One of the most exciting things about doing the feature was
that it contains quotes from new interviews with the great Steven Moffat and current
BBC Controller of Drama Commissioning Ben Stephenson. I wanted to put together
the best-possible feature to commemorate the show’s success, so I cast my net
wide. Getting Ben Stephenson was a bit of a coup, but just reflects how warmly-regarded
the show is amongst the upper echelons of the BBC. It’s hard to imagine Ben’s
predecessors in the 1980s giving the magazine similar interviews.
The news that Doctor
Who will be around for another five years or so got picked up by all sorts
of news outlets, including BBC News itself. I found this a trifle unnerving, to
be honest. I was worried that I might’ve misquoted someone or that I would
somehow jinx things. Fortunately the article had been read, checked and
approved by Steven, so it wouldn’t contain anything to upset the apple cart, but
nevertheless, seeing something that means so much to so many people go so big
was a bit scary. As I tweeted at the time, they didn’t make this much fuss over
my Paradise Towers Fact of Fiction. I imagine it’s just me making up this stuff to amuse Tom and Peter at the
magazine, I don’t imagine it actually being read by 30,000 strangers.
The brief for the article was a bit tricky, as it had to
celebrate the last ten years, but not cover the same ground as Cav Scott’s feature
from last year about how the show came back, and not to repeat my own feature
on Doctor Who’s appeal, The Wonder of Who. So I concentrated on
two things; trying to understand and explain why the show was such a success
when it returned – all those things that it got right which seem obvious in
retrospect – and what has kept it a success. One interesting thing was trying
to nail down the difference between Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat’s
writing styles; the thing is, they’re not that different at all, they both can
(and do) write scripts which are unlike what might be considered their normal
style, they can write in each others’ styles, there is a definite overlap. I
know some fans find their approaches to be radically different, but I think that
while they bring different things to do show, they are pretty much on the same
page in terms of what makes good Doctor
Who.
As part of my net-casting I got in touch with as many of the
writers who worked on the show as possible, those who were part of bringing in
back, those who have made the greatest contribution over the last decade, and
those who are currently working on it. I couldn’t include all of them, with
these things you always have to draw the line somewhere. But I am immensely
grateful to all of the writers who were so kind as to take the time to respond –
I mean, Mark Gatiss, Chris Chibnall, Toby Whithouse, they are huge names in television.
Alongside the article was a potted history of the last decade of Doctor Who, concentrating on
the various ‘firsts’. For the chronology I also researched real life events,
but there was no room for them (and who cares about real life?). So here they
are instead:
2005
Tony Blair wins third term as Prime Minister; Live 8
concerts held; YouTube launched.
2006
Pluto re-designated a dwarf planet; Daniel Craig debuts as
James Bond; Twitter launched.
2007
Gordon Brown becomes Prime Minister; BBC ‘Crowngate’
scandal; global financial crisis begins.
2008
Boris Johnson elected Mayor of London; ‘Sachsgate’ scandal;
Barack Obama elected US president.
2009
MP expenses scandal; Avatar released; Michael Jackson dies.
2010
Chilean miners rescued; David Cameron becomes Prime
Minister; Eyjafjallajökull erupts.
2011
“Arab Spring”
uprisings; Prince William marries Kate Middleton; London riots.
2012
London Olympics and Queen’s 60th birthday; Shard completed;
Barack Obama re-elected.
2013
Meteorite crashes into Russia; Margaret Thatcher and Nelson
Mandela die; Prince George born.
2014
Flooding in West Country; Scottish independence referendum;
Philae probe lands on comet.