three men looking over at us.
Earlier this afternoon, when Tony agreed to do this interview, this wasn’t exactly what he had in mind.
“Shall we do it in the Panopticon?” Tony suggests. Tony is of course talking about the brand new Panopticon built for Season 42’s Everlasting War and used from then on. The Panopticon has been a standing set since Doctor Who: The Movie and with the Redston era coming to a close, one would think that it would be pulled down soon. However Tony says that it won’t be pulled down as they have something in the works that may require the Panopticon. More Gallifrey stories in Season 44 and beyond? A Gallifrey spin-off, perhaps? I ask, yet get no response.
As it turns out, the Panopticon isn’t particularly good for conducting interviews as when we arrived we were greeted with the stern face of, director, Graeme Harper, who told us that a pivotal scene was about to be recorded. Tony offered to let me watch and as a fan, I could hardly refuse. The interview could wait until later.
Now outside that café in Cardiff Bay, a couple of hours later, I ask Tony how he feels now that his time on Doctor Who is coming to an end. Back in issue 337 he told us of hints of what was to come in his era. We knew that the Doctor would be President with the Rogue and the Rani at his side guided by the mysterious Keeper but not much else.
“Yes, simpler times. Doctor Who has been a wonderful journey for me. From working on the Mark of the Rani back in 1984, I think, to Doctor Who: Revelation in 2007, it’s been one hell of a journey. Yes, there was a gap of sixteen years, I think, but, yeah, it’s been wonderful,” he tells me.
Was your intent always to do Doctor Who: Revelation as well or did you just want to do the television series, I ask him.
“How could I do the television series and not do a movie?” he exclaims, “the truth is, as great as Gary [Russell, incoming producer] is, I wanted to be the one to send Anthony [Head, the Doctor] off.”
Gary Russell, unlike Tony, is not a consulting producer on Doctor Who: Revelation as Tony was on Doctor Who: the Movie.
“We asked Gary, however he wanted to focus on his era of Doctor Who and he said honestly that he didn’t care how we ended it. He did have one or to suggestions about things he wants to set up and we were more than happy to include them.”
As we chat, it’s been three months since the transmission of the spin-off, mini-series, Rebel Zero. It’s fair to say that the series, as a whole, went down very well and help explain to a lot of viewers the backstory of the mind-blowing events of Season 42. Viewers have loved Ace, played by the brilliant Sophie Aldred with Fen Do’nel and Francs performing terrible deeds for the good.
“Well the idea behind Rebel Zero was to act as a prequel to the final two episodes of Season 42,” he remarks, “the intention was to always do Rebel Zero and Season 42 was made with it in mind and naturally production went straight from Doctor Who to Rebel Zero.”
And, what of the bold decision to make Ace a terrorist? Some fans have expressed concern at this revelation and were not too happy with it in the finale of Season 42.
“Have you seen Dragonfire or Season 25?” Tony laughs, “Ace is always there with her Nitro-Nine ready to blow up what ever comes her way. She beats up a Dalek with a baseball bat for goodness sake. Her being brainwashed into being a terrorist isn’t much of a stretch.”
At the end of On the Eve of War, Here I Stand, the final episode of Rebel Zero, the Master [played by Geoffrey Bayldon] appears to save Ace, Francs and Fen Do’nel and takes with him and then at the end of Auribus Teneo Lupum, the finale of Season 42. Francs was revealed to be the Master’s side.
“The inclusion of the Master was because we wanted to have a proper villain in Season 43 and who better to have than the Master. After the Daleks and the Cybermen, he is probably the most well-known Doctor Who villain,” Tony remarks, “We loved Geoffrey so much in Leftover last year that we just had to get him on the main show.”
Geoffrey Bayldon previously appeared as the Master in Leftover Series Four in the episodes the Future’s Truth and Mastermind, Parts I and II. Geoffrey’s Master was controversially introduced as a future incarnation of the Doctor in the Future’s Truth only to be revealed that he was actually the Master.
“That was Ira [Steven Behr, Executive Producer] who came up with the Master returning for Leftover and originally that was all it was supposed to be. The Master was supposed to be the main villain of Leftover going into Series Five, however as you know Paramount decided that Leftover’s time was up,” explains Tony, “It would’ve been a missed opportunity not to use the character especially as we were on Gallifrey.”
A lot of people have criticised Tony’s Who in the past due to the sheer amount of continuity references in the series as supposed to previous eras.
“I won’t deny that I embrace continuity,” admits Tony, “and yes, some people don’t like that, some people don’t like the show being set on Gallifrey, and I get that but we decided the show would be set on Gallifrey and stay in one place and with that consequences happen. The Doctor can’t just move on the next week to another time and another place. Stories from one to another affect each other and if that means that something that happened in 1976 effects 2006 Doctor Who then it does.”
Let’s turn our attention to Revelation. Earlier today, down on set, we were watching the Eleventh Doctor, Anthony Head, perform a scene in the Panopticon, as you know, which takes place towards the end of the film. But lets talk about Anthony Head’s Doctor and the journey we have seen him be on since the Movie through Season 41 and through Season 42 and into Season 43.
“The planned journey for Anthony Head’s Doctor, always has been a journey from being reluctantly President of Gallifrey to embracing that position to leaving Gallifrey in a safe and stable state as well as getting over the events of the Movie and the death of Sandra Armstrong. Anthony’s Doctor is the Doctor that can’t move on which is exemplified by the fact that he is stuck in one location. He’s always moving but going nowhere and his journey is from going nowhere to going somewhere.”
I suppose that the Keeper’s death played a big part in that as the Keeper was the reason that the Doctor was stuck on Gallifrey. How likely do you think, after the Keeper’s death, would it had been if the Doctor just got in the TARDIS and left Gallifrey?
“The Doctor never wanted to be President in the first place but he got attached,” he explains, “the Doctor is a compassionate old man who believes in kindness and he wouldn’t abandon Gallifrey at such a turbulent time. That just isn’t who the Doctor is. Yes, he’d rather not be there but he has started something and now he has got to end it and he can’t just run away. It’s more about responsibility than anything and us killing the Keeper and keeping the Doctor on Gallifrey shows that he is responsible but also lets him feel free as he could just leave whenever he wants.”
In Tony’s first Doctor Who story in recent years, Doctor Who: the Movie, the Doctor met six of his younger selves. So I’m curious… what would Tony Redston say if he could meet his younger self? Let’s say a version of himself from early 2003, when he first excepted the position of Doctor Who Producer.
“I was actually talking about this with Gary [Russell] recently actually,” he considers. “The truth is really, don’t p**** off Steven Moffat!” he jokes. Steven Moffat was Script Editor of Doctor Who between Season 35 and Season 38 with Chris Sanderman as Producer however Steven has been in recent years very critical of Tony’s Who. Speaking in DWM 340, Steven tells us: “I’d chuck out all gratuitous continuity because it’s dull – and all that yawn-inducing Gallifrey rubbish with it. I don’t care where the Doctor came from or why he travels the universe – I just want him out of those TARDIS doors and having adventures.” So why did you invite Steven to write for the show in Season 42.
“To prove him wrong,” Tony states bluntly, “He did some wonderful things on the show, I won’t deny and Blink is one of my all-time favourite episodes but he didn’t get my Doctor Who. Maybe because he didn’t like it or maybe because he didn’t like Gallifrey or whatever but it didn’t work. I wanted to prove Steven wrong, I wanted to give him a fascinating human story about the Doctor and the Keeper’s relationship, which he wrote brilliantly, but he, through that process, complained about it being set on Gallifrey and kept banging on about how brilliant an idea he has for the Doctor in World War Two is. It didn’t work, it just didn’t and you can see how different our two Who’s are.”
Some would describe Steven’s outspokenness about Tony’s Who rude but Steven said earlier this year in DWM 371 “I am just expressing the views of fans who just long and yearn for the Doctor to return to outer-space and explore the universe in the TARDIS.”
“The thing is,” explains Tony, “is that Doctor Who is a show that is constantly changing and evolving and we go through different eras. My era is the one that stayed in one place… but no, this isn’t the first time that this has happened. In the early ‘70s, the Doctor was stuck on Earth, so why should it make a difference if it were on Gallifrey.”
Between 1970 and 1972, Jon Pertwee spent three series on Earth almost solidly with an ensemble cast including: the Brigadier, Sgt. Benton, Captain Yates and of course Liz Shaw and later Jo Grant. And then even in his final two years and in some later stories, UNIT adventures continued with these same characters. So is the Redston era much different from the Letts era?
“In concept it is the same idea. The truth is Doctor Who was getting a tad stale by the end of Chris’ era and for the good of the show we needed to change it up a bit. The thing is I would have loved to do Doctor Who with Anthony Head and some dashing young assistant roaming the universe but when I took over, I knew that we needed something different – some energy. We’d already done Earth with Jon Pertwee and we wanted to have a shot at serialisation so it was mutually agreed between me, Ira [Steven Behr], Julie [Gardner], Russell [T Davies] and Stephen [Garwood] that we would set Season 41, at least, on Gallifrey.”
You made an interesting point out serialisation. What exactly drew you to taking that route?
“Well, when we were making the first rough plans for Season 41 in 2003 (isn’t that a long time ago), we drew on three main influences: Ronald D. Moore’s Battlestar Galactica mini-series; Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. All three of these used serialisation in significant ways and to keep Doctor Who new and fresh, we felt we needed to use it.”
Ira Steven Behr, who was the show-runner of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, of course, became an Executive Producer on Doctor Who in 2004 with Season 41 as well as Ronald D. Moore becoming a recurring writer for the show in recent years. Did these influences have anything to do with it?
“Most certainly,” he exclaims, “Ronald was, of course, already signed up to be a writer for Season 40 and I was delighted. I phoned up Russell straight away when I found out trying to find out as much information about his story as possible. Naturally, when it came Season 41, I was the first to ask Ronald to become a Staff Writer for us and help as craft the Season and it has worked tremendously.”
“As for Ira,” he explains, “Paramount were already keen to get one of their lot on the show, quite rightfully as they own half of it, and they gave me a choice of some of the people that they thought would be good on Doctor Who and Ira was on that list. As soon as I saw that, a plan formulated in my head and whatever happened, we had to get Ira in. And you know what, he has been brilliant. He has been better than me, truly, and I am so glad that him, Ronald and Julie are staying on with Gary to face a bold new era.”
Obviously, for you first two seasons you worked with Russell T Davies as Script Editor, however for Season 43, you are working with Paul Cornell. How did this come about and how does it differ working with the two different writers?
“Well, Russell, was already there when I joined having, previously, done Seasons 39 and 40 with Chris and I was very much the new boy, Russell had a fantastic way of humanising space which he did with the Bellonsions expertly and that’s something that he was very keen to continue. Naturally, Russell would have preferred to do a few more Earth-y stories and he is brilliant at them. His first story [that he wrote, second broadcast] Damaged Goods, was a brilliant tale set in a contemporary housing estate and what Russell was able to do with Gallifrey was humanise it to make the Rogue, the Rani, Leela and the Outsiders like Presta feel just the same as characters like Winne Tyler in Damaged Goods but still give them a distinctly alien feel.”
Before taking up Doctor Who full time in 2001, Russell had great success with television series like Queer as Folk and Bob & Rose however with Doctor Who as a full time job, this type of television seems to have been somewhat neglected.
“That’s mainly why Russell left. He loved doing Doctor Who but he wanted to go back to doing that sort of thing. He never got to do a Queer as Folk 2 due to his commitments to Doctor Who as a writer and then as Script Editor, so that is something he said he’d really love to do.”
And what of Paul Cornell, how is he different to Russell?
“Well, Paul is great. I have loved working with him on Season 43 and Rebel Zero and he certainly gives Gallifrey a different flavour. Season 43 is much darker, as you’d expect with the Master controlling the President and the Doctor and the Rogue as fugitives. Paul has also done a fantastic job at wrapping up the series and has given characters the send-offs they really deserve.”
Paul is, of course, writing the screenplay for Doctor Who: Revelation with Robert Shearman [acclaimed writer since Season 40] can you give us any taste of how this combination came to be and the mood of the script.
“Well, Paul wrote the finale of Season 43 with Robert and we were blown away. Everyone sat there at the read-through was just delighted with it and Siobhan [Redmond, the Rani] was the funniest as she had not read the script in advanced so she was reacting to everything. Anyway, that script was just amazing and it is a lot of pressure to make Paul write a movie on his own so we asked Robert and he delightedly said ‘yes’ As for the mood of Revelation, the only word I can say to describe it is melancholy.”
Finally, Tony, what was your best memory producing Doctor Who?
“It would have to be when I was at the premier of Doctor Who: the Movie and I watched the audience gasp as they saw Richard E Grant turn into Anthony Head. It was delightful! After the screening, I had an all manner of journalists, celebrities, actors, writers, you name it, come up to me and say how happy they are that Anthony is the Doctor (or as the unenlightened muggles say, Doctor Who). It was a truly joyous experience and I hope that Gary experiences that same feeling in February when the Twelfth Doctor is first shown tot he world...”
Are you still not going to tell us who it is?
“I’m the producer of Doctor Who! Of course not!” DWM
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