Watch skies for Daleks
- Publication: Western Mail
- Date: 2004-10-30
- Author: Rob Driscoll
- Page: 5
- Language: English
Welsh television drama is stuck in the doldrums and needs an injection of humour, says Russell T Davies, writer of a new drama series set in his native Swansea.
'A lot of Welsh drama has given Wales, and especially the South Wales coast, a very depressed image - it's all steelworks, it's all dour and grim,' said Davies, creator of Queer as Folk and Bob and Rose, at the launch of Mine All Mine, a six-part ITV1 series, due for network transmission at the end of November.
'Whenever I see Welsh drama, it's very depressing. People are having abortions, they're on the dole and they're generally miserable. But whenever I go home to Swansea, I have such a laugh. My family are the noisiest people in the world, that's what I really wanted to capture - depict that life, people talking across each other, and just having a great, crazy time.'
Mine All Mine, which features an all-star cast including Griff Rhys Jones, Ruth Madoc, Jason Hughes and Joanna Page, follows the fanciful story of eccentric cab driver Max Vivaldi who believes that, according to a faded legal document written in 1710, his family owns the whole of Swansea. His neighbours and even his wife and three children laugh at Max whenever he brings up the subject of his inheritance until one day his incredible claim is proved to be true.
Davies revealed he was inspired to write Mine All Mine, set in his home town, after his mother died in 2001.
'You obviously go home a lot more, it's all very sad, but you start looking around, and appreciate it a lot more,' said 41-year-old Davies. 'I could have written a terribly dark drama about cancer, but instead you end up writing something very funny about Swansea, which is actually truer to her than that dark drama would have been.'
Mine All Mine, made by Red Productions, will be Davies' first screened work on British television for 18 months, after The Second Coming, 2003's two-part ITV1 drama starring Christopher Eccleston as a man who believes he is the resurrected Jesus Christ. Davies and Eccleston are currently reunited on the BBC Wales production of Dr Who, being filmed in Cardiff and Swansea, and due to transmit early next year.
Davies has also written Casanova, a three-part period drama for BBC3, starring Peter O'Toole, David Tennant and Matt Lucas.
Mine All Mine 'is probably the first networked Welsh drama since The District Nurse!', joked Davies.
He said the series represented a long-held personal ambition to write a big, broad drama set in his home town of Swansea.
'I think if I'd suggested a Welsh drama six years ago, they [ITV] would have laughed me out of the door,' said Davies. 'You get older, you get a few successes, you get a bit of clout.'
Davies revealed he had thought about making the series with a Welsh company, rather than the Manchester-based Red Productions. 'But once I got the guarantee with Red, and executive producer Nicola Schindler said we'd make it in Swansea and have a Welsh cast, that was the key thing, and I was happy to go with them,' he said.
Mine All Mine starts on ITV1 Wales on November 25
Tv time traveller Dr Who is facing a terrifying new menace - flying Daleks.
The doctor and his assistant come face-to-face with the flying Daleks in the new series which was being filmed yesterday.
But the Daleks have advanced since they first appeared on the cult TV show and now they can take off. Their new powers were being kept a closely-guarded secret by BBC chiefs.
But a filming schedule found on the set in Cardiff yesterday showed four pictures of flying Daleks. And a BBC insider confirmed they can now fly.
He said, 'The Daleks were always the Doctor's scariest enemy but now they can exterminate from mid-air. They can rise up from the ground and cause all sorts of havoc.'
New Doctor, Christopher Eccleston, 40, and pop-star-turned actress Billie Piper, 22, who plays his assistant Rose Tyler came face-to-face with the jet-powered metal monsters yesterday. The filming schedule was found on set at the Millennium Stadium. The series will be on BBC1 next year.
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- APA 6th ed.: Driscoll, Rob (2004-10-30). Watch skies for Daleks. Western Mail p. 5.
- MLA 7th ed.: Driscoll, Rob. "Watch skies for Daleks." Western Mail [add city] 2004-10-30, 5. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Driscoll, Rob. "Watch skies for Daleks." Western Mail, edition, sec., 2004-10-30
- Turabian: Driscoll, Rob. "Watch skies for Daleks." Western Mail, 2004-10-30, section, 5 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Watch skies for Daleks | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Watch_skies_for_Daleks | work=Western Mail | pages=5 | date=2004-10-30 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=21 March 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Watch skies for Daleks | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Watch_skies_for_Daleks | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=21 March 2025}}</ref>
