Sci-fi writer on new Who

[TransporterMalfunction 1]

Mark Gatiss talks to Front Row about new series.

 

On the day of the announcement that he was one of writers of the new series; Mark Gatiss was guest of Radio 4's Front Row.

 

Presenter Mark Lawson first asked him if his writing for the new series would be frightening.

 

"Absolutely, Russell T Davies said to me the other day that he worked it out in his head that he's always regarded it as a science fiction, but what Doctor Who always did best was horror and I think that's absolutely true. From arctic bases besieged by monsters to Cybermen on the moon, it's the creeping unknown, it's the shadows and the hand at the end of the episode; it's all horror.

 

"It used to be such a loved programme, you couldn't miss it. I remember missing an episode of The Brain of Morbius to see Basil Brush at the Sunderland Empire and I never forgave my parents – I still haven't – and that's what you've got to get back to, proper scares. Forget about the wobbly sets and everything and get back to those sort of essentials and I think we're onto a winner."

 

On the subject of returning villains, Mark said.

 

"Well I can't give too much away. Being in the position of viewer as well I want people just to hear the thing at the end that says 'and next week Doctor Who and the Android Invasion'. Your mates used to go 'Wow'. You didn't know too much in advance.

 

"It's not meant to be appealing to a cult audience. Hopefully, they'll come along, but it's meant to be what it used to be, a mass audience programme watched by 10 million people. And so it's a reinvention not a reimagining... You want to get all the best elements from the past, but jettison all the sort of stuff that bogged it down, really."

 

But who he is writing for?

 

"The Doctor is the Doctor and that's useful for me, having written a first draft... you can make it quite loose. I've got a first script to go on, which Russell's written and there are certain things that are essentially Doctor-ish that you'll never lose and you shouldn't.

 

"I think particularly, what we're trying to do this time is make him a really vibrant, incredibly exciting character. The sort of person you just want to be with. If you look to the period that most people consider to be the golden age; the Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen time, they were clearly best friends and you just wanted to hang around with them."

 

And who does he see when writing for the Doctor?

 

"Me, only me! It's a very interesting question. I really don't know who it is yet... so it would be a bit fatal to write it for someone who hasn't been cast yet and they get someone totally different."

 

Finally, who would he cast?

 

"I would cast David Warner, who I think would make a marvellous Doctor Who."