Dr Who and Russell T Davies

The original series never really belonged to anyone, and in the course of its twenty six years passed through several hands.

On the other hand, the new series does owe its existence and success to one brilliant individual. Russell T. Davies has been widely recognized as one of the best writers and producers in modern TV. He was known to be a Doctor Who fan, and it is thought that the BBC offered to revive Doctor Who with Davies at the helm as a way of attracting him away from Channel Four.

The revival could so easily have gone awry, as the similar attempt in the mid nineties did. Of course the revival had a lot going for it, not least a much larger budget than ever before.

Some people have argued that the dodgy props and sets, and cut-price locations (usually disused quarries that did service as alien planets) were part of the old series' charm, but Davies has laid that hypothesis to rest once and for all. The real appeal was always those wonderful stories.

In Christopher Eccleston the revived series had a very talented lead actor, a man who could bring a new emotional realism to the part. But Eccleston was only there because of Davies. He had worked with Davies before and was intrigued by the idea of a writer of Davies' calibre writing for children. David Tennant, who took over the role from Eccleston, is another actor who had already worked with Davies.

Dave Ferguson, July 2006