screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

Queer as Folk ''Queer as Folk'' may refer to: * ''Queer as Folk'' (British TV series), 1999–2000 * ''Queer as Folk'' (American TV series), a 2000–2005 American and Canadian version of the UK series ** ''Queer as Folk'' soundtracks, soundtrack albums from ...

The Second Coming The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is a Christian (as well as Islamic and Baha'i) belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The idea is based on messian ...

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News ...

Cucumber Cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated creeping vine plant in the Cucurbitaceae family that bears usually cylindrical fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.A Very English Scandal'', '' Years and Years'' and '' It's a Sin''. Born in Swansea, Davies had aspirations as a comic artist before focusing on being a

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

and screenwriter. After graduating from

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, he joined the BBC's children's department,

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

, in 1985 on a part-time basis and held various positions, which included creating two series, '' Dark Season'' and '' Century Falls''. He eventually left the BBC for

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...

, and in 1994 began writing adult television drama. His early scripts generally explored concepts of religion and sexuality among various backdrops: ''

Revelations Revelation, in religion and theology, is the act of revealing through communication with supernatural entities. Revelation(s) may also refer to: * Book of Revelation or simply Revelation, the last book of the New Testament * Revelation (Latter Da ...

'' was a soap opera about organised religion and featured a lesbian vicar; '' Springhill'' was a soap drama about a Catholic family in contemporary

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

; ''

The Grand The Grand may refer to: Buildings Official names * The Grand (Calgary), a theatre in Alberta, Canada *The Grand (Ellsworth, Maine), an arts center in Maine, U.S. * The Grand Doubletree, condominium and hotel skyscraper in Miami, U.S. * The Grand C ...

'' explored society's opinion of subjects such as prostitution, abortion and homosexuality during the interwar period; and ''Queer as Folk'' recreated his experiences in the Manchester gay scene. His work in the 2000s included '' Bob & Rose'', which portrayed a gay man who fell in love with a woman; ''The Second Coming'', which focused on the

second coming The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is a Christian (as well as Islamic and Baha'i) belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The idea is based on messi ...

and deicide of

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

from a mostly non-religious point of view; '' Mine All Mine'', a comedy about a family who discover they own the entire city of Swansea; and ''Casanova'', an adaptation of the complete memoirs of Venetian adventurer

Giacomo Casanova Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (, ; 2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798) was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, (''Story of My Life''), is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of information about the c ...

. Following the show's sixteen-year hiatus, Davies revived and ran ''Doctor Who'' for the period between 2005 and 2010, with Christopher Eccleston and later

David Tennant David John Tennant ('' né'' McDonald; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He rose to fame for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor (2005–2010 and 2013) in the BBC science-fiction TV show '' Doctor Who'', reprising the ...

in the title role. Davies' tenure as

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights ...

of the show saw a surge in popularity which led to the production of two

spin-off Spin-off may refer to: *Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work *Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity * Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gove ...

series, '' Torchwood'' and '' The Sarah Jane Adventures'', and the revival of Saturday prime-time dramas as a profitable venture for production companies. Davies was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in 2008 for services to drama, which coincided with the announcement he would step down from ''Doctor Who'' as the show's executive producer with his final script, " The End of Time" (2009–2010). Davies moved to Los Angeles in 2009, where he oversaw production of '' Torchwood: Miracle Day'' and the fifth and final series of ''The Sarah Jane Adventures''. Davies returned as ''Doctor Who'' showrunner in October 2022 after the departure of Chris Chibnall; the first episodes of his second tenure will be the show's sixtieth anniversary specials in 2023. After his partner developed cancer in late 2011, Davies returned to the UK. He co-created the CBBC science fantasy drama '' Wizards vs Aliens'', and created ''Cucumber'', a

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

series about middle-aged gay men in the Manchester gay scene; ''

Banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry (botany), berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa (genus), Musa''. In some countries, Cooking banana, bananas used for ...

'', an E4 series about young LGBT people in the ''Cucumber'' universe; and ''

Tofu Tofu (), also known as bean curd in English, is a food prepared by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness; it can be ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', ''extra firm'' or ''super fi ...

'', an All 4 documentary series which discussed LGBT issues. Davies' later work for BBC One in the 2010s include ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict ...

'', a television film adaptation of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's play; '' A Very English Scandal'', a miniseries adaptation of John Preston's novel of the same name; and '' Years and Years'', a drama series which follows a Manchester family affected by political, economic, and technological changes to Britain over 15 years. Davies returned to Channel 4 for a third time in 2021 as creator of '' It's a Sin'', a semi-autobiographical drama about the

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

crisis of the 1980s and 1990s.

Early life

Stephen Russell Davies was born on 27 April 1963 at Mount Pleasant Hospital in Swansea. His father, Vivian Davies (1925–2015), and his mother, Barbara (1929–1999), were teachers. Davies was the youngest of three children and their only son. Because he was born by caesarean section, his mother was placed on a morphine drip and was institutionalised after an overdose resulted in a psychotic episode. He described his mother's experience as "literally ... like science fiction" and an early inspiration for his writing career. As a child, Davies was almost always referred to by his middle name. He grew up in a household that "never switched the TV off" until after

closedown A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonwealth countries exce ...

, and he subsequently became immersed in dramas such as ''

I, Claudius ''I, Claudius'' is a historical novel by English writer Robert Graves, published in 1934. Written in the form of an autobiography of the Roman Emperor Claudius, it tells the history of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and the early years of the R ...

'' and '' Doctor Who''. One of his first memories, at the age of three, was the 1966 ''Doctor Who'' serial '' The Tenth Planet''. He was also an avid cartoonist and comics enthusiast, and purchased series such as ''

Asterix ''Asterix'' or ''The Adventures of Asterix'' (french: Astérix or , "Asterix the Gaul") is a '' bande dessinée'' comic book series about a village of indomitable Gaulish warriors who adventure around the world and fight the Roman Repub ...

'' and ''

Peanuts ''Peanuts'' is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ' ...

''. Davies attended Tycoch Primary School in Sketty and enrolled at

Olchfa School Olchfa School ( cy, Ysgol Gyfun yr Olchfa) is the largest secondary school in Swansea, South Wales, with approximately 1,700 pupils, including 357 in the Sixth Form. Situated in Sketty Park to the west of Sketty, it provides secondary educatio ...

aged 11. In his first year, the main school buildings were closed for rebuilding after inspectors discovered the high alumina cement used in construction had caused other public buildings to collapse. Lessons were instead held in portable buildings, which influenced Davies' imagination to create mystery, science-fiction, and conspiracy thriller stories about the main building. He also immersed himself in books such as '' Sons and Lovers'' by

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

and ''The Crystal Mouse'' by

Babs H. Deal Babs Hodges Deal (June 23, 1929 – February 20, 2004) was an American writer. She published a dozen novels and numerous short stories. Her novel ''Fancy's Knell'' received an award from Mystery Writers of America. She adapted her short story "Make ...

; the latter influenced him so much he could "see it echoing in anything" he wrote. At age 14, he auditioned for and joined the newly formed West Glamorgan Youth Theatre Company (WGYTC). The group's founder and director, Godfrey Evans, considered him to be "a total all-rounder" who was talented and popular with the other students. Working with the group allowed him to define his sexual identity, and he embarked on a several-month relationship with fellow youth actor Rhian Morgan. He later came out as homosexual in his teenage years. In 1979, Davies completed his

O-Levels The O-Level (Ordinary Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education. It was introduced in place of the School Certificate in 1951 as part of an educational reform alongside the more in-dept ...

and stayed at Olchfa with the ambition to study English literature at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

; he abandoned his aspirations of becoming a comic artist after a careers advisor convinced him that his

colour-blindness Color blindness or color vision deficiency (CVD) is the decreased ability to see color or differences in color. It can impair tasks such as selecting ripe fruit, choosing clothing, and reading traffic lights. Color blindness may make some aca ...

would make that path unlikely. During his studies, he participated in the WGYTC's assignments to create

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it has ...

drama to be performed at the

National Eisteddfod of Wales The National Eisteddfod of Wales (Welsh: ') is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Europe. Competitors ...

; two such productions were ''Pair Dadeni'', a play based on the

Mabinogion The ''Mabinogion'' () are the earliest Welsh prose stories, and belong to the Matter of Britain. The stories were compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, create ...

myth cycle, and ''Perthyn'', a drama about community belonging and identity in early-1980s West Glamorgan. In 1981, he was accepted by

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms ...

to study English literature. At Oxford, he realised he was enamoured with the narrative aspect of fiction, especially 19th-century literature such as

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

. Davies continued to submit scripts to the WGYT during his studies at Oxford, including ''Box'', a play about the influence of television which Evans noted contained Davies' penchants for misdirecting the audience and mixing comedy and drama; ''In Her Element'', which centred on the animation of still objects; and ''Hothouse'', an

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two ...

-inspired piece about internal politics in an advertising office. In 1984, he made his final performance for the WGYT and signed up for a course in Theatre Studies at

Cardiff University , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...

after he graduated from Oxford. He worked sporadically for the

Sherman Theatre The Sherman Theatre ( cy, Theatr y Sherman) is a venue in the Cathays district of Cardiff. It was built as a twin-auditorium venue in 1973 with financial support from Cardiff University. Sherman Cymru was the name of the Sherman Theatre between ...

's publicity department and claimed

unemployment benefit Unemployment benefits, also called unemployment insurance, unemployment payment, unemployment compensation, or simply unemployment, are payments made by authorized bodies to unemployed people. In the United States, benefits are funded by a comp ...

in the interim. In 1985, Davies began his professional television career after a friend suggested he should talk to a television producer who was seeking a temporary graphic artist for the children's show '' Why Don't You?''

Children's television career (1985–1993)

Davies was taken on as a member of the

BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, BBC Cymru Wales i ...

children's department (

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

) in 1985 and given one-day contracts and commissions, such as illustrating for ''Why Don't You?''. As he was only given three days of work per month by the BBC, he continued to freelance and volunteer for the Sherman Theatre. In 1986, he was approached by the ''

Sunday Sport The ''Sunday Sport'' is a British tabloid newspaper that was founded by David Sullivan in 1986. It mainly publishes images of topless female glamour models, and is well known for publishing sensationalized, fictionalized, and satirical conten ...

'' before its launch to provide a football-themed daily strip; he declined because he was concerned about the pornographic content of the newspaper. He submitted a script for ''

Crossroads Crossroads, crossroad, cross road or similar may refer to: * Crossroads (junction), where four roads meet Film and television Films * ''Crossroads'' (1928 film), a 1928 Japanese film by Teinosuke Kinugasa * ''Cross Roads'' (film), a 1930 Brit ...

'' in response to an appeal for new writers; it was not used because the show was cancelled in 1987. He ultimately abandoned his graphic art career entirely when he realised in his early twenties that he enjoyed writing the dialogue of a comic more than creating the art. On 1 June 1987, Davies made his first and only appearance as a television presenter on '' Play School'' alongside regular presenter Chloë Ashcroft. ''Why Don't You?'' line producer Peter Charlton suggested that he would "be good on camera" and advised him to take his career public. Davies was granted the opportunity for sporadic appearances over a period of six months; he hosted only one episode as a storytelling illustrator before he walked off the set and commented he was "not doing that again". The appearance remains an in-joke in the industry, and the recordings were invariably requested for wrap parties Davies attended. On ''Why Don't You?'', Davies held various jobs including: researcher, director, illustrator, assistant floor manager and unofficial publicist for fan-mail. He was offered his first professional scriptwriting job in 1986 by producer Dave Evans; he had entered Evans's office to collect his wages and was offered an extra £100 to write a replacement script. Davies' script was positively received by the CBBC and led to increasingly larger roles which culminated in a six-month contract to write for the show after it relocated to Manchester in 1988. He worked for the show for two more years and became the show's producer. He oversaw an increase in drama which tripled its audience—despite the fact BBC Manchester was not permitted by the corporation to create children's dramas—which reached its climax with his last episode: a drama where the ''Why Don't You?'' protagonists, led by the show's longest running presenter Ben Slade, were trapped in a café by a supercomputer which tried to kill them. While producing ''Why Don't You?'', Davies branched out within CBBC at

BBC Manchester BBC Manchester (often known as BBC Salford) is the British Broadcasting Corporation regional headquarters for the North West, the largest BBC region in the UK. BBC Manchester is a department of the BBC North Group division. The BBC considers th ...

: he attended directors' courses; wrote for older audiences with his contributions to ''

DEF II DEF II was a programming strand on BBC2, which aired at 6 pm on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 May 1988 to 23 May 1994, to serve the teenage market. It was produced by Janet Street-Porter, and followed on from her influential youth TV show '' Net ...

'' and ''

On the Waterfront ''On the Waterfront'' is a 1954 American crime drama film, directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg. It stars Marlon Brando and features Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Pat Henning, and Eva Marie Saint in her film debut. ...

''; and accompanied

Keith Chegwin Keith Chegwin (17 January 1957 – 11 December 2017) was an English television presenter and actor, appearing in several children's entertainment shows in the 1970s and 1980s, including '' Multi-Coloured Swap Shop'' and ''Cheggers Plays Pop''. ...

to Norway to assist in the production of a children's documentary about politics. The head of CBBC, Ed Pugh, offered him the chance to produce ''

Breakfast Serials ''Breakfast Serials'' is a twenty-five-minute anthology series for children that aired on BBC1 for one series in 1990. Format The series comprised various shorts that were based on a variety of genres such as dialogue comedy (''Cheapo TV''), dr ...

'', a new series scheduled for an 8:00 am slot. ''Breakfast Serials'' incorporated elements of non-sequitur comedy and popular culture references aimed at older children, such as a parody of ''

Land of the Giants ''Land of the Giants'' is a one-hour American science fiction television series that aired on ABC for two seasons, beginning on September 22, 1968 and ending on March 22, 1970. The show was created and produced by Irwin Allen. ''Land of the G ...

''. He decided to leave CBBC during the production of ''Breakfast Serials'': a friend called him after the first episode was transmitted and observed he had "broadcast a joke about the juvenilia of

Emily Brontë Emily Jane Brontë (, commonly ; 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet who is best known for her only novel, ''Wuthering Heights'', now considered a classic of English literature. She also published a book of poet ...

at eight o'clock in the morning"; the conversation caused him to reflect he was writing for the wrong audience. Davies worked as a writer on three more children's series while he pursued an adult drama career, creating '' Dark Season'' and '' Century Falls'', and writing for ''

Children's Ward ''Children's Ward'' (retitled ''The Ward'' from 1995 to 1998) is a British children's television drama series produced by Granada Television and broadcast on the ITV network as part of its '' Children's ITV'' strand on weekday afternoons. The ...

''.

''Dark Season'' and ''Century Falls''

During his tenure on ''Why Don't You?'', Davies oversaw the production of a story that took place in

Loch Ness Loch Ness (; gd, Loch Nis ) is a large freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands extending for approximately southwest of Inverness. It takes its name from the River Ness, which flows from the northern end. Loch Ness is best known for clai ...

. The story was the precursor for his first freelance children's project: '' Dark Season''. The show, originally called ''The Adventuresome Three'', would feature the ''Why Don't You?'' characters in a purely dramatic setting influenced by his childhood. He submitted the script to the head of CBBC,

Anna Home Anna Margaret Home ( ; born 13 January 1938) is an English television producer and executive who worked for most of her career at the BBC. Early career After graduating from Oxford University, where she read Modern History at St Anne's Colleg ...

, and

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...

. Both companies were interested in producing the show with minor changes: Granada wished to produce it as one six-part serial, as opposed to Davies' plan of two three-part serials; and Home was interested in accepting the show on the condition it included a new cast of characters. He accepted Home's offer, and the show was allocated the budget and timeslot of ''

Maid Marian and her Merry Men ''Maid Marian and her Merry Men'' is a British children's television series created and written by Tony Robinson and directed by David Bell. It began in 1989 on BBC1 and ran for four series, with the last episode shown in 1994. The show was a pa ...

'', which had been put on hiatus the year before. The first three episodes of ''Dark Season'' feature three young teenagers in a contemporary secondary school, Reet (

Kate Winslet Kate Elizabeth Winslet (; born 5 October 1975) is an English actress. Known for her work in independent films, particularly period dramas, and for her portrayals of headstrong and complicated women, she has received numerous accolades, incl ...

), Marcie (Victoria Lambert), and Tom (Ben Chandler), who discover a plot by the villain Mr Eldritch (Grant Parsons) to take over the world using school computers. Eldritch is eventually defeated by Marcie and the computer expert Professor Polzinsky (

Rosalie Crutchley Rosalie Sylvia Crutchley (4 January 1920 – 28 July 1997) was a British actress. Trained at the Royal Academy of Music, Crutchley was perhaps best known for her television performances, but had a long and successful career in theatre and films, ...

). The next three episodes focus on a new villain: the archaeologist Miss Pendragon (

Jacqueline Pearce Jacqueline Pearce (20 December 1943 – 3 September 2018) was a British film and television actress. She was best known for her portrayal of the principal villain Servalan in the British science fiction TV series ''Blake's 7'' (1978–1981), ...

), later described by Davies as a "

devil worship Theistic Satanism, otherwise referred to as religious Satanism, spiritual Satanism, or traditional Satanism, is an umbrella term for religious groups that consider Satan, the Devil, or Lucifer to objectively exist as a deity, supernatural enti ...

ping

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

lesbian", who becomes a part of the ancient supercomputer Behemoth. The two distinct plot elements converge at the end of the fifth episode, when Pendragon crashes through the school stage as Eldritch walks into the auditorium. ''Dark Season'' uses concepts seen in his tenure as executive producer of ''Doctor Who'': " School Reunion", written by

Toby Whithouse Toby Lawrence Whithouse (; born 5 July 1970) is an English actor, screenwriter and playwright. His highest-profile work has been the creation of the BBC Three supernatural television series '' Being Human''. He also created the Channel 4 telev ...

, shares its concept of the antagonist using computers in a

comprehensive school A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is r ...

to take over the world; "

Army of Ghosts "Army of Ghosts" is the twelfth and penultimate episode in the second series of the British science fiction television programme '' Doctor Who'' which was first broadcast on BBC One on 1 July 2006. It is the first episode of a two-part story; th ...

" unexpectedly brings together the series' two major villains for the final episode; and the characters of Marcie and her friends are similar, albeit unintentionally, to the structure of the

Doctor Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles * ...

and their

companion Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregive ...

s. ''Dark Season'' was the first series he was credited as "Russell T Davies"—the initial arbitrarily chosen to distinguish himself from the BBC Radio 4 presenter—and the first series he was commissioned to write a novelisation: it features a more ambiguous climax and foreshadows a sequel set in an arcade similar to the one featured in '' The Sarah Jane Adventures'' serial, '' Warriors of Kudlak''. Davies started planning a second series for ''Dark Season,'' which followed a similar structure. The first half of the series would take part in the arcade mentioned in the novelisation, and the second would feature the appearance of psychic twins and the re-emergence of the villain Eldritch. The concepts were transferred to its spiritual successor, '' Century Falls'', which was produced in 1993 at the request of ''Dark Season'' director

Colin Cant Colin Cant is a British television director, producer and scenic designer, best known for his work for the children's department of BBC Television from the 1970s to the 1990s. After beginning his career as a designer, he moved to directing and w ...

. The series primarily used the "psychic twins" concept and was set in an isolated village based on those in the

Yorkshire Dales The Yorkshire Dales is an upland area of the Pennines in the historic county of Yorkshire, England, most of it in the Yorkshire Dales National Park created in 1954. The Dales comprise river valleys and the hills rising from the Vale of York ...

and the

North York Moors The North York Moors is an upland area in north-eastern Yorkshire, England. It contains one of the largest expanses of heather moorland in the United Kingdom. The area was designated as a National Park in 1952, through the National Parks and A ...

. The plot of ''Century Falls'' is driven by a legend that no children had been born in the eponymous village for more than forty years. The protagonist, Tess Hunter (Catherine Sanderson), is an overweight teenager who moves to the village with her mother at the beginning of the serial. She quickly befriends the psychic Ben Naismith (

Simon Fenton Simon Fenton (born 10 June 1976) is an English actor who has appeared in several different television roles. One of his earliest roles was in ''Tom's Midnight Garden'', and he also appeared in the ITV children's series '' T-Bag and the Sunstone ...

) and his twin sister Carey (Emma Jane Lavin). The three teenagers examine the waterfall that gave Ben his powers and the disaster which caused the legendary infertility. The serial climaxes in a confrontation between Tess and the deity Century, who is attempting to fuse with Tess's unborn sister. ''Century Falls'' is conceptually much darker than its predecessor ''Dark Season'' and his later work, which Davies attributed to a trend that inexperienced writers "get off on the dark stuff": In a BAFTA interview with Davies, Home recalled she "very nearly got into trouble because it did actually push at the boundaries which some of the powers-that-be would rather not have been pushed". The series offered a sense of realism in its protagonist, who is not heroic and aspirational, has poor social skills, and is bluntly described by Ben as a "fat girl". ''Century Falls'' was the last script he wrote for CBBC for fourteen years. He had begun to formulate another successor: ''The Heat of the Sun'', a series set over Christmas 1999 and

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...

2000 which would have included the concepts of psychic powers and world domination.

''Children's Ward''

While he was writing ''Dark Season'' and ''Century Falls'', Davies sought freelance projects elsewhere; these included three scripts for the BBC children's comedy ''

ChuckleVision ''ChuckleVision'' is a British children's comedy television series created by Martin Hughes and the Chuckle Brothers for the BBC. It starred Barry and Paul Elliott as the Chuckle Brothers and occasionally their older brothers, Jimmy, and Brian ...

''. One venture in 1991 led him to

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...

, where he edited scripts for the ITV children's medical drama ''

Children's Ward ''Children's Ward'' (retitled ''The Ward'' from 1995 to 1998) is a British children's television drama series produced by Granada Television and broadcast on the ITV network as part of its '' Children's ITV'' strand on weekday afternoons. The ...

'' under the supervision of eventual ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based ...

'' producer Tony Wood and his former boss Ed Pugh. By 1992, he had been promoted to producer and oversaw an increase in discussion of larger contemporary issues. In 1993, he wrote a script about a teenage boy who had been infected with

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immu ...

via a blood transfusion, which challenged the prevalent assumption only gay people contracted HIV: Davies left the role of producer in 1994, but continued to write occasionally for the series. Notably, he was requested to write the 100th episode of the series, by then called ''The Ward'', which aired in October 1996. Instead of celebrating the milestone, he wrote a script about a recently emerging threat: paedophiles in online chat-rooms. The episode was about an '' X-Files'' fan who was drawn in by a paedophile's offer of a rare magazine. In the ''dénouement'' of the episode, the child recounts the tale of his near abduction and describes his attacker as "just a man like any other man". The episode earned Davies his first Children's BAFTA award for Best Drama.

Adult television career (1994–2004)

During his production tenure on ''Children's Ward'', Davies continued to seek other freelance writing jobs, particularly for

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

s; his intention was to eventually work on the popular and long-running Granada soap ''Coronation Street''. In pursuit of this career plan, he storylined soaps such as ''

Families Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

'' and wrote scripts for shows such as ''

Cluedo ''Cluedo'' (), known as ''Clue'' in North America, is a murder mystery game for three to six players (depending on editions) that was devised in 1943 by British board game designer Anthony E. Pratt. The game was first manufactured by Waddingt ...

'', a game show based on the board game of the same name, and ''Do the Right Thing'', a localised version of the Brazilian panel show ''Você Decide'' with

Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in the UK for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in December 2009, his BBC Radio 2 week ...

as presenter and

Frank Skinner Christopher Graham Collins (born 28 January 1957), professionally known as Frank Skinner, is an English comedian, actor, presenter and writer. At the 2001 British Comedy Awards, he was named Best Comedy Entertainment Personality. His televisi ...

as a regular panellist. One writing job, for ''The House of Windsor'', a soap opera about footmen in Buckingham Palace, was so poorly received his other scripts for the show would be written under the pseudonym Leo Vaughn. In 1994, Davies relinquished all of his producing jobs, and was offered a scriptwriting role on the late-night soap opera ''

Revelations Revelation, in religion and theology, is the act of revealing through communication with supernatural entities. Revelation(s) may also refer to: * Book of Revelation or simply Revelation, the last book of the New Testament * Revelation (Latter Da ...

'', created by him, Tony Wood, and

Brian B. Thompson Brian B. Thompson is a BAFTA-nominated British television, theatre and radio writer whose work includes ''Byker Grove'', ''Grafters'', ''The Bill'' and ''Coronation Street''. He also created the detective series ''Trueman and Riley'', broadcast on ...

. The series was a tongue-in-cheek deconstruction of organised religion, and featured his first overtly homosexual character: a lesbian vicar portrayed by

Sue Holderness Susan Joan Holderness (born 28 May 1949) is an English actress on both stage and screen having had appearances in '' Bless This House'' (1974), '' The New Avengers'' (1977), ''Canned Laughter'' (1979), '' The Sandbaggers'' (1980), '' The Cleopa ...

, who came out of the closet in a

two-hander A two-hander is a term for a play, film, or television programme with only two main characters. The two characters in question often display differences in social standing or experiences, differences that are explored and possibly overcome as ...

episode with Carole Nimmons. Davies attributes the revelation about Holderness's character as a consequence of both the "pressure cooker nature" of the show and the recent ordination of female vicars in the Church of England. He let his contract with Granada expire and pitched a new early-evening soap opera to

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

, ''RU'', with its creator Bill Moffat, Sandra Hastie, a producer on Moffat's previous series ''

Press Gang ''Press Gang'' is a British children's television comedy drama consisting of 43 episodes across five series that were broadcast from 1989 to 1993. It was produced by Richmond Film & Television for Central, and screened on the ITV network in i ...

'', and co-writer

Paul Cornell Paul Douglas Cornell (born 18 July 1967) is a British writer best known for his work in television drama as well as '' Doctor Who'' fiction, and as the creator of one of the Doctor's spin-off companions, Bernice Summerfield. As well as ''Doct ...

. Although the slot was eventually taken by ''

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on sister channel E4 a da ...

'', he and Cornell mutually benefited from the pitch: Davies introduced Cornell to the ''Children's Ward'' producers and established contact with Moffat's son

Steven Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; h ...

, and Cornell introduced Davies to

Virgin Publishing Virgin Books is a British book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Group, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company. History Virgin established its book publishing arm ...

. Davies wrote one ''Doctor Who

Virgin New Adventures The ''Virgin New Adventures'' (NA series, or NAs) are a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British Science fiction on television, science-fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. They continued the story of the Doctor from th ...

'' novel, '' Damaged Goods'', in which the

Doctor Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles * ...

tracks a

Class A drug These drugs are known in the UK as ''controlled drugs'', because this is the term by which the act itself refers to them. In more general terms, however, many of these drugs are also controlled by the Medicines Act 1968, there are many other dru ...

tainted by

Time Lord The Time Lords are a fictional ancient race of extraterrestrial people in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', of which the series' main protagonist, the Doctor, is a member. Time Lords are so named for their command ...

technology across several galaxies. The book includes several themes which Davies would intersperse in his later works—including a family called "Tyler" and companion

Chris Cwej Christopher Rodonanté Cwej, usually just known as Chris Cwej, is a fictional character from the Virgin New Adventures range of spin-offs based on the BBC science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. His surname is properly pronounced "Sh ...

participating in casual homosexual sex— and a subplot formed the inspiration for ''The Mother War'', a proposed but never produced thriller for Granada about a woman, Eva Jericho, and a

calcified Calcification is the accumulation of calcium salts in a body tissue. It normally occurs in the formation of bone, but calcium can be deposited abnormally in soft tissue,Miller, J. D. Cardiovascular calcification: Orbicular origins. ''Nature Ma ...

foetus in her uterus. Davies continued to propose dramas to Channel 4. The next drama to be commissioned was '' Springhill'', an apocalyptic soap-opera, co-created by

Frank Cottrell Boyce Frank Cottrell-Boyce (born 23 September 1959)"COTTRELL-BOYCE, Frank", ''Who's Who 2010'', A & C Black, 2010; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2009 ; online edn, Nov 200 Retrieved 2010-05-16. is an English people, English screenwriter, ...

and

Paul Abbott Paul Abbott (born 22 February 1960) is an English television screenwriter and producer. Abbott has become one of the most critically and commercially successful television writers working in Britain, following his work on popular series such as ...

, which aired simultaneously on

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1 ...

and Channel 4 in 1996–97. Set in suburban Liverpool, the series focuses on the devoutly

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

Freeman family and their encounter and conflict with Eva Morrigan (Katharine Rogers). He storylined for the second series, but submitted fewer scripts; Granada had commissioned him to write for their soap ''The Grand'', temporarily storyline for ''Coronation Street'', and write the straight-to-video special, '' Coronation Street: Viva Las Vegas!''. The second series of ''Springhill'' continued his penchant for symbolism; in particular, it depicted Marion Freeman (

Judy Holt Judith Rachel Holt (born 15 August 1960 in Farnworth, Lancashire) is a British television actress, best known for her role as Elaine Fishwick in ''At Home with the Braithwaites'' and her role as Lesley Kershaw in ''Coronation Street ''Coro ...

) and Eva as personifications of good and evil, and climaxed with a finale set in an ultra-liberal dystopian future where premarital sex and homosexuality are embraced by the Church. Boyce later commented that without Davies' input, the show would have been a "dry run" for Abbott's hit show '' Shameless''.

''The Grand''

Davies' next project was ''The Grand'', a period soap drama set in a Manchester hotel during the interwar period. It was designed to be a valuable show in a ratings war with the BBC and was scheduled at 9 pm on a Friday night. After the original writer abandoned the series, Granada approached him to write the entire show. His scripts for the first series reflect the pessimism of the period; each episode added its own emotional trauma on the staff; these included a soldier's execution for desertion, a destitute maid who threatened to illegally abort her unborn child to survive, and a multi-episode about the chambermaid, Monica Jones (

Jane Danson Jane Danson (born Jane Elizabeth Dawson, 8 November 1978) is an English actress. She is known for her portrayal of Leanne Battersby in the ITV soap opera, ''Coronation Street'', between 1997 and 2000, and from 2004 onwards. Her other televisi ...

), who kills her rapist in self-defence, is arrested, and eventually hanged for murder. The show was renewed for a second series despite the first's dark tone. The second series had a lighter tone and greater emphasis on character development, which Davies attributed to his friend Sally, who had previously warned him of the adult humour in ''Breakfast Serials''; she told him his show was too bleak to be compared to real life. He highlighted the sixth and eighth episodes of the second series as a time of maturity as a writer: for the sixth, he utilised then-unconventional narrative devices such as flashbacks to explore the hotel barman's closeted homosexuality and the societal attitudes towards sexuality in the 1920s; and he highlighted the eighth as when he allowed the series to "take on its own life" by deliberately inserting plot devices such as

McGuffin McGuffin is a surname of Irish origin, thought to originate from County Donegal. It is an Anglicized form of the Gaelic Mag Dhuibhfinn. Notable people with the surname include: * Meg McGuffin (born c. 1990), American beauty-pageant titleholder * ...

s to enhance the comic relief of the series. Although well received, the series' ratings were not high enough to warrant a third series. After its cancellation in September 1997, Davies had an

existential crisis In psychology and psychotherapy, existential crises are inner conflicts characterized by the impression that life lacks meaning. Some authors also emphasize confusion about one's personal identity in their definition. Existential crises are acco ...

after almost dying from an accidental overdose; the experience persuaded him to detoxify and make a name for himself by producing a series which celebrated his homosexuality.

''Queer as Folk''

After his near-death experience, Davies started to develop a series for Channel 4 which reflected the "hedonistic lifestyle" of the gay quarter of Manchester he was leaving behind. Encouraged by ex-Granada executives Catriona MacKenzie and Gub Neil to "go gay", the series focused on a group of friends in Manchester's gay scene, tentatively titled ''The Other End of the Ballroom'', and later, ''Queer as Fuck''. By February 1998, when he completed the first draft for the series première, the series was known under its eventual title ''Queer as Folk''. The series emulates dramas such as '' Band of Gold'' in presenting realistic discussion on sexuality, as opposed to "one-sided" gay characters in soap operas such as '' EastEnders'', and eschews "heavy-handed discussion" of issues such as HIV; the show instead focuses on the party scene on Canal Street. After he wrote the pilot, he approached actors for the main characters. Christopher Eccleston was Davies' first choice for the role of Stuart Jones; Eccleston declined because of his age and suggested his friend

Aidan Gillen Aidan Murphy (born 24 April 1968), better known as Aidan Gillen (), is an Irish actor. He is the recipient of three Irish Film & Television Awards and has been nominated for a British Academy Television Award, a British Independent Film Award, ...

instead. The roles of Vince Tyler and Nathan Maloney were given to

Craig Kelly Craig Kelly (born 29 September 1963) is an Australian politician, who represented the Division of Hughes as a Liberal Party and later United Australia Party MP from 2010 to his defeat at the 2022 Australian federal election. Kelly initially ...

and

Charlie Hunnam Charles Matthew Hunnam (; born 10 April 1980) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Pete Dunham in '' Green Street Hooligans'' (2005) and as Jax Teller in the FX series ''Sons of Anarchy'' (2008–2014). For the latter, he w ...

, and the secondary character Alexander Perry, originally written for the television producer

Phil Collinson Philip Collinson (born 26 August 1970) is a British television producer. He was initially an actor, before switching to working behind the cameras in the industry as a script editor and writer on programmes such as ''Springhill'' and ''Emmerdal ...

during his brief acting career, was portrayed by

Antony Cotton Antony Cotton (born Antony Dunn; 5 August 1975) is an English actor, known for portraying the role of Sean Tully in ''Coronation Street'', as well as portraying Alexander Perry in the original ''Queer as Folk'' series. In 2007, Cotton hosted ...

, who later played the gay character

Sean Tully Sean Tully is a fictional character from the British soap opera ''Coronation Street'', played by Antony Cotton. He made his first appearance during the episode broadcast on 13 July 2003. Following that appearance, the character returned full-t ...

in ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based ...

''. The series was allocated a £3 million budget, and was produced by

Red Productions Red Production Company is a British independent television production company owned by StudioCanal. Background Red Production Company was formed in 1998 by Nicola Shindler, a television producer who had worked on ''Our Friends in the North'' ...

, owned by his friend and former colleague Nicola Shindler, and filmed by director

Charles McDougall Charles McDougall is a British Emmy Award and BAFTA-winning director. Biography McDougall has directed for popular television series which include the pilot episode of ABC's ''Desperate Housewives'' (which includes the unaired pilot as well) ...

and Sarah Hardin on location in Manchester. The eight 40-minute episodes emulated experiences from his social life and includes an episode where the minor character Phil Delaney (

Jason Merrells Jason Scott Merrells (born 2 November 1968 in Epping, Essex) is an English actor, who is best known for his roles in '' Casualty'', ''Queer as Folk'', ''Cutting It'', '' Waterloo Road'' and ''Emmerdale''. Early life and education Jason S ...

) dies of a cocaine overdose, unnoticed by his social circle. The series was aired in early 1999, when

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. ...

were discussing

LGBT equality Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , ...

; the series première aired on the day the House of Lords was discussing the Sexual Offences Bill 1999, which eventually reduced the

age of consent The age of consent is the age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to sexual acts. Consequently, an adult who engages in sexual activity with a person younger than the age of consent is unable to legally cla ...

for homosexual couples to 16. The première was controversial, in particular because it depicted the character Nathan, aged 15, in sexual intercourse with an older man; the broadcasting watchdog

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

received 136 complaints and the series received criticism from Hunnam's parents and from activist

Mary Whitehouse Constance Mary Whitehouse (; 13 June 1910 – 23 November 2001) was a British teacher and conservative activist. She campaigned against social liberalism and the mainstream British media, both of which she accused of encouraging a more permis ...

. The controversy was amplified when the sponsor Beck's withdrew after several episodes and homosexual activists complained the series was not representative of gay culture. Nevertheless, the show garnered 3.5 million viewers per episode and a generally positive reaction from fans, and was renewed for a two-episode special due for the following year. ''Queer as Folk 2'' was broadcast in 2000 and was driven by the plot element of Vince's half-sister's wedding. The specials place emphasis on Vince and Stuart's relationship, and ends with their departure for another gay scene in a pastiche of '' Grease'', as Nathan took the role as the leader of the Manchester scene's next generation. The show ended on 22 February 2000. On the heels of the special, Davies pitched the spin-off ''Misfits'', a late-night soap opera set in a boarding house owned by Vince's mother, Hazel, and ''The Second Coming'', a series which depicted the

Second Coming of Christ The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is a Christian (as well as Islamic and Baha'i) belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The idea is based on messia ...

in contemporary Manchester. ''Misfits'' was rejected in December 2000 and ''The Second Coming'' was initially approved by Channel 4 but later rejected after a change of executive personnel. Instead of contesting the cancellation of ''The Second Coming'', he left Channel 4 and vowed to not work with them again.

''Bob & Rose''

Shindler continued to pitch ''The Second Coming'' to other television networks while Davies sought other ventures. His next series was based on a gay friend who married a woman and fathered a child. He saw the relationship as a promising concept for an unconventional love story and asked the couple about their relationship to develop the show. After he developed the series around the prejudice he and his gay friends had shown, he realised he was creating caricatures for the purpose of exposing them, and instead focused on telling a traditional love story and gave the couple the traditionally British names of Bob Gossage and Rose Cooper. To simulate a classic love story, the plot required antagonists, in the form of Bob's best friend and fellow teacher Holly Vance and Rose's boyfriend Andy Lewis ( Daniel Ryan). While Andy, named after Davies' boyfriend Andrew Smith, was a minor character and departed in the third episode, Holly featured throughout the entirety of the series. ''Bob & Rose'' thus followed a similar format to ''Queer as Folk'', in particular, the triumvirate of main characters composed of a couple and an outsider who lived in contemporary Manchester, and inverted the traditional "

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out ...

" story by focusing on Bob's uncharacteristic attraction to Rose; Bob describes his sexual life by simply speaking the line "I fancy men. And her." The series was similar to the

Kevin Smith Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American filmmaker, actor, comedian, comic book writer, author, YouTuber, and podcaster. He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy buddy film '' Clerks'' (1994), which he wrote, directed, ...

film ''

Chasing Amy ''Chasing Amy'' is a 1997 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Kevin Smith and starring Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, and Jason Lee. The film is about a male comic artist (Affleck) who falls in love with a lesbian wom ...

'' (1997), as they both portrayed a romance between a straight character and gay character and the resulting ostracism from the couple's social circles, much like ''The Second Coming'' shared its concept with Smith's 1999 film ''

Dogma Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Islam ...

''. Like ''Queer as Folk'', ''Bob & Rose'' contributed to the contemporary political debate around LGBT rights: a subplot involves the fictional pressure group ''Parents Against Homphobia'' (PAH), led by Bob's mother Monica (

Penelope Wilton Dame Penelope Alice Wilton (born 3 June 1946), styled Penelope, Lady Holm between 1998 and 2001, is an English actress. She is known for starring opposite Richard Briers in the BBC sitcom '' Ever Decreasing Circles'' (1984–1989); playing H ...

), an ardent gay rights activist, and their campaign to repeal Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, which prohibited local authorities from "intentionally promot ng homosexuality. The subplot climaxes in the fourth episode, when Monica and Bob lead a rally into direct action by handcuffing themselves to a bus run by a company whose management donated millions to keeping the law on the books; the scene directly parallels protests against the transport company

Stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...

due to their founder

Brian Souter Sir Brian Souter (born 5 May 1954) is a Scottish businessman. With his sister, Ann Gloag, he founded the Stagecoach Group of bus and rail operators. He also founded the bus and coach operator Megabus, the train operating company South West T ...

's financial and political support of Section 28—at one point, Davies intended to explicitly name Stagecoach in the script— and is inspired by earlier protests undertaken by the LGBT rights pressure group

OutRage! OutRage! was a British political group focused on lesbian and gay rights. Founded in 1990, the organisation ran for 21 years until 2011. It described itself as "a broad based group of queers committed to radical, non-violent direct action an ...

. After successfully pitching the show to ITV, Red Productions joined Davies in casting the show and initially approached ''

Jonathan Creek ''Jonathan Creek'' is a long-running British mystery crime drama series produced by the BBC and written by David Renwick. It stars Alan Davies as the titular character, who works as a creative consultant to a stage magician while also solvi ...

'' star

Alan Davies Alan Roger Davies (; born 6 March 1966) is an English stand-up comedian, writer, actor and TV presenter. He is best known for his portrayal of the title role in the BBC mystery drama series '' Jonathan Creek'' (1997–2016) and as the only pe ...

to portray Bob. Although he was not gay, Davies accepted the role and spent several weeks researching first-hand Manchester's gay scene with series director

Joe Wright Joseph Wright (born 25 August 1972) is an English film director residing in Somerset, England. His motion pictures include the literary adaptations '' Pride & Prejudice'' (2005), '' Atonement'' (2007), ''Anna Karenina'' (2012), and '' Cyrano'' ...

. His only objection to the role was Bob being a fan of

Manchester United F.C. Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd), or simply United, is a professional football club based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. The club competes in the Premier League, ...

, the team Shindler had named Red Productions for, because of his prolific support of

Arsenal F.C. Arsenal Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, London, England. Arsenal plays in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The club has won 13 league titles (inc ...

The part of Rose was given to

Lesley Sharp Lesley Sharp is an English stage, film and television actress whose roles on British television include '' Clocking Off'' (2000–2001), '' Bob & Rose'' (2001) and '' Afterlife'' (2005–2006). She was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Act ...

, her first leading role after her portrayal of secondary characters in past Red shows ''

Playing the Field ''Playing the Field'' is a BBC television drama series following the lives of the Castlefield Blues, a fictitious female football team from South Yorkshire. Outline Inspired by Pete Davies's book ''I Lost My Heart to the Belles'' – which w ...

'' and ''

Clocking Off ''Clocking Off'' is a British television drama series which was broadcast on BBC One for four series from 2000 to 2003. It was produced for the BBC by the independent Red Production Company, and created by Paul Abbott. It was effectively an ...

'', and

Jessica Stevenson Tallulah Jessica Elina Hynes (''née'' Stevenson; born 30 October 1972) is an English actress, director and writer. Known professionally as Jessica Stevenson until 2007, she was one of the creators, writers and stars of the British sitcom ''Spac ...

was cast as Holly by ITV Head of Drama Nick Elliott on the basis of her performance in the Channel 4 comedy ''

Spaced ''Spaced'' is a British television show, television sitcom created, written by and starring Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes, Jessica Stevenson, and directed by Edgar Wright, about the (comedic and sometimes Farce, farcical and action-packed) mis ...

''. The series was filmed in the southern suburbs of Manchester between March and June 2001 and often used Davies' own home as a

green room In show business, the green room is the space in a theatre or similar venue that functions as a waiting room and lounge for performers before, during, and after a performance or show when they are not engaged on stage. Green rooms typically ha ...

. The series was the only Red–Davies collaboration not to be scored by future ''Doctor Who'' composer

Murray Gold Murray Jonathan Gold (born 28 February 1969) is an English composer for stage, film, and television and a dramatist for both theatre and radio. He is best known as the musical director and composer of the music for '' Doctor Who'' from 2005, un ...

; the soundtrack was a

Martin Phipps Martin Phipps (born 1 August 1968) is a British composer, who has worked on numerous film and television projects. Life and career He is the son of Sue Pears and Jack Phipps, an arts administrator who had previously founded a management agenc ...

composition inspired by

Hans Zimmer Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Oscars and four Grammys, and has been nominated for two Emmys and a Tony. Zimmer was also named on the list of Top 100 Living ...

's work on the 1993 film ''

True Romance ''True Romance'' is a 1993 American romantic crime film directed by Tony Scott and written by Quentin Tarantino. It features an ensemble cast led by Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette, with Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Brad P ...

''. It aired on Monday nights in September and October 2001. Critically acclaimed, the series won two

British Comedy Awards The National Comedy Awards (known as the British Comedy Awards from 1990 to 2014) is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom, celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year. The British Comedy Awards (1 ...

, and received a nomination at the

British Academy Television Award The BAFTA TV Awards, or British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the BAFTA. They have been awarded annually since 1955. Background The first-ever Awards, given in 1955, consisted of six categories. Until ...

s. However, the series had lower viewership than expected and was moved to a later timeslot for the final two episodes. Although the series was not as successful as he hoped, the show helped Davies rekindle his relationship with his mother shortly before her death, just after the transmission of the fourth episode, which he sees as "possibly the best thing

e has E, or e, is the fifth letter and the second vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''e'' (pronounced ); plur ...

ever written".

''The Second Coming''

Shortly after the transmission of ''Bob & Rose'', Davies was approached by Abbott to write for his new BBC show ''

Linda Green ''Linda Green'' is a British comedy-drama television series that aired on BBC One from 30 October 2001 to 17 December 2002. It was produced for the BBC by the independent Red Production Company. The series was created by Paul Abbott, and othe ...

''. He accepted the offer and wrote an episode where the titular character (

Liza Tarbuck Liza Tarbuck ( ; born 21 November 1964) is an English actress, comedian, and television and radio presenter. Early life Liza Tarbuck was born in Liverpool. She is the daughter of comedian Jimmy Tarbuck and his wife Pauline, with an older sist ...

) and her friends attend a schoolmate's funeral and become psychologically haunted by the deceased woman's solitary life. His first work for the BBC in eight years prompted them to approach him with additional concepts for period dramas, which he invariably declined as his sole intent was to revive ''Doctor Who'', which had then been on hiatus for over a decade. In 2002, he met with the BBC to discuss the revival of the show and producing ''The Second Coming''; the BBC were unable to commit to either, and he again declined to work for them. After the BBC rejected ''The Second Coming'', Shindler proposed the series should be pitched to ITV. Despite the story's controversial message, the critical success of ''Bob & Rose'' encouraged the channel to commission the series for broadcast. ''The Second Coming'' had been several years in the making and endured many rewrites from the first draft presented to Channel 4 in 2000, but retained its key concept of a depiction of the

Second Coming of Christ The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is a Christian (as well as Islamic and Baha'i) belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The idea is based on messia ...

with a humanity-centred deity. A major removal from the script, due to time constraints, was a long sequence titled "Night of the Demons": the main character, a shop assistant, Stephen Baxter, who discovers his divine lineage, takes over a hotel with his disciples and eventually encounters several of the hotel's employees which had been possessed by the Devil. Several similar sequences were removed to create a

thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...

set in the days before

Judgement Day The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...

. An experienced actor was required to portray Stephen; Davies approached Christopher Eccleston, who had previously been approached for the role of Stuart in ''Queer as Folk'', based on his performance as Nicky Hutchinson in the drama ''

Our Friends in the North ''Our Friends in the North'' is a British television drama serial produced by the BBC. It was originally broadcast in nine episodes on BBC2 in early 1996. Written by Peter Flannery, it tells the story of four friends from Newcastle upon Tyne o ...

''. Eccleston accepted the role and helped Davies make the character more human after he observed "Baxter was getting lost amid his loftier pronouncements". The character of Judith, who would represent the fall of God, was given to Lesley Sharp after her performance in ''Bob & Rose'', and the role of the Devil was given to

Mark Benton Mark Benton (born 16 November 1965) is an English actor and television presenter known for his roles as Eddie in '' Early Doors'', Howard in '' Northern Lights'' and Martin Pond in ''Barbara''. Benton has also starred in the BBC One school-based ...

. ''The Second Coming'' was controversial from its conception. When it was a Channel 4 project, it was the subject of a ''

Sunday Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet ...

'' article a year before its original projected transmission date of late 2001. The series would again receive criticism when it was rumoured it would be broadcast over the Easter weekend of 2003. The series was eventually broadcast over consecutive nights on 9–10 February 2003 to 6.3 million and 5.4 million viewers, respectively, and received mixed reactions from the audience: Davies reportedly received death threats for its atheistic message and criticism for its anticlimactic ending, as well as two nominations for Television Awards and one for a Royal Television Society Award.

''Mine All Mine''

In the time near his mother's death, Davies returned to Swansea several times and reflected on the role of family. During one visit, he realised he had not yet written a series set in Wales; hence, he created a series about a family who discovers they own the entire city of Swansea. ''The Vivaldi Inheritance'', later renamed ''Mine All Mine'', was based on the tale of the Welsh pirate Robert Edwards and his descendants' claim to of real estate in

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...

, New York City. The series was a departure from his trend of experimental social commentary; it was instead designed to be a mainstream comedy which utilised Welsh actors: Davies and Red Productions even planned a cameo appearance by

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment in ...

-winning Swansea-born

Catherine Zeta-Jones Catherine Zeta-Jones (; born 25 September 1969) is a Welsh actress. Known for her versatility, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Tony Award. In 2010, she was appointed ...

. Because the series was centred on an entire family, Red Productions was given the task of casting eleven principal characters: the role of family patriarch Max Vivaldi was given to

Griff Rhys Jones Griffith Rhys Jones (born 16 November 1953) is a Welsh comedian, writer, actor, and television presenter. He starred in a number of television series with his comedy partner, Mel Smith. Rhys Jones came to national attention in the 1980s for ...

, at the request of ITV for prolific actors; Rhian Morgan, Davies' ex-girlfriend from the WGYT, was cast as Max's wife Val; Sharon Morgan as Max's sister Stella;

Joanna Page Joanna Louise Page (born 23 March 1977) is a Welsh actress and presenter. She appeared as Stacey Shipman in the BAFTA-winning television series ''Gavin & Stacey''. She played Dora Spenlow in the 1999 adaptation of ''David Copperfield'', and f ...

as Candy Vivaldi; Matthew Barry and

Siwan Morris Siwan Morris is a Welsh actress from Glynneath. Morris has appeared in various parts for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Morris' television roles have included Angie in series 1 and 2 of the teen comedy-drama series '' Skins'' (2007–2008), Ce ...

as the Vivaldi siblings Leo and Maria; ''

Hi-de-Hi! ''Hi-de-Hi!'' is a BBC television sitcom shown on BBC1 from 1 January 1980 to 30 January 1988. Set in 1959 and 1960 in Maplins, a fictional holiday camp, the show was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, who also wrote '' Dad's Army'' a ...

'' actress

Ruth Madoc Ruth Madoc (born Margaret Ruth Llewellyn Baker; 16 April 1943 – 9 December 2022) was a British actress who had a career on stage and screen spanning over 60 years. She was best known for her role as Gladys Pugh in the BBC television comedy '' ...

as Val's sister Myrtle Jones; and Jason Hughes as Maria's boyfriend Gethin. The series, specifically the family's composition of two daughters and a gay son, mirrored his own upbringing to the point where Davies and his boyfriend referred to the show as "The Private Joke". The series was originally written in six parts, but Davies excised a large portion of the fifth episode because the crew expressed concerns with its pacing. The series was filmed in late 2003 under the direction of Sheree Folkson and Tim Whitby, and utilised many areas of Swansea which Davies was familiar with since his childhood. It aired as four-hour-long episodes and a ninety-minute finale on Thursday nights preceding Christmas 2003. Eventually, ''Mine All Mine'' would be his least successful series and ended its run with just over two million viewers, which he later blamed on the series' high eccentricity.

''Casanova''

Shortly after the transmission of ''Mine All Mine'', the BBC commissioned Davies to produce the revival of ''Doctor Who'', which completed his decade-long quest to return the series to the airwaves. At the time, he was developing two scripts: the first, a cinematic adaptation of the

Charles Ingram Charles William Ingram (born 6 August 1963) is an English novelist and former British Army major who gained notoriety for his appearance on the ITV television game show ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?''. In episodes recorded in September 2 ...

''

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (often informally called ''Millionaire'') is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and ...

'' scandal, was cancelled after he accepted the ''Doctor Who'' job; and the second, a dramatisation of the life of the Venetian adventurer and lover

Giacomo Casanova Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (, ; 2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798) was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, (''Story of My Life''), is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of information about the c ...

, was his next show with Red Productions. Davies' association with ''Casanova'' began when

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 ...

producers

Julie Gardner Julie Ann Gardner (born 4 June 1969) is a Welsh television producer. Her most prominent work has been serving as executive producer on the 2005 revival of '' Doctor Who'' and its spin-off shows '' Torchwood'' and '' The Sarah Jane Adventures' ...

, Michele Buck, and

Damien Timmer Damien Gerard Timmer (born 20 October 1968 in Chelsea, London) is an English Joint-Managing Director of British independent production company Mammoth Screen, which was established in 2007. He has executive produced ''Lost in Austen'', ''Wutherin ...

approached him to write a 21st-century adaptation of Casanova's memoirs. He accepted to script the series because it was "the best subject in the world" and, after reading the memoirs, sought to create a realistic depiction of Casanova instead of further perpetuating the stereotype of a hypersexual lover. The series was originally written for ITV, but was turned down after he could not agree on the length of the serial. Shortly after ITV declined to produce ''Casanova'', Gardner took up a position as Head of Drama at

BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, BBC Cymru Wales i ...

and brought the concept with her. The BBC agreed to fund the series, but could only release the money required if a regionally based independent company produced the series. Davies turned to Shindler, who agreed to become the serial's fifth executive producer. Davies' script takes place in two distinct time frames and required two different actors for the eponymous role: the older Casanova was portrayed by

Peter O'Toole Peter Seamus O'Toole (; 2 August 1932 – 14 December 2013) was a British stage and film actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began working in the theatre, gaining recognition as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old Vi ...

, and the younger Casanova was portrayed by

David Tennant David John Tennant ('' né'' McDonald; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He rose to fame for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor (2005–2010 and 2013) in the BBC science-fiction TV show '' Doctor Who'', reprising the ...

. The serial takes place primarily during Casanova's early adulthood and depicts his life among three women: his mother (

Dervla Kirwan Dervla Kirwan (born 24 October 1971) is an Irish television, stage, and film actress who specializes in drama roles. She gained attention for her roles in ''Ballykissangel'', '' Goodnight Sweetheart'', and the Doctor Who Christmas special epis ...

), his lover Henriette (

Laura Fraser Laura Fraser (born 24 July 1975) is a Scottish actress. She has played Door in the urban fantasy series ''Neverwhere'', Kate in the film ''A Knight's Tale'', Cat MacKenzie in the BBC Three drama series ''Lip Service'' and Lydia Rodarte-Quayle i ...

), and his consort Bellino (

Nina Sosanya Oluwakemi Nina Sosanya (born 6 June 1969) is an English stage, television, film, radio actress and narrator. She is most notable for her roles in ''Teachers'', '' W1A'' and ''Last Tango in Halifax''. Early life and education Sosanya was born in ...

). The script takes a different approach to Dennis Potter's 1971 dramatisation; instead of Potter's focus on sex and misogyny, the 2005 serial focuses on Casanova's compassion and respect for women. ''Casanova'' was filmed alongside the first few episodes of the new series of ''Doctor Who'', which meant producers common to both projects, including Davies and Gardner, made daily journeys between the former's production in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...

and

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's coun ...

and the latter's production in Cardiff. Red Productions also filmed on location overseas in a stately home in

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranea ...

, and alongside production of the identically titled 2005 Lasse Hallström film in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

. The two production teams shared resources and were given the unofficial names of "Little Casanova" and "Big Casanova" respectively. When it premièred on

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, cov ...

in March 2005, the first episode attracted 940,000 viewers, a record for a first-run drama on the channel, but was overshadowed on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News ...

by the return of ''Doctor Who'' in the same month.

''Doctor Who'' (2005–2010)

Since watching

First Doctor The First Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. He was portrayed by actor William Hartnell. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien T ...

's (

William Hartnell William Henry Hartnell (8 January 1908 – 23 April 1975) was an English actor. He is best remembered for his portrayal of the first incarnation of the Doctor in '' Doctor Who'' from 1963 to 1966. In film, Hartnell notably appeared in '' Bri ...

)

regeneration Regeneration may refer to: Science and technology * Regeneration (biology), the ability to recreate lost or damaged cells, tissues, organs and limbs * Regeneration (ecology), the ability of ecosystems to regenerate biomass, using photosynthesis ...

into the

Second Doctor The Second Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. He was portrayed by actor Patrick Troughton. While the Troughton era of ''Doctor Who'' is well-remembered by fans ...

(

Patrick Troughton Patrick George Troughton (; 25 March 1920 – 28 March 1987) was an English actor who was classically trained for the stage but became known for his roles in television and film. His work included appearances in several fantasy, science fiction ...

) at the end of the 1966 serial '' The Tenth Planet'', Davies had "fallen in love" with the show and, by the mid-1970s, he was regularly writing reviews of broadcast serials in his diary. His favourite writer and childhood hero was Robert Holmes; during his career, he has complimented the creative use of BBC studios to create "terror and claustrophobia" for Holmes's 1975 script ''

The Ark in Space ''The Ark in Space'' is the second serial of the 12th season of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 25 January to 15 February 1975. The serial is set more th ...

''—his favourite serial from the original series—and has opined that the first episode of ''

The Talons of Weng-Chiang ''The Talons of Weng-Chiang'' is the sixth and final serial of the Doctor Who (season 14), 14th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 26 February to 2 Ap ...

'' (1977) featured "the best dialogue ever written; it's up there with

Dennis Potter Dennis Christopher George Potter (17 May 1935 – 7 June 1994) was an English television dramatist, screenwriter and journalist. He is best known for his BBC television serials '' Pennies from Heaven'' (1978), '' The Singing Detective'' (1 ...

". His screenwriting career also began with a ''Doctor Who'' submission; in 1987, he submitted a

spec script A spec script, also known as a speculative screenplay, is a non-commissioned and unsolicited screenplay. It is usually written by a screenwriter who hopes to have the script optioned and eventually purchased by a producer, production company, or ...

set on an intergalactic news aggregator and broadcaster, which was rejected by script editor

Andrew Cartmel Andrew J. Cartmel (born 6 April 1958) is a British author and journalist. He was the script editor of ''Doctor Who'' during the Sylvester McCoy era of the show between 1987 and 1989. He has also worked as a script editor on other television seri ...

, who suggested that he should write a more prosaic story about "a man who is worried about his mortgage, his marriage, ndhis dog". The script was eventually retooled and transmitted as "

The Long Game "The Long Game" is the seventh episode of the Doctor Who (series 1), first series of the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who'' that was first broadcast on 7 May 2005 on BBC One. It was written by executive producer Russell T ...

" in 2005. During the late 1990s, Davies lobbied the BBC to revive the show from its hiatus and reached the discussion stages in late 1998 and early 2002. His proposals would update the show to be better suited for a 21st-century audience: the series would be recorded on film instead of videotape; the length of each episode would double from twenty-five minutes to fifty; episodes would primarily take place on Earth, in the style of the

Third Doctor The Third Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. He was portrayed by actor Jon Pertwee. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lor ...

(

Jon Pertwee John Devon Roland "Jon" Pertwee (; 7 July 1919 – 20 May 1996) was an English actor, comedian, entertainer, cabaret performer and TV presenter. Born into a theatrical family, he served in the Royal Navy and the Naval Intelligence Division during ...

)

UNIT Unit may refer to: Arts and entertainment * UNIT, a fictional military organization in the science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' * Unit of action, a discrete piece of action (or beat) in a theatrical presentation Music * ''Unit'' (a ...

episodes; and Davies would remove "excess baggage" from the mythology such as

Gallifrey Gallifrey () is a fictional planet in the long-running British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. It is the original home world of the Time Lords, the civilisation to which the protagonist, the Doctor belongs. It is located in ...

and the

Time Lord The Time Lords are a fictional ancient race of extraterrestrial people in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', of which the series' main protagonist, the Doctor, is a member. Time Lords are so named for their command ...

s. Davies' pitch competed against

Dan Freedman Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoi ...

's proposed retool as a fantasy series,

Matthew Graham Matthew Graham is a British television writer, and the co-creator of the BBC/Kudos Film and Television science fiction series '' Life on Mars'', which debuted in 2006 on BBC One and has received international critical acclaim. Career Graham ...

's

gothic horror Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of ea ...

-styled reboot, and the

Mark Gatiss Mark Gatiss (; born 17 October 1966) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, director, producer and novelist. His work includes writing for and acting in the television series '' Doctor Who'', '' Sherlock'', and '' Dracula''. Together with ...

— Gareth Roberts—

Clayton Hickman Clayton James Hickman (born 5 January 1977, in Bristol) is a British scriptwriter, magazine editor, journalist and designer. Magazine work and ''DWM'' Hickman's first published work was in ''SFX''. Hickman officially joined the magazine indust ...

pitch which made the Doctor the

audience surrogate A narrative technique (known for literary fictional narratives as a literary technique, literary device, or fictional device) is any of several specific methods the creator of a narrative uses to convey what they want —in other words, a stra ...

character, instead of his

companion Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregive ...

s. Davies also took cues from American fantasy television series such as '' Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and ''

Smallville ''Smallville'' is an American superhero television series developed by writer-producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The series was produced by Millar/ ...

'', most notably ''Buffy''s concepts of series-long

story arc A story arc (also narrative arc) is the chronological construction of plot in a novel or story. It can also mean an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, board games, vide ...

s and the "

Big Bad Big Bad (abbreviated to BB or BBEG for ''big bad evil guy'') is a term to describe a major recurring adversary, usually the chief villain or antagonist in a particular broadcast season, originally used by the '' Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' televi ...

". In August 2003, the BBC had resolved the legal confusion over production rights which had surfaced as a result of the jointly produced

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

–BBC–

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film studio, film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm o ...

1996 ''Doctor Who'' film, and the Controller of BBC One

Lorraine Heggessey Lorraine Sylvia Heggessey (born 16 November 1956) is a British television producer and executive. From 2000 until 2005, she was the first woman to be Controller of BBC One, the primary television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation. ...

and Controller of Drama Commissioning

Jane Tranter Jane Tranter (born 17 March 1963) is an English television executive who was the executive vice-president of programming and production at BBC Worldwide's Los Angeles base from 2009 until 2015. From 2006 to 2008, she was the BBC's controller of ...

approached Gardner and Davies to create a revival of the series to air in a

primetime Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

slot on Saturday nights, as part of their plan to devolve production to its regional bases. By mid-September, they accepted the deal to produce the series alongside ''Casanova''. Davies' pitch for ''Doctor Who'' was the first one he wrote voluntarily; previously, he opted to outline concepts of shows to commissioning executives and offer to write the pilot episode because he felt a pitch made him "feel like

e's is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and drawn by Satoru Yuiga. It was originally serialized in ''Monthly GFantasy'' from 1997 through 2005, and later published in 16 ''tankōbon'' volumes by Square Enix from March 18, 2003 to Februa ...

killing the work". The fifteen-page pitch outlined a

Doctor Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles * ...

who was "your best friend; someone you want to be with all the time", the 19-year-old

Rose Tyler Rose Tyler is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. She was created by series producer Russell T Davies and portrayed by Billie Piper. With the revival of ''Doctor Who'' in 2005, Rose was int ...

(

Billie Piper Billie Paul Piper (born Leian Paul Piper; 22 September 1982) is an English actress and former singer. She initially gained recognition as a singer after releasing her debut single " Because We Want To" at age 15, which made her the youngest woma ...

) as a "perfect match" for the new Doctor, avoidance of the 40-year back story "except for the good bits", the retention of the

TARDIS The TARDIS (; acronym for "Time And Relative Dimension In Space") is a fictional hybrid of the time machine and spacecraft that appears in the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'' and its various spin-offs. Its exterior ...

,

sonic screwdriver The sonic screwdriver is a fictional multifunctional tool in the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who'' and its spin-offs, used by the Doctor. Like the TARDIS, it has become one of the icons of the programme, and spin-off ...

, and

Dalek The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by writer Terry Nation and first appeared in the 1963 ''Doctor Who ...

s, removal of the Time Lords, and a greater focus on humanity. His pitch was submitted for the first production meeting in December 2003 and a series of thirteen episodes was obtained by pressure from

BBC Worldwide BBC Worldwide Ltd. was the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in January 1995. The company monetises BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming for broadca ...

and a workable budget from

Julie Gardner Julie Ann Gardner (born 4 June 1969) is a Welsh television producer. Her most prominent work has been serving as executive producer on the 2005 revival of '' Doctor Who'' and its spin-off shows '' Torchwood'' and '' The Sarah Jane Adventures' ...

. The first new series of ''Doctor Who'' featured eight scripts by Davies; the remainder were allocated to experienced dramatists and writers for the show's ancillary releases:

Steven Moffat Steven William Moffat (; born 18 November 1961) is a Scottish television writer, television producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his work as showrunner, writer and executive producer of the science fiction television series '' Doc ...

penned a two-episode story, and

Mark Gatiss Mark Gatiss (; born 17 October 1966) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, director, producer and novelist. His work includes writing for and acting in the television series '' Doctor Who'', '' Sherlock'', and '' Dracula''. Together with ...

,

Robert Shearman Robert Charles Shearman, sometimes credited as Rob Shearman, is an English television, radio, stage play and short story writer. He is known for his World Fantasy Award-winning short stories, as well as his work for '' Doctor Who'', and his ass ...

, and

Paul Cornell Paul Douglas Cornell (born 18 July 1967) is a British writer best known for his work in television drama as well as '' Doctor Who'' fiction, and as the creator of one of the Doctor's spin-off companions, Bernice Summerfield. As well as ''Doct ...

each wrote one script. Davies also approached his old friend Paul Abbott and ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students a ...

'' author

J. K. Rowling Joanne Rowling ( "rolling"; born 31 July 1965), also known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and philanthropist. She wrote ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume children's fantasy series published from 1997 to 2007. The ser ...

to write for the series; both declined due to existing commitments. Shortly after he secured writers for the show, Davies stated he had no intention of approaching writers from the old series; the only writer he would have wished to work with was Holmes, who died in May 1986. By early 2004, the show had settled into a regular production cycle. Davies, Gardner, and BBC Controller of Continuing Drama Series

Mal Young Mal Young (born 26 January 1957) is a British television producer, screenwriter and executive producer. Career Mersey TV Young began his career in graphic design. At age 27 he began working in television, on the Channel 4 soap opera ''Brooks ...

took posts as executive producers, and Phil Collinson, his old colleague from Granada, took the role of producer. Davies' official position as

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also the ...

combined the roles of

head writer A head writer is a person who oversees the team of writers on a television or radio series. The title is common in the soap opera genre, as well as with sketch comedies and talk shows that feature monologues and comedy skits. In fictional comedy ...

and

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights ...

and consisted of laying a skeletal plot for the entire series, holding "tone meetings" to correctly identify the tone of an episode, often described in one word—for example, the "tone word" for Moffat's "

The Empty Child "The Empty Child" is the ninth episode of the first series of the British science fiction television programme '' Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast on BBC One on 21 May 2005. It was the first episode written by Steven Moffat, who later beca ...

" was "romantic"—and overseeing all aspects of production. The production team was also tasked with finding a suitable actor for the role of the Doctor. Most notably, they approached film actor

Hugh Grant Hugh John Mungo Grant (born 9 September 1960) is an English actor. He established himself early in his career as both a charming, and vulnerable romantic lead and has since transitioned into a dramatic character actor. Among his numerous ...

and comedian

Rowan Atkinson Rowan Sebastian Atkinson (born 6 January 1955) is an English actor, comedian and writer. He played the title roles on the sitcoms ''Blackadder'' (1983–1989) and '' Mr. Bean'' (1990–1995), and the film series '' Johnny English'' (2003–20 ...

for the role. By the time Young suggested ''The Second Coming'' and ''

Our Friends in the North ''Our Friends in the North'' is a British television drama serial produced by the BBC. It was originally broadcast in nine episodes on BBC2 in early 1996. Written by Peter Flannery, it tells the story of four friends from Newcastle upon Tyne o ...

'' actor Christopher Eccleston to Davies, Eccleston was one of three left in the running for the role: the other candidates are rumoured to have been

Alan Davies Alan Roger Davies (; born 6 March 1966) is an English stand-up comedian, writer, actor and TV presenter. He is best known for his portrayal of the title role in the BBC mystery drama series '' Jonathan Creek'' (1997–2016) and as the only pe ...

and

Bill Nighy William Francis Nighy (; born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. Nighy started his career with the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool and made his London debut with the Royal National Theatre starting with '' The Illuminatus!'' in 1977. There he g ...

. Eccleston created his own characteristics of his rendition of the Doctor based on Davies' life, most notably, his catchphrase "Fantastic!": The show started filming in July 2004 on location in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

for "

Rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can b ...

". The start of filming created stress among the production team because of unseen circumstances: several scenes from the first block had to be re-shot because the original footage was unusable; the

Slitheen The Slitheen are a fictional family of massive, bipedal extraterrestrials from the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'' and are adversaries of the Ninth Doctor and later Sarah Jane Smith. The Slitheen are of the egg-laying ...

prosthetics for "

Aliens of London "Aliens of London" is the fourth episode of the first series of the British science fiction television show '' Doctor Who'' after its revival in 2005. First broadcast on 16 April 2005 on BBC One, it was written by Russell T Davies and directed ...

", " World War Three", and "

Boom Town A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although ...

" were noticeably different from their computer-generated counterparts; and the BBC came to a gridlock in negotiations with the

Terry Nation Terence Joseph Nation (8 August 19309 March 1997) was a British screenwriter and novelist. Especially known for his work in British television science fiction, he created the Daleks and Davros for '' Doctor Who'', as well as the series '' Survi ...

estate to secure the

Dalek The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by writer Terry Nation and first appeared in the 1963 ''Doctor Who ...

s for the sixth episode of the series; Davies and episode writer

Rob Shearman Robert Charles Shearman, sometimes credited as Rob Shearman, is an English television, radio, stage play and short story writer. He is known for his World Fantasy Award-winning short stories, as well as his work for '' Doctor Who'', and his ass ...

were forced to rework the script to feature another race, until Gardner was able to secure the rights a month later. After the first production block, which he described as "hitting a brick wall", the show's production was markedly eased as the crew familiarised themselves. The first episode of the revived ''Doctor Who'', "Rose", aired on 26 March 2005 and received 10.8 million viewers and favourable critical reception. Four days after the transmission of "Rose", Tranter approved a

Christmas special Christmas themes have long been an inspiration to artists and writers. A prominent aspect of Christian media, the topic first appeared in in literature and Christmas music. Filmmakers have picked up on this wealth of material, with both adaptat ...

and a second series. The press release was overshadowed by a leaked announcement that Christopher Eccleston would leave the role after one series; in response, David Tennant was announced as Eccleston's replacement. Tennant had been offered the role when he was watching a pre-transmission copy of ''Doctor Who'' with Davies and Gardner. Tennant initially believed the offer was a joke, but after he realised they were serious, he accepted the role and made his first appearance in the ''dénouement'' of "

The Parting of the Ways "The Parting of the Ways" is the thirteenth episode and the season finale of the revived first series of the British science fiction television programme '' Doctor Who''. The episode was first broadcast on BBC One on 18 June 2005. It was the se ...

", the final episode of the first series. ''Doctor Who'' continued to be one of BBC's flagship programmes throughout Davies' tenure, and resulted in record sales of the show's official magazine, an increase in spin-off novels, and the launch of the children's magazine '' Doctor Who Adventures'' and toy

sonic screwdriver The sonic screwdriver is a fictional multifunctional tool in the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who'' and its spin-offs, used by the Doctor. Like the TARDIS, it has become one of the icons of the programme, and spin-off ...

s and Daleks. The show's popularity ultimately led to a resurgence in family-orientated Saturday night drama; the ITV science-fiction series '' Primeval'' and the BBC historical dramas ''

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is de ...

'' and ''

Merlin Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...

'' were specifically designed for an early Saturday evening timeslot. Davies was also approached by the BBC to produce several spin-off series, eventually creating two: '' Torchwood'' and '' The Sarah Jane Adventures''.

''Torchwood'' and ''The Sarah Jane Adventures''

In October 2005, BBC Three Controller Stuart Murphy invited Davies to create a post- watershed ''Doctor Who'' spin-off in the wake of the parent series' popularity. '' Torchwood''—named after an

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...

matic

title ruse A working title, which may be abbreviated and styled in trade publications after a putative title as (wt), also called a production title or a tentative title, is the temporary title of a product or project used during its development, usually ...

used to prevent leaks of ''Doctor Who's'' first series—incorporated elements from an abandoned Davies project titled ''Excalibur'' and featured the

pansexual , meaning "all" , definition = Sexual or romantic attraction to people regardless of gender , classification = Sexual identity , parent = Bisexuality , synonyms = , associated_terms = Polysexual, queer, heterof ...

51st century time-traveler

Jack Harkness Captain Jack Harkness is a fictional character played by John Barrowman in ''Doctor Who'' and its spin-off series, '' Torchwood''. The character first appears in the 2005 ''Doctor Who'' episode " The Empty Child" and subsequently features in t ...

(

John Barrowman John Scot Barrowman (born 11 March 1967) is a Scottish-American actor, author, presenter, singer and comic book writer. He is known for his role as Captain Jack Harkness in '' Doctor Who'' and ''Torchwood'', and as Malcolm Merlyn in the Arrowv ...

) and a team of alien hunters in Cardiff. The show began production in April 2006 and was marketed through foreshadowing in the main story arc of ''Doctor Who's'' second series, which portrayed Torchwood as a covert quasi-governmental organisation that monitors, exploits, and suppresses the existence of extraterrestrial life and technology. Upon its transmission, ''Torchwood'' was one of BBC Three's most popular shows; however, it received criticism for "adolescent" use of sexual and violent themes. This led the production team to alter the format to be subtler in its portrayal of adult themes. Concurrently, he was approached to produce a CBBC show which was described as ''Young Doctor Who''. Davies was reluctant to diminish the mystery of the Doctor's character and instead pitched a show with

Elisabeth Sladen Elisabeth Clara Heath-Sladen (1 February 1946 – 19 April 2011) was an English actress. She became best known as Sarah Jane Smith in the British television series '' Doctor Who'', appearing as a regular cast member from 1973 to 1976, alongsid ...

as the once-popular companion

Sarah Jane Smith Sarah Jane Smith is a fictional character played by Elisabeth Sladen in the long-running BBC Television science fiction series ''Doctor Who'' and two of its spin-offs. Sarah Jane is a dogged investigative journalist who first encounters alien t ...

: '' The Sarah Jane Adventures'', which follows Sarah Jane and local schoolchildren as they investigate extraterrestrial events in the

London Borough of Ealing The London Borough of Ealing () is a London boroughs, London borough in West London. It comprises seven major towns: Acton, London, Acton (W3), Ealing (W5, W13, NW10), Greenford (UB6), Hanwell (W7), Northolt (UB5), Perivale (UB6) and Southall (U ...

. The show was given a

backdoor pilot A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in television in the United States, United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a te ...

as the ''Doctor Who'' episode " School Reunion" and premièred in its own right with "

Invasion of the Bane "Invasion of the Bane" is the first episode of the British science fiction television series ''The Sarah Jane Adventures''. It was written by series creator Russell T Davies with Gareth Roberts and was directed by Colin Teague. It was originally ...

" on 1 January 2007. The show was more successful than its 1981 predecessor ''

K-9 and Company ''K-9 and Company'' is a one-episode television pilot, for a proposed 1981 television spin-off of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. It features former series regulars Sarah Jane Smith, an investigative journalist ...

''; it received more favourable reviews than ''Torchwood'' and a significant periphery demographic which compared the show to 1970s ''Doctor Who'' episodes. The workload of managing three separate shows prompted Davies to delegate writing tasks for ''Torchwood'' and ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' to other writers so he could focus on writing ''Doctor Who''. After

Billie Piper Billie Paul Piper (born Leian Paul Piper; 22 September 1982) is an English actress and former singer. She initially gained recognition as a singer after releasing her debut single " Because We Want To" at age 15, which made her the youngest woma ...

's departure as Rose Tyler in the second series finale "

Doomsday Doomsday may refer to: * Eschatology, a time period described in the eschatological writings in Abrahamic religions and in doomsday scenarios of non-Abrahamic religions. * Global catastrophic risk, a hypothetical event explored in science and fict ...

", he suggested a third spin-off, ''Rose Tyler: Earth Defence'', a compilation of annual

bank holiday A bank holiday is a national public holiday in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and the Crown Dependencies. The term refers to all public holidays in the United Kingdom, be they set out in statute, declared by royal proclamation or he ...

specials which followed Rose and a parallel universe version of Torchwood. He later reneged on his idea, as he believed Rose should stay off screen, and abandoned the idea even though it had been budgeted.

''The Writer's Tale'', and writing the fourth series

In September 2008,

BBC Books BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Publishing) is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadca ...

published ''The Writer's Tale'', a collection of emails between Davies and ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'' and ''

Doctor Who Magazine ''Doctor Who Magazine'' (abbreviated as ''DWM'') is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. Launched in 1979 as ''Doctor Who Weekly'', the magazine became a monthly publication the follo ...

'' journalist Benjamin Cook. Dubbed the "Great Correspondence" by Davies and Cook, ''The Writer's Tale'' covers a period between February 2007 and March 2008 and explores his writing processes and the development of his scripts for the fourth series of ''Doctor Who'': "

Voyage of the Damned ''Voyage of the Damned'' is a 1976 drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg, with an all-star cast featuring Faye Dunaway, Oskar Werner, Lee Grant, Max von Sydow, James Mason, and Malcolm McDowell. The story was inspired by actual events conce ...

", " Partners in Crime", "

Midnight Midnight is the transition time from one day to the next – the moment when the date changes, on the local official clock time for any particular jurisdiction. By clock time, midnight is the opposite of noon, differing from it by 12 hours ...

", "

Turn Left "Turn Left" is the eleventh episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. It was written by showrunner Russell T Davies and broadcast on BBC One on 21 June 2008. David Tennant only makes a small cont ...

", "

The Stolen Earth "The Stolen Earth" is the twelfth episode of the fourth series and the 750th overall episode of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. It was first broadcast on BBC One on . The episode was written by show runner and head ...

", and "

Journey's End ''Journey's End'' is a 1928 dramatic play by English playwright R. C. Sherriff, set in the trenches near Saint-Quentin, Aisne, towards the end of the First World War. The story plays out in the officers' dugout of a British Army infantry co ...

". The book's first chapter focuses on Cook's "big questions" on Davies' writing style, character development—he used the ''Doctor Who'' character Donna Noble (

Catherine Tate Catherine Jane Ford (born 5 December 1969), known professionally as Catherine Tate, is an English actress, comedian and writer. She has won numerous awards for her work on the BBC sketch comedy series ''The Catherine Tate Show'' (2004–2007), ...

) and the '' Skins'' character

Tony Stonem Anthony "Tony" Stonem is a fictional character from the British television series '' Skins''. He is the protagonist of the first seasons. Portrayed by Nicholas Hoult, the character was created by Bryan Elsley; Tony was the series' central charact ...

(

Nicholas Hoult Nicholas Caradoc Hoult (born 7 December 1989) is an English actor. His body of work includes supporting work in big-budget mainstream productions and starring roles in independent projects in both the American and the British film industries. ...

) as contrasting examples—, how he formulated ideas for stories, and the question "why do you write?". After several weeks, Cook assumes an unofficial advisory role to the scriptwriting and the development of the series. The book's epilogue consists of a short exchange between Davies and Cook: Cook changes from his role as "Invisible Ben" to "Visible Ben" and strongly advises to vastly alter the ''denouement'' to "Journey's End" from a cliffhanger which led into "

The Next Doctor "The Next Doctor" is the first of the 2008–2010 specials of the British science fiction television programme '' Doctor Who'' that was broadcast on 25 December 2008, as the fourth ''Doctor Who'' Christmas special of the revived series. During ...

"—which had occurred in the previous three series finales, "

The Parting of the Ways "The Parting of the Ways" is the thirteenth episode and the season finale of the revived first series of the British science fiction television programme '' Doctor Who''. The episode was first broadcast on BBC One on 18 June 2005. It was the se ...

", "

Doomsday Doomsday may refer to: * Eschatology, a time period described in the eschatological writings in Abrahamic religions and in doomsday scenarios of non-Abrahamic religions. * Global catastrophic risk, a hypothetical event explored in science and fict ...

", and " Last of the Time Lords"—to a melancholy ending that showed the Doctor alone in the TARDIS. After three days of deliberation, Davies accepts Cook's suggestion and thanks him for improving both episodes. After its release, the pair embarked on a five-stop signing tour to promote the book in October 2008 at

Waterstone's Waterstones, formerly Waterstone's, is a British book retailer that operates 311 shops, mainly in the United Kingdom and also other nearby countries. As of February 2014, it employs around 3,500 staff in the UK and Europe. An average-sized Wa ...

branches in London,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

, Manchester,

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...

, and Cardiff. The book received positive reviews: Veronica Horwell of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' wrote Davies was the "

Scheherazade Scheherazade () is a major female character and the storyteller in the frame narrative of the Middle Eastern collection of tales known as the ''One Thousand and One Nights''. Name According to modern scholarship, the name ''Scheherazade'' deri ...

of

Cardiff Bay Cardiff Bay ( cy, Bae Caerdydd; historically Tiger Bay; colloquially "The Bay") is an area and freshwater lake in Cardiff, Wales. The site of a former tidal bay and estuary, it serves as the river mouth of the River Taff and Ely. The body of wa ...

" and opined the book should have been twice the published length; Ian Berriman of science fiction magazine ''

SFX SFX may refer to: Entertainment * Special effects (usually visual), illusions used in film, television, and entertainment * Sound effects, sounds that are artificially created or enhanced * ''SFX'' (magazine), a British magazine covering the top ...

'' gave the book five stars and commented it was the only book about "new Who" a reader needed; television critic

Charlie Brooker Charlton Brooker (born 3 March 1971) is an English television presenter, writer, producer and satirist. He is the creator and co-showrunner of the sci-fi drama anthology series ''Black Mirror'', and has written for comedy series such as ''Bras ...

was inspired by the book to devote an entire episode of his

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

show ''

Screenwipe ''Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British television review comedy programme created and presented by Charlie Brooker and broadcast on BBC Four. The programme contains reviews of current shows, as well as ...

'' to interviewing television writers; and

chat show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show ...

couple

Richard and Judy Richard and Judy is the name informally given to Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan, a British married couple who are both television presenters and columnists. They presented the daytime television programme '' This Morning'' from 1988 until 200 ...

selected the book as a recommended Christmas present in the "Serious Non-Fiction" category of their book club. A second edition of the book, ''The Writer's Tale: The Final Chapter'', was released in January 2010 by BBC Books. The second edition added 350 pages of correspondence—before excising draft scripts included in the first edition—and covered Davies' final months as executive producer of ''Doctor Who'' as he co-wrote the five-part

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News ...

'' Torchwood'' miniseries '' Children of Earth'', planned

David Tennant David John Tennant ('' né'' McDonald; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He rose to fame for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor (2005–2010 and 2013) in the BBC science-fiction TV show '' Doctor Who'', reprising the ...

's departure and

Matt Smith Matthew Robert Smith (born 28 October 1982) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as the eleventh incarnation of the Doctor in the BBC series ''Doctor Who'' (2010–2013), Daemon Targaryen in the HBO series ''House of the Drago ...

's arrival as the Doctor, and moved to the United States.

Post–''Doctor Who'' career (2010–present)

Davies stepped down from the show's production in 2009 along with Gardner and Collinson, and finished his tenure with four special length episodes. His departure from the show was announced in May 2008, alongside a press release which named

Steven Moffat Steven William Moffat (; born 18 November 1961) is a Scottish television writer, television producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his work as showrunner, writer and executive producer of the science fiction television series '' Doc ...

as his successor. His role in late 2008 was split between writing the 2009 specials and preparing for the transition between his and Moffat's production team; one chapter of ''The Writer's Tale: The Final Chapter'' discusses plans between him, Gardner, and Tennant to announce Tennant's departure live during ITV's

National Television Awards The National Television Awards (often shortened to NTAs) is a British television awards ceremony, broadcast by the ITV network and initiated in 1995. The National Television Awards are the most prominent ceremony for which the results are vot ...

in October 2008. His final full script for ''Doctor Who'' was finished in the early morning of 4 March 2009, and filming of the episode closed on 20 May 2009. Davies moved with Gardner and

Jane Tranter Jane Tranter (born 17 March 1963) is an English television executive who was the executive vice-president of programming and production at BBC Worldwide's Los Angeles base from 2009 until 2015. From 2006 to 2008, she was the BBC's controller of ...

to the United States in June 2009 and resided in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

, California. He continued to oversee production of ''Torchwood'' and ''The Sarah Jane Adventures''; he wrote one story for the 2010 series of ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'', ''

Death of the Doctor ''Death of the Doctor'' is a two-part story of '' The Sarah Jane Adventures'' which was broadcast on CBBC on 25 and 26 October 2010. It is the third story of the fourth series. A cross-over story with ''Doctor Who'', story involves UNIT informi ...

'', which included Matt Smith as the Doctor and

Katy Manning Catherine Ann "Katy" Manning (born 14 October 1946) is an English- Australian actress, television presenter, voice artist and former model. Although she has made many appearances on both screen and stage, Manning is best known for her part as ...

as the Doctor's former companion

Jo Grant Josephine "Jo" Grant, later Jo Jones, is a fictional character played by Katy Manning in the long-running British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. Jo was introduced by Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks in the first episode of ' ...

, and was the executive producer and author of the premiere ("The New World") and finale ("The Blood Line") of '' Torchwood: Miracle Day'', the fourth series of ''Torchwood''. He additionally gave informal assistance to and later served as creative consultant of ex-''Doctor Who'' script editor

Helen Raynor Helen Raynor (born March 1972) is a Welsh television screenwriter and script editor from Swansea. She is best known for her work on the relaunched BBC science fiction series '' Doctor Who''. She previously worked as a theatre director. Besides ...

's and playwright Gary Owen's

BBC Cymru Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, BBC Cymru Wales i ...

drama, '' Baker Boys''. Davies had planned to return to art by writing a graphic novel, and was approached by

Lucasfilm Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is a business segment of The Walt Disney Company. The studio is best known for creating and producing the ''Star Wars'' and ' ...

to write for the proposed ''Star Wars'' live-action television series but refused the commission. In August 2011, Davies' boyfriend Andrew Smith was diagnosed with a brain tumour, which prompted Davies to postpone current projects and move back to the UK so his partner could undergo treatment closer to their respective families. Davies' return enabled him to develop a replacement series for ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' with prolific series writer Phil Ford after the former series ended due to

Elisabeth Sladen Elisabeth Clara Heath-Sladen (1 February 1946 – 19 April 2011) was an English actress. She became best known as Sarah Jane Smith in the British television series '' Doctor Who'', appearing as a regular cast member from 1973 to 1976, alongsid ...

's death. '' Wizards vs Aliens'', a CBBC drama about a teenage wizard and his scientist friend and their conflict with the alien Nekross who wish to destroy Earth, was formed to create a "genre clash" between

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Paral ...

and

supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...

fantasy, as opposed to "culture clashes" such as '' Cowboys vs. Aliens''. Davies additionally made his first contribution to

CBeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 years and under. Its sister channel CBBC is aimed at older chil ...

, with two scripts for '' Old Jack's Boat'', which stars ''Doctor Who'' alumni

Bernard Cribbins Bernard Joseph Cribbins (29 December 1928 – 27 July 2022) was an English actor and singer whose career spanned over seven decades. During the 1960s, Cribbins became known in the UK for his successful novelty records "The Hole in the Groun ...

and

Freema Agyeman Freema Agyeman (; born Frema Agyeman; 20 March 1979) is a British actress. She rose to fame with her role as the Doctor's companion Martha Jones in the BBC science fiction series '' Doctor Who'' (2007–2010), and received further recognition ...

as retired fisherman Jack and his neighbour Shelley.

''Cucumber'', ''Banana'', and ''Tofu''

Davies' next project after ''Doctor Who'', codenamed ''More Gay Men'', was a

spiritual successor A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue the product l ...

to ''Queer as Folk'' and would have focused on middle-aged gay men in the Manchester gay scene. The show's genesis dates back from 2001, when his friend Carl Austin asked him "why are gay men so glad when we split up?". The show was due to enter into production in 2006, but was indefinitely postponed due to the success of ''Doctor Who''. Davies continued to develop ideas for the show, and explained a pivotal scene in the premiere to Cook in 2007: In 2011, the series had entered into pre-production, with American cable network

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global ...

contracted for transmission and

BBC Worldwide BBC Worldwide Ltd. was the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in January 1995. The company monetises BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming for broadca ...

for distribution. Showtime had reached the point of casting before Davies moved back to Manchester, at which point the series was picked up by

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

to be produced with Nicola Shindler and the

Red Production Company Red Production Company is a British independent television production company owned by StudioCanal. Background Red Production Company was formed in 1998 by Nicola Shindler, a television producer who had worked on '' Our Friends in the North' ...

. The commission by Channel 4 marked Davies' first collaboration with the channel since ''Queer as Folk'' and Shindler and Red since ''Casanova''. Davies was convinced to return to the channel by Head of Drama and former ''Doctor Who'' executive producer

Piers Wenger Piers Wenger is a British television executive who serves as controller of BBC drama commissioning. Early life Wenger was born Piers John Wenger in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England on 29 June 1972. Career Wenger was appointed as control ...

, who described the show as a "political piece of writing" which creates a "radical approach" to sexuality. ''

Cucumber Cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated creeping vine plant in the Cucurbitaceae family that bears usually cylindrical fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.Vincent Franklin Vincent Warren Franklin (born 3 November 1966) is an English actor from Haworth, Keighley, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. He is best known for his roles in comedy television programmes. He has appeared in a number of feature films includi ...

) and the fallout from a disastrous date with his boyfriend of nine years, and is accompanied with ''

Banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry (botany), berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa (genus), Musa''. In some countries, Cooking banana, bananas used for ...

'', an E4 anthology series about younger characters across the LGBT spectrum on the periphery of the ''Cucumber'' narrative, and ''

Tofu Tofu (), also known as bean curd in English, is a food prepared by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness; it can be ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', ''extra firm'' or ''super fi ...

'', an online documentary series available on All 4 which discusses modern sex, sexuality and issues arisen during the show with the cast and public. The three names reference a urological scale which categorises the male erection by hardness from tofu to cucumber, and are used to symbolise differences in sexual attitudes and behaviour between the two generations. Although ''Cucumber'' was designed as a self-contained serial about the life of one man, Davies envisioned ''Banana'' as open-ended with the potential to continue after its sister series finished.

Second return to the BBC

After ''Cucumber'', Davies returned to the BBC in 2016 to produce ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict ...

'', an adaptation of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's play of the same name. Davies credits the play as "opening his eyes to drama" after he starred in a school version of the play as Bottom. In 2018, Davies produced and wrote the screenplay for ''A Very English Scandal'', an adaptation of the book of the same name about the

Thorpe affair The Thorpe affair of the 1970s was a British political and sex scandal that ended the career of Jeremy Thorpe, the leader of the Liberal Party and Member of Parliament (MP) for North Devon. The scandal arose from allegations by Norman Josiffe ( ...

—a sex scandal which involved former

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a l ...

leader

Jeremy Thorpe John Jeremy Thorpe (29 April 1929 – 4 December 2014) was a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament for North Devon from 1959 to 1979, and as leader of the Liberal Party from 1967 to 1976. In May 1979 he was tried at th ...

—which starred

Hugh Grant Hugh John Mungo Grant (born 9 September 1960) is an English actor. He established himself early in his career as both a charming, and vulnerable romantic lead and has since transitioned into a dramatic character actor. Among his numerous ...

as Thorpe and

Ben Whishaw Benjamin John Whishaw (born 14 October 1980) is an English actor and producer. After winning a British Independent Film Award for his performance in ''My Brother Tom'' (2001), he was nominated for an Olivier Award for his portrayal of the titl ...

as Thorpe's former lover Norman Scott. Davies' screenplay is more compassionate to Thorpe and Scott than previous narratives of the scandal, which he described as "history written by straight men". For his writing on the series, Davies received a nomination for the

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special This is a list of the winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Winners and nominations 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s Total awards by network * HBO/HB ...

in 2019. Davies followed that with the miniseries '' Years and Years'', a Red Production Company series for BBC One which starred

Emma Thompson Dame Emma Thompson (born 15 April 1959) is a British actress. Regarded as one of the best actresses of her generation, she has received numerous accolades throughout her four-decade-long career, including two Academy Awards, two British A ...

,

Rory Kinnear Rory Michael Kinnear (born 17 February 1978) is an English actor and playwright who has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre. In 2014, he won the Olivier Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of William Sh ...

and

Russell Tovey Russell George Tovey (born 14 November 1981) is an English actor. He is best known for playing the role of werewolf George Sands in the BBC's supernatural comedy-drama '' Being Human'', Rudge in both the stage and film versions of '' The His ...

. It focuses on an ordinary family in Manchester who experience massive political, economic, and technological changes over fifteen years as a fascist dictator, played by Thompson, takes over Britain.

''It's a Sin''

'' It's a Sin'', began filming on 7 October 2019—under the working title of ''Boys''—and completed filming on 31 January 2020. The series, produced by Red Productions for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

, is a dramatised retrospective of the

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

crisis during the 1980s, focusing on the men "living in the bedsits", as opposed to films such as ''

Pride Pride is defined by Merriam-Webster as "reasonable self-esteem" or "confidence and satisfaction in oneself". A healthy amount of pride is good, however, pride sometimes is used interchangeably with "conceit" or "arrogance" (among other words) wh ...

,'' which focused on gay activists. Davies notes the stories about the politics of the crisis and the virus itself has been told, but not those about the early victims of the virus itself. In 2015, Davies described ''Boys'' as a way of "coming to terms" with his own actions during the 1980s, when the shock of the crisis prevented him from properly mourning the deaths of his close friends. Elements of ''It's a Sin'' mirror Davies' own experiences during the 1980s: a scene in the second episode where protagonist Richie Tozer—played by

Years & Years Years & Years is the solo project of British singer Olly Alexander. Originally formed as a band in 2010, Years & Years' music has been described as electropop, mixing R&B and 1990s house elements. The band's debut studio album, ''Communion'', ...

frontman

Olly Alexander Oliver Alexander Thornton (born 15 July 1990) is a British singer and actor. He is best known as the lead singer of Years & Years and for his performance as Ritchie Tozer in the Channel 4 drama series, ''It's a Sin''. Early life Alexander ...

—mocks AIDS reflects

denialist In the psychology of human behavior, denialism is a person's choice to deny reality as a way to avoid a psychologically uncomfortable truth. Denialism is an essentially irrational action that withholds the validation of a historical experience ...

attitudes in the gay community during the early years of the crisis; the show's characters live in a fictionalised version of the "Pink Palace" flatshare-cum-party house owned by Davies' friends; and

Lydia West Lydia Dorothy West (born 24 June 1993) is a British actress. She is known for her roles in the BBC One series '' Years and Years'' and the Channel 4 series ''It's a Sin'', the latter of which earned her a BAFTA nomination. Early life West is f ...

plays a fictionalised version of Davies' childhood friend—and later actress—

Jill Nalder Jill Nalder (born 1961) is a Welsh actress and activist. She is known for her career in theatre as well as her contributions to HIV/AIDS activism. She was the inspiration behind character Jill Baxter in the Channel 4 series '' It's a Sin''. E ...

, who appears in the show as the fictional Jill's mother. ''It's a Sin'' is Davies' first script to primarily focus on AIDS since ''Children's Ward'', although the pandemic's legacy is present in his other shows: ''Queer as Folk'' relegates AIDS to fleeting mentions as Davies "refused to let ay peoples'lives be defined by the disease"; and in ''Cucumber'', middle-aged protagonist Henry blames " those fucking icebergs" for his fear of intimacy. Although the series was filmed prior to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, the show's transmission in early 2021 invited comparisons between the two pandemics; Davies himself cited the "overreaction and lack of reaction" to the pandemics, as well as the focus on

social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dise ...

and

personal protective equipment Personal protective equipment (PPE) is protective clothing, helmets, goggles, or other garments or equipment designed to protect the wearer's body from injury or infection. The hazards addressed by protective equipment include physical, ...

, as "history epeatingitself", and Alexander likened his character's AIDS denialism in the opening episode to

COVID-19 conspiracy theorists Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

.

Future projects

Davies' next project is ''Nolly'', a biopic starring

Helena Bonham Carter Helena Bonham Carter (born 26 May 1966) is an English actress. Known for her roles in blockbusters and independent films, particularly period dramas, she has received various awards and nominations, including a British Academy Film Award ...

as British soap opera star

Noele Gordon Joan Noele Gordon (25 December 1919 – 14 April 1985) was an English actress and television presenter. She played the role of Meg Mortimer (originally Richardson) in the long-running British soap opera '' Crossroads'' from 1964 to 1981, wit ...

. Filming took place in mid-2022, and is set to air on ITV in 2023. Davies has also plans to write a series about

sextortion Sextortion (a portmanteau of '' sex'' and ''extortion'') employs non-physical forms of coercion to extort sexual favors from the victim. Sextortion refers to the broad category of sexual exploitation in which abuse of power is the means of coercio ...

, drawing inspiration from real-life incidents of blackmail which resulted in suicide, and to adapt

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

' ''

The Old Curiosity Shop ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' is one of two novels (the other being ''Barnaby Rudge'') which Charles Dickens published along with short stories in his weekly serial ''Master Humphrey's Clock'', from 1840 to 1841. It was so popular that New York r ...

'' for television. He is also attached to an ITV project, ''Three Little Birds'', a fictionalisation of

Lenny Henry Sir Lenworth George Henry (born 29 August 1958) is a British actor, comedian, singer, television presenter and writer. Henry gained success as a stand-up comedian and impressionist in the late 1970s and early 1980s, culminating in '' The Le ...

's mother's experiences arriving in Britain as part of the

Windrush generation British African-Caribbean people are an ethnic group in the United Kingdom. They are British citizens whose ancestry originates from the Caribbean or they are nationals of the Caribbean who reside in the UK. There are some self-identified Afr ...

, as a script consultant and executive producer.

Return to ''Doctor Who''

After his departure from ''Doctor Who'', Davies kept in contact with the show's crew and made several contributions to its expanded universe: in 2013, Davies made a cameo appearance in

Peter Davison Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett (born 13 April 1951), known professionally as Peter Davison, is an English actor with many credits in television dramas and sitcoms. He made his television acting debut in 1975 and became famous in 1978 as Tristan ...

's spoof special ''

The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot ''The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot'' is a 2013 comedy spoof and homage to the British science fiction television programme '' Doctor Who''. It appeared on the BBC Red Button service after the broadcast of " The Day of the Doctor", the official 50th ...

''; in 2015, his ''

Virgin New Adventures The ''Virgin New Adventures'' (NA series, or NAs) are a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British Science fiction on television, science-fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. They continued the story of the Doctor from th ...

'' novel ''Damaged Goods'' was adapted into an audio play by Big Finish; in 2017 he illustrated a book of ''Doctor Who'' poetry titled ''Now We Are Six Hundred: A Collection of Time Lord Verse;'' and in 2018, he wrote a novelisation of "Rose" for

Target Books Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became ...

. During the

COVID-19 lockdowns Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions colloquially known as lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions) have been implemented in numerous count ...

in 2020, Davies engaged with ''Doctor Who'' fans on social media by writing short stories and drawing sketches. For the "Rose"

watch party Social viewing (also known as Watch Party or GroupWatch) describes a recently developed practice revolving around the ability for multiple users to aggregate from multiple sources and view online videos together in a synchronized viewing experie ...

, Davies released a short story originally written in 2013 for the show's fiftieth anniversary—the story was written for ''

Doctor Who Magazine ''Doctor Who Magazine'' (abbreviated as ''DWM'') is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. Launched in 1979 as ''Doctor Who Weekly'', the magazine became a monthly publication the follo ...

'' and stylised as the final pages of a Target novelisation, but was not included in the magazine due to continuity conflicts with the anniversary special "

The Day of the Doctor ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

"; for the " New Earth" and "

Gridlock Gridlock is a form of traffic congestion where "continuous queues of vehicles block an entire network of intersecting streets, bringing traffic in all directions to a complete standstill". The term originates from a situation possible in a grid ...

" watch party, he wrote the script for an animated sequel, "The Secret of Novice Hame", with Tennant and Anna Hope reprising their roles as the Doctor and Hame respectively; and for " The Runaway Bride" watch party, Davies shared excerpts of his 1986 spec script, ''Mind of the Hodiac,'' which was later optioned by Big Finish for its ''

The Lost Stories ''The Lost Stories'' is the eleventh and penultimate book in the series ''Ranger's Apprentice'' by Australian author John Flanagan. It is a collection of "lost" tales that fill in the gaps between novels. The book was released in Australia ...

'' audio play range, which was released on 30 March 2022. On 24 September 2021, the BBC announced Davies would return as ''Doctor Who'' showrunner, succeeding Chris Chibnall for the show's 60th anniversary in 2023 and beyond. Davies is joined by the

Bad Wolf "Bad Wolf" is the twelfth episode of the revived first series of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. The episode was first broadcast on BBC One on 11 June 2005. It is the first of a two-part story. The concluding epis ...

production company, which was founded by Gardner and Tranter. In May 2022, the BBC announced that Davies had cast Rwandan–Scottish actor

Ncuti Gatwa Mizero Ncuti Gatwa ( ; born 15 October 1992) is a Rwandan-Scottish actor. He rose to prominence as Eric Effiong on the Netflix comedy-drama series ''Sex Education'' (2019–present), which earned him a BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Actor in T ...

in the role of the Doctor; Gatwa will be the first black actor to portray the series' lead role. A week later, the BBC further announced that David Tennant and Catherine Tate would reprise their roles of the Doctor and Donna Noble in the show's 2023 specials, and that transgender actress

Yasmin Finney Yasmin Finney (born 30 August 2003) is an English actress. She is known for her role as Elle Argent in the Netflix series '' Heartstopper'' (2022), for which she was nominated for a Children's and Family Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting ...

would appear as a character named Rose. In November 2022, it was announced that

Millie Gibson Amelia Eve Gibson (born 19 June 2004) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Indira in the CBBC series '' Jamie Johnson'' (2017–2018) and Kelly Neelan in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' (2019–2022). For her portray ...

will join the cast as Ruby Sunday, the companion of Gatwa's

Fifteenth Doctor The Fifteenth Doctor will be the next incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television programme, '' Doctor Who''. He will be portrayed by Rwandan-Scottish actor Ncuti Gatwa. Gatwa is the first black actor and th ...

.

Writing style

Davies is a self-admitted

procrastinator Procrastination is the action of unnecessarily and voluntarily delaying or postponing something despite knowing that there will be negative consequences for doing so. The word has originated from the Latin word ''procrastinatus'', which itself evo ...

and often waits hours or days for concepts to form before he commits them to the script. In ''The Writer's Tale'', he describes his procrastination by discussing his early career: at the time, his method of dealing with the pressures of delivering a script was to "go out drinking" instead. On one occasion in the mid-1990s, he was at the Manchester gay club

Cruz 101 Cruz 101 (better known simply as Cruz) is a nightclub and music venue situated in Manchester's Gay Village which is centred on Canal Street, England. It is one of the most popular and longest-running gay clubs in Greater Manchester, often boastin ...

when he thought of the climax to the first series of ''The Grand''. As his career progressed, he instead spent entire nights "just thinking of plot, character, pace, etc" and waited until 2:00 am, "when the clubs used to shut", to overcome the urge of procrastination. Davies described the sense of anxiety he experiences in an email to Cook in April 2007, in response to Cook's question of "how do you know when to start writing?": He expanded on his email two weeks later in response to Cook's query about the supposed link between

major depressive disorder Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Introdu ...

and creativity. He explained his anxiety and melancholy during the scriptwriting period still allowed him to keep on top of his work; on the other hand, he thought "Depression with a capital D idn't provideany such luxury". Davies explained in length his writing process to Cook in ''The Writer's Tale''. When he creates characters, he initially assigns a character a name and fits attributes around it. In the case of Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) in his inaugural series of ''Doctor Who'', he chose the name because he considered it a "good luck charm" after he used it for Lesley Sharp's character in ''Bob & Rose''. He presented his desire to make the show "essentially British" as another justification: he considered

Rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can b ...

to be "the most British name in the world" and feminine enough to subvert the then-current trend of female companions and their "boyish" names, such as Benny, Charley, and

Ace An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ca ...

. While he was writing for ''The Grand'', the executive producer requested that he change the female lead character's name, a decision that led to the "character never eelingright from that moment on". The surname " Harkness", most notably given to ''Torchwood'' lead Captain Jack Harkness, is a similar charm, first used in 1993 for the Harkness family in ''Century Falls'', and ultimately derived from the

Marvel Universe The Marvel Universe is a fictional shared universe where the stories in most American comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Comics take place. Super-teams such as the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Guardians of ...

supporting character

Agatha Harkness Agatha Harkness is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She is a powerful witch, typically portrayed as a friend and teacher of Wanda Maximoff, as well as the mother of Nicholas Scratch. Agatha is ...

, and the surname "

Tyler Tyler may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tyler (name), an English name; with lists of people with the surname or given name * Tyler, the Creator (born 1991), American rap artist and producer * John Tyler, 10th president of the United ...

" is similarly used because of his affection for how the surname is spelled and pronounced. Davies also attempts to channel his writing by using music that fits the theme of the series as a source of inspiration: ''Doctor Who'' was typically written while he listened to

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

-

adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, a ...

score Score or scorer may refer to: *Test score, the result of an exam or test Business * Score Digital, now part of Bauer Radio * Score Entertainment, a former American trading card design and manufacturing company * Score Media, a former Canadian m ...

s; ''Queer as Folk'' was written to

Hi-NRG Hi-NRG (pronounced "high energy") is a genre of uptempo disco or electronic dance music (EDM) that originated in the United States during the late 1970s and early 1980s. As a music genre, typified by fast tempo, staccato hi-hat rhythms (and th ...

music "to catch hesheer clubland drive"; ''Bob & Rose'' was written to the

Moby Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, singer, producer, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "among the ...

album ''

Play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

'', because the two works shared an "urban, sexy, full of lonely hearts at night" image; and ''The Second Coming'' shared the concepts of "experimental ty anguish, dark ess ndpain" of Radiohead albums. More specifically, he wrote the early drafts of the fourth series ''Doctor Who'' episode " Partners in Crime" while he was listening to

Mika Mika is a given name, a nickname and a surname. Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People known just as Mika * Mika (singer) (born 1983), Lebanese-born British singer-songwriter Michael Penniman, Jr. * Mika (footbal ...

's ''

Life in Cartoon Motion ''Life in Cartoon Motion'' is the debut album released by British recording artist Mika. The album was produced by Greg Wells, mixed by Wells, with co-production on two songs by Jodi Marr and John Merchant. The album was released via Casablan ...

'', and singled out the song "Any Other World" as a "''Doctor Who'' companion song" with lyrics that matched Penny, the planned companion for the fourth series. When he creates new scripts, Davies considers the ''dénouement'' of a story to be representative of the work. He often formulates both the scene and its emotional impact early in the process, but writes the scenes last due to his belief that " ater scenescan't exist if they aren't informed by where they've come from". Davies is a strong advocate for the continued use of the

cliffhanger A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode or a film of serialized fiction. A cliffhang ...

ending and opposes advertising that sacrifices the impact of storytelling. In pursuit of his quest, he instructs editors to remove scenes from press copies of episodes he writes; cliffhangers were removed from the review copies of the ''Doctor Who'' episodes "

Army of Ghosts "Army of Ghosts" is the twelfth and penultimate episode in the second series of the British science fiction television programme '' Doctor Who'' which was first broadcast on BBC One on 1 July 2006. It is the first episode of a two-part story; th ...

", "

The Stolen Earth "The Stolen Earth" is the twelfth episode of the fourth series and the 750th overall episode of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. It was first broadcast on BBC One on . The episode was written by show runner and head ...

", and the first part of " The End of Time", and Rose Tyler's unadvertised appearance in " Partners in Crime" was excised. In an interview with BBC News shortly after the transmission of episode "The Stolen Earth", he argued that the success of a popular television series is linked to how well producers can keep secrets and create a "live experience": Davies attempts to both create imagery and to provide a social commentary in his scripts; for example, he uses camera directions in his scripts more frequently than newer screenwriters to ensure that anyone who reads the script, especially the director, is able to "feel... the pace, the speed, the atmosphere, the mood, the gags, ndthe dread". His stage directions also create an atmosphere by their formatting and avoidance of the first person. Although the basis of several of his scripts derive from previous concepts, he claims most concepts for storytelling have been already used, and instead tries to tell a relatively new and entertaining plot; for example, the ''Doctor Who'' episode "

Turn Left "Turn Left" is the eleventh episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. It was written by showrunner Russell T Davies and broadcast on BBC One on 21 June 2008. David Tennant only makes a small cont ...

" shares its concept most notably with the 1998 film ''

Sliding Doors A sliding door is a type of door which opens horizontally by sliding, usually horizontal to a wall. Sliding doors can be mounted either on top of a track below or be suspended from a track above. Some types slide into a space in the parallel w ...

''. Like how ''Sliding Doors'' examines two timelines based on whether Helen Quilley (

Gwyneth Paltrow Gwyneth Kate Paltrow (; born ) is an American actress and businesswoman. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. Paltrow gained notice for her early work in films ...

) catches a

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The U ...

train, Davies uses the choice of the Doctor's companion to turn left or right at a road intersection to depict either a world with the Doctor, as seen throughout the rest of the fourth series, or an

alternate world A parallel universe, also known as a parallel dimension, alternate universe, or alternate reality, is a hypothetical self-contained plane of existence, co-existing with one's own. The sum of all potential parallel universes that constitute reali ...

without the Doctor, examined in its entirety within the episode. The world without the Doctor creates a dystopia which he uses to provide a commentary on Nazi-esque fascism. Davies generally tries to make his scripts "quite detailed, but very succinct", and eschews the long character and set descriptions; instead, he limits himself to only three adjectives to describe a character and two lines to describe a set to allow the dialogue to describe the story instead. Davies also uses his scripts to examine and debate on large issues such as sexuality and religion, especially from a homosexual or

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

perspective. He refrains from a dependence on "cheap, easy lines" which provide little deeper insight; his mantra during his early adult drama career was "no boring issues". ''Queer as Folk'' is the primary vehicle for his social commentary of homosexuality and advocation of greater acceptance. He used the series to challenge the "primal ... gut instinct" of homophobia by introducing homosexual imagery in contrast to the heterosexual "fundamental image of life, of family, of childhood, ndof survival". His next series, ''Bob & Rose'', examined the issue of a gay man who falls in love with a woman, and the reaction of the couple's respective social circles. ''Torchwood'', in Davies' own words, is "a very bisexual programme", and demonstrates a fluid approach to both gender and sexuality "almost from its opening moments": for example, the lead character Captain Jack Harkness nonchalantly mentions he was once pregnant; and later, the other lead characters discuss Jack's sexuality. The culture website

AfterElton TheBacklot.com (TheBacklot), founded in January 2005 as AfterElton.com (AfterElton), was a culture website that focused on the portrayal of gay and bisexual men in the media and was the companion site of AfterEllen.com (AfterEllen). TheBacklot ...

opined that ''Torchwood''s biggest breakthrough could be " queer representation" by showing Captain Jack as a character whose bisexuality is explored but not his only character trait. His most notable commentaries of religion and atheism are ''The Second Coming'' and his 2007 ''Doctor Who'' episode "

Gridlock Gridlock is a form of traffic congestion where "continuous queues of vehicles block an entire network of intersecting streets, bringing traffic in all directions to a complete standstill". The term originates from a situation possible in a grid ...

". ''The Second Coming''s depiction of a contemporary and realistic

Second Coming The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is a Christian (as well as Islamic and Baha'i) belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The idea is based on messi ...

of

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

eschews the use of religious iconography in favour of a love story underlined by the male lead's "awakening as the Son of God". In contrast, "Gridlock" takes a more pro-active role in debating religion: the episode depicts the unity of the supporting cast in singing the Christian hymns "

Abide with Me "Abide with Me" is a Christian hymn by Scottish Anglican cleric Henry Francis Lyte. A prayer for God to stay with the speaker throughout life and in death, it was written by Lyte in 1847 as he was dying from tuberculosis. It is most often sun ...

" and "

The Old Rugged Cross "The Old Rugged Cross" is a popular hymn written in 1912 by American evangelist and song-leader George Bennard (1873–1958). History George Bennard was a native of Youngstown, Ohio, but was reared in Iowa. After his conversion in a Salvatio ...

" as a positive aspect of faith, but depicts the Doctor as an atheistic hero which shows the faith as misguided because "there is no higher authority". He also includes his commentary as an undertone in other stories; he described the sub-plot of the differing belief systems of the Doctor and

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

in " Tooth and Claw" as a conflict between "Rational Man versus Head of the Church". Like other script writers during ''Doctor Who''s original tenure, several of Davies' scripts are influenced by his personal politics. Marc Edward DiPaolo of

Oklahoma City University Oklahoma City University (OCU) is a private university historically affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The university offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, graduate master's degrees and doctor ...

observes that Davies usually espouses a "left-leaning" view through his scripts. Beyond religion and sexuality, Davies most notably satirises the United States under

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

on ''Doctor Who'': the

Slitheen The Slitheen are a fictional family of massive, bipedal extraterrestrials from the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'' and are adversaries of the Ninth Doctor and later Sarah Jane Smith. The Slitheen are of the egg-laying ...

in "

Aliens of London "Aliens of London" is the fourth episode of the first series of the British science fiction television show '' Doctor Who'' after its revival in 2005. First broadcast on 16 April 2005 on BBC One, it was written by Russell T Davies and directed ...

" and " World War Three" and Henry van Statten in "

Dalek The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by writer Terry Nation and first appeared in the 1963 ''Doctor Who ...

" were portrayed as sociopathic capitalists; the

Dalek The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by writer Terry Nation and first appeared in the 1963 ''Doctor Who ...

s under his tenure echoed contemporary American conservatives in their appearances, from religious fundamentalists in "

The Parting of the Ways "The Parting of the Ways" is the thirteenth episode and the season finale of the revived first series of the British science fiction television programme '' Doctor Who''. The episode was first broadcast on BBC One on 18 June 2005. It was the se ...

" to imperialists in "

Daleks in Manhattan "Daleks in Manhattan" is the fourth episode of the third series of British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast on BBC One on 21 April 2007. It is part one of a two-part story. Its concluding part, " Evolut ...

" and "

Evolution of the Daleks "Evolution of the Daleks" is the fifth episode of the third series of the revived British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 28 April 2007, and is the conclusion of the two-part story begun in ...

"; and in "

The Sound of Drums "The Sound of Drums" is the twelfth episode of the third series Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places ...

", a parody of Bush is murdered by the

Master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

(

John Simm John Ronald Simm (born 10 July 1970) is an English actor, director, and musician. He is best known for playing Sam Tyler in ''Life on Mars'', the Master in ''Doctor Who,'' and DS Roy Grace in ''Grace.'' His other television credits include '' S ...

), who was presented in the story as a

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

reminiscent of

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of the ...

. Other targets of satire in his ''Doctor Who'' scripts include

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is ...

,

News Corporation News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Ne ...

, and the

24-hour news cycle The 24-hour news cycle (or 24/7 news cycle) is 24-hour investigation and reporting of news, concomitant with fast-paced lifestyles. The vast news resources available in recent decades have increased competition for audience and advertiser atten ...

in "

The Long Game "The Long Game" is the seventh episode of the Doctor Who (series 1), first series of the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who'' that was first broadcast on 7 May 2005 on BBC One. It was written by executive producer Russell T ...

", plastic surgery and consumer culture in " The End of the World", obesity and

alternative medicine Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence from clinical trials. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and ...

in " Partners in Crime", and racism and paranoia in "

Midnight Midnight is the transition time from one day to the next – the moment when the date changes, on the local official clock time for any particular jurisdiction. By clock time, midnight is the opposite of noon, differing from it by 12 hours ...

".

Recognition

Davies has received recognition for his work since his career as a children's television writer. Davies' first BAFTA award nominations came in 1993 when he was nominated for the "Best Children's Programme (Fiction)" Television Award for his work on ''Children's Ward''. ''Children's Ward'' was nominated for the Children's Drama award in 1996 and won the same award in 1997. His next critically successful series was ''Bob & Rose''; it was nominated for a Television Award for Best Drama Serial and won two

British Comedy Awards The National Comedy Awards (known as the British Comedy Awards from 1990 to 2014) is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom, celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year. The British Comedy Awards (1 ...

for Best Comedy Drama and Writer of the Year. ''The Second Coming'' was nominated for the same Television Award in 2004. His work on ''The Second Coming'' earned him a nomination for a Royal Television Society award. Most of Davies' recognition came as a result of his work on ''Doctor Who''. In 2005, ''Doctor Who'' won two Television Awards—Best Drama Series and the Pioneer Audience Award—and he was awarded the honorary Dennis Potter Award for writing. He also received that year's

BAFTA Cymru BAFTA Cymru (or BAFTA in Wales or WAFTA) is the Welsh branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and was founded in 1987.

Siân Phillips Award for Outstanding Contribution to Network Television. At the

Edinburgh International Television Festival The Edinburgh International Television Festival is an annual media event held in the United Kingdom each August which brings together delegates from the television and digital world to debate the major issues facing the industry. The Festival ...

, he was awarded the accolade of "Industry Player of the Year" in 2006, and he was announced as recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award in 2017. In 2007, Davies was nominated for the "Best Soap/Series"

Writers' Guild of Great Britain The Writers' Guild of Great Britain (WGGB), established in 1959, is a trade union for professional writers. It is affiliated with both the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds (IAWG). History The ...

Award—along with Chris Chibnall,

Paul Cornell Paul Douglas Cornell (born 18 July 1967) is a British writer best known for his work in television drama as well as '' Doctor Who'' fiction, and as the creator of one of the Doctor's spin-off companions, Bernice Summerfield. As well as ''Doct ...

,

Stephen Greenhorn Stephen Greenhorn (born 5 September 1964 in Fauldhouse, West Lothian, Scotland) is a Scottish playwright and screenwriter. He is the creator of the BBC Scotland soap opera ''River City''. Theatre Greenhorn’s plays have been produced by a wide ...

,

Steven Moffat Steven William Moffat (; born 18 November 1961) is a Scottish television writer, television producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his work as showrunner, writer and executive producer of the science fiction television series '' Doc ...

,

Helen Raynor Helen Raynor (born March 1972) is a Welsh television screenwriter and script editor from Swansea. She is best known for her work on the relaunched BBC science fiction series '' Doctor Who''. She previously worked as a theatre director. Besides ...

, and Gareth Roberts—for their work on the third series of ''Doctor Who''. He was again nominated for two BAFTA Awards in 2009: a Television Award for his work on ''Doctor Who'', and the Television Craft Award for Best Writer, for the episode "

Midnight Midnight is the transition time from one day to the next – the moment when the date changes, on the local official clock time for any particular jurisdiction. By clock time, midnight is the opposite of noon, differing from it by 12 hours ...

". Davies was nominated three times for competitive

BAFTA Cymru BAFTA Cymru (or BAFTA in Wales or WAFTA) is the Welsh branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and was founded in 1987.

awards due to his work on ''Doctor Who'': in 2006, he was nominated for Best Screenwriter for the whole series; in 2007, he won the same award for "

Doomsday Doomsday may refer to: * Eschatology, a time period described in the eschatological writings in Abrahamic religions and in doomsday scenarios of non-Abrahamic religions. * Global catastrophic risk, a hypothetical event explored in science and fict ...

"; and in 2009, he won the award again for "Midnight". Under his tenure, ''Doctor Who'' won five consecutive

National Television Awards The National Television Awards (often shortened to NTAs) is a British television awards ceremony, broadcast by the ITV network and initiated in 1995. The National Television Awards are the most prominent ceremony for which the results are vot ...

between 2005 and 2010. He has also been nominated for three

Hugo Awards The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier ...

, all in the category of " Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form": in 2007, the story comprising "

Army of Ghosts "Army of Ghosts" is the twelfth and penultimate episode in the second series of the British science fiction television programme '' Doctor Who'' which was first broadcast on BBC One on 1 July 2006. It is the first episode of a two-part story; th ...

" and "

Doomsday Doomsday may refer to: * Eschatology, a time period described in the eschatological writings in Abrahamic religions and in doomsday scenarios of non-Abrahamic religions. * Global catastrophic risk, a hypothetical event explored in science and fict ...

" was defeated by Steven Moffat's "

The Girl in the Fireplace "The Girl in the Fireplace" is the fourth episode of the second series of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 6 May 2006. Written by Steven Moffat and directed by Euros Lyn, the ep ...

"; in 2009, the episode "

Turn Left "Turn Left" is the eleventh episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. It was written by showrunner Russell T Davies and broadcast on BBC One on 21 June 2008. David Tennant only makes a small cont ...

" was defeated by Joss Whedon's ''

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog ''Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog'' is a 2008 musical comedy-drama miniseries in three acts, produced exclusively for Internet distribution. Filmed and set in Los Angeles, the show tells the story of Dr. Horrible (played by Neil Patrick Harris), ...

''; and in 2010, all three of his scripts which were eligible for the award, "

The Next Doctor "The Next Doctor" is the first of the 2008–2010 specials of the British science fiction television programme '' Doctor Who'' that was broadcast on 25 December 2008, as the fourth ''Doctor Who'' Christmas special of the revived series. During ...

", the Davies–

Roberts Roberts may refer to: People * Roberts (given name), a Latvian masculine given name * Roberts (surname), a popular surname, especially among the Welsh Places * Roberts (crater), a lunar impact crater on the far side of the Moon ;United Stat ...

collaboration "

Planet of the Dead A planet is a large, rounded Astronomical object, astronomical body that is neither a star nor its Stellar remnant, remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud colla ...

", and the Davies–

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

collaboration "

The Waters of Mars "The Waters of Mars" is the third episode of the 2008–2010 specials of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast on BBC One on 15 November 2009. The story is set on Mars in the year 2059 where t ...

", were nominated: the award was won by "The Waters of Mars" and the other episodes took second and third place. His last nominations for working on the ''Doctor Who'' franchise came in 2010, when the first episode of '' Torchwood: Children of Earth'' was nominated for a BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Screenwriter, and in 2011 when '' The Sarah Jane Adventures'' was nominated by BAFTA for the Best Children's Drama award. During Davies' tenure as executive producer, only Steven Moffat's "

Silence in the Library "Silence in the Library" is the eighth episode of the fourth series of the revived British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 31 May 2008. It is the first of a two-part story; the second part, ...

", which was scheduled against the final of the second series of ''Britain's Got Talent'', failed to win in its time slot. The show's viewing figures were consistently high enough that the only broadcasts to have consistently rivalled ''Doctor Who'' for viewers in the

Broadcasters' Audience Research Board The Broadcasters Audience Research Board (BARB) is a British organisation that compiles audience measurement and television ratings in the United Kingdom. It was created in 1981 to replace two previous systems whereby ITV ratings were compil ...

's weekly charts were '' EastEnders'', ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based ...

'', ''

Britain's Got Talent ''Britain's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated to ''BGT'') is a televised British talent show competition, and part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. Presented by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (colloquially ...

'', and international football matches. Two of his scripts, "

Voyage of the Damned ''Voyage of the Damned'' is a 1976 drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg, with an all-star cast featuring Faye Dunaway, Oskar Werner, Lee Grant, Max von Sydow, James Mason, and Malcolm McDowell. The story was inspired by actual events conce ...

" and "

The Stolen Earth "The Stolen Earth" is the twelfth episode of the fourth series and the 750th overall episode of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. It was first broadcast on BBC One on . The episode was written by show runner and head ...

", broke audience records for the show by being declared the second most viewed broadcasts of their respective weeks, and "

Journey's End ''Journey's End'' is a 1928 dramatic play by English playwright R. C. Sherriff, set in the trenches near Saint-Quentin, Aisne, towards the end of the First World War. The story plays out in the officers' dugout of a British Army infantry co ...

" became the first episode to be the most viewed broadcast of the week. The show enjoyed consistently high

Appreciation Index The Audience Appreciation Index (AI) is an indicator measured from 0 to 100 of the public's appreciation for a television or radio programme, or broadcast service, in the United Kingdom. Until 2002, the AI of a programme was calculated by the B ...

ratings: " Love & Monsters", regarded by ''Doctor Who'' fans as his worst script, gained a rating of 76, just short of the 2006 average rating of 77; and the episodes "

The Stolen Earth "The Stolen Earth" is the twelfth episode of the fourth series and the 750th overall episode of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. It was first broadcast on BBC One on . The episode was written by show runner and head ...

" and "

Journey's End ''Journey's End'' is a 1928 dramatic play by English playwright R. C. Sherriff, set in the trenches near Saint-Quentin, Aisne, towards the end of the First World War. The story plays out in the officers' dugout of a British Army infantry co ...

" share the highest rating ''Doctor Who'' has received, at 91. Among ''Doctor Who'' fans, his contribution to the show ranks as high as the show's co-creator

Verity Lambert Verity Ann Lambert (27 November 1935 – 22 November 2007) was an English television and film producer. Lambert began working in television in the 1950s. She began her career as a producer at the BBC by becoming the founding producer of ...

: in a 2009 poll of 6,700 ''

Doctor Who Magazine ''Doctor Who Magazine'' (abbreviated as ''DWM'') is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. Launched in 1979 as ''Doctor Who Weekly'', the magazine became a monthly publication the follo ...

'' readers, he won the "Greatest Contribution" award with 22.62% of the votes against Lambert's 22.49% share, in addition to winning the magazine's 2005, 2006, and 2008 awards for the best writer of each series. Ian Farrington, who commented on the 2009 "Greatest Contribution" poll, attributed Davies' popularity to his range of writing styles, from the epic "

Doomsday Doomsday may refer to: * Eschatology, a time period described in the eschatological writings in Abrahamic religions and in doomsday scenarios of non-Abrahamic religions. * Global catastrophic risk, a hypothetical event explored in science and fict ...

" to the minimalistic "Midnight", and his ability to market the show to appeal to a wide audience. Davies' work on ''Doctor Who'' has led to accolades out of the television industry. He features in the Pinc List of leading Welsh LGBT figures. Between 2005 and 2008, he was included in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' "Media 100": in 2005, he was ranked the 14th most influential man in the media; in 2006, the 28th; in 2007, the 15th; and in 2008, the 31st. In 2008 he was ranked the 42nd most influential person in

British culture British culture is influenced by the combined nations' history; its historically Christian religious life, its interaction with the cultures of Europe, the traditions of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland and the impact of the British Empir ...

by ''The Telegraph''. ''

The Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' recognised his contributions to the public by including him on seven consecutive Pink Lists, which chronicle the achievements of gay and lesbian personalities: in 2005, he was ranked the 73rd most influential gay person; in 2006, the 18th; in 2007, the most influential gay person; in 2008, the 2nd; in 2009, the 14th; in 2010, the 64th; in 2011, the 47th; in 2012, the 56th; and in 2013, was listed as a permanent member of the List's "national treasures". Davies was appointed Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the

2008 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 2008 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part of the Queen's Of ...

for services to drama, and an honorary fellowship by

Cardiff University , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...

in July 2008. Since his departure from ''Doctor Who,'' Davies has continued to receive recognition for his work: in 2016, Davies won a British Academy Craft Award in the category of "Best Writer: Drama" for ''Cucumber''; in 2017, ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict ...

'' was nominated for BAFTA Cymru's "Best Feature/Television Film Award"; in 2019, '' A Very English Scandal'' was nominated for four awards—a British Academy Television Award for "Best Mini-Series", a British Academy Craft Award for "Best Writer: Drama", a British Academy Cymru Award for "Best Writer", and a

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special—and won the Cymru Award; and in 2020, ''Years and Years'' was nominated for the British Academy Cymru Award for "Best Writer". In July 2022, Davies was elected as a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 600 Fellows, ele ...

for his contributions to television.

Personal life

Davies was in a relationship with Andrew Smith, a

customs officer A customs officer is a law enforcement agent who enforces customs laws, on behalf of a government. Canada Canadian customs officers are members of the Canada Border Services Agency. It was created in 2003 and preceded by the Canada Customs and ...

, between 1999 and Smith's death in 2018. They entered into a

civil partnership A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...

on 1 December 2012, after Smith was diagnosed with a brain tumour from which he was given only a 3% chance of recovering. Smith died on 29 September 2018. '' Years and Years'' ends with a title card which dedicates the series to Smith. Whilst being interviewed about ''It's a Sin'' on

ITV Wales ITV Cymru Wales, previously known as Harlech Television and HTV Wales, is the ITV franchise for Wales. The new separate licence began on 1 January 2014, replacing the long-serving dual franchise region serving Wales and the West of England. L ...

, Davies was asked if he was "indy-curious" about

Welsh independence Welsh independence ( cy, Annibyniaeth i Gymru) is the political movement advocating for Wales to become a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom. Conquest of Wales by Edward I, Wales was conquered during the 13th century by Edward ...

. He replied:

Production credits

''Doctor Who'' franchise writing credits

Bibliography

Novels

* *

Afterwords

*

Notes

References

* * *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Russell T 1963 births 20th-century British male writers 20th-century British screenwriters 20th-century Welsh writers 21st-century British screenwriters 21st-century British male writers 21st-century Welsh writers Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford BAFTA winners (people) BBC television producers British gay writers British science fiction writers Hugo Award-winning writers LGBT television producers LGBT screenwriters LGBT writers from Wales Living people Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Olchfa School People from Swansea Showrunners Welsh atheists Welsh humanists Welsh science fiction writers Welsh screenwriters Welsh television producers Welsh television writers Writers of Doctor Who novels