Difference between revisions of "It's properly scary and funny"
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So it should come as no surprise to discover that Gatiss's contribution to the new Doctor Who is on the dark side. His story is a Victorian gothic horror set in an undertakers, featuring Simon Callow as Charles Dickens. "They are having problems with the cadavers, which won't stay dead," says Gatiss, 38, a lifelong Doctor Who fan. "It is quite unusual for a Saturday evening family show to feature Victorian zombies. It's very blackly comic, which is my favourite form. But at the same time I had to be true to what I think Doctor Who is, in that it's properly scary and properly funny." | So it should come as no surprise to discover that Gatiss's contribution to the new Doctor Who is on the dark side. His story is a Victorian gothic horror set in an undertakers, featuring Simon Callow as Charles Dickens. "They are having problems with the cadavers, which won't stay dead," says Gatiss, 38, a lifelong Doctor Who fan. "It is quite unusual for a Saturday evening family show to feature Victorian zombies. It's very blackly comic, which is my favourite form. But at the same time I had to be true to what I think Doctor Who is, in that it's properly scary and properly funny." | ||
| − | Along with Russell T Davies, the writer of Queer as Folk, The Second Coming and the current BBC3 drama Casanova, Gatiss was one of a clutch of writers who kept Doctor Who alive during the "wilderness years" of the 1990s by writing audio dramas, videos and books. When Davies was given the go-ahead to bring back the series after 16 years (not counting a critically derided 1996 television movie), he asked Gatiss to write episode three. "I've always wanted to do it," says Gatiss. "I've written four Doctor Who books, but writing for the series itself is an itch I've never scratched. I was also aware of a sense of responsibility to fans of the series, as well as the joy that comes from being in at the new beginning." | + | Along with Russell T Davies, the writer of Queer as Folk, The Second Coming and the current BBC3 drama Casanova, Gatiss was one of a clutch of writers who kept Doctor Who alive during the "wilderness years" of the 1990s by writing audio dramas, videos and books. When Davies was given the go-ahead to bring back the series after 16 years (not counting a critically derided {{TVM|1996 television movie}}), he asked Gatiss to write episode three. "I've always wanted to do it," says Gatiss. "I've written four Doctor Who books, but writing for the series itself is an itch I've never scratched. I was also aware of a sense of responsibility to fans of the series, as well as the joy that comes from being in at the new beginning." |
Along with most fans, Gatiss believes the golden era of Doctor Who was in the mid-1970s, when Tom Baker's goggle-eyed eccentricity was married with chilling, gothic stories. The producer at the time, Philip Hinchliffe, and script editor Robert Holmes plundered Universal, Hammer horror and 1950s B-movies. Plots of Frankenstein, Phantom of the Opera, The Beast With Five Fingers, The Day of the Triffids and The Forbidden Planet were raided, while murderous ventriloquist dummies and giant rats kept Mary Whitehouse busy filing letters to the BBC. | Along with most fans, Gatiss believes the golden era of Doctor Who was in the mid-1970s, when Tom Baker's goggle-eyed eccentricity was married with chilling, gothic stories. The producer at the time, Philip Hinchliffe, and script editor Robert Holmes plundered Universal, Hammer horror and 1950s B-movies. Plots of Frankenstein, Phantom of the Opera, The Beast With Five Fingers, The Day of the Triffids and The Forbidden Planet were raided, while murderous ventriloquist dummies and giant rats kept Mary Whitehouse busy filing letters to the BBC. | ||
