SFX Magazine – August 2003

Edited by Guy Haley and Ian Berriman.

Move over Paul McGann, the eighth Doctor is now officially history. And his replacement? Enter McGann’s old Withnail and I sparring partner, Richard E Grant.

Grant will star as the ninth Doctor in a new BBCi webcast entitled “The Scream Of The Shalka” a 40th anniversary story which will be shown as six 12-minute episodes later in the year. Of course, it’s not the first time Grant has played the Doctor. In the 1999 Comic Relief spoof “The Curse of the Fatal Death”, he played a preening, vain Doctor in love with his own reflection.

This will be a fully animated Doctor Who adventure, unlike the more primitive Flash-style animations that have been used on previous webcasts. A DVD release will follow, and the quality of the animation means there’s nothing to stop it being shown on TV at a later date.

Voice work was recorded at Shepherd’s Bush in the week beginning 18 June, and now Cosgrove Hall (the company behind Danger Mouse and Count Duckula) is in the process of animating the story. They are keeping the likenesses of the actors involved and promise a rich, gothic style.

The story’s writer is former SFX columnist Paul Cornell, who’s managed the impossible by keeping a Doctor Who project secret for almost 18 months!

“I was asked to do this because I was already working with BBCi on other projects,” Cornell told us. “I think they were quite surprised that I had a Who education! Throughout, we tried to be traditional but original.

That is, I think that this is Who in a shape that will appeal to those with fond memories of the TV show in the 1970s – it’s about a town in Lancashire under siege by mysterious forces – but there are no continuity references at all, apart from the regulars being very much in character and the TARDIS. We’re trying for mass appeal Doctor Who that will also please the fans, which is a difficult juggling act. There’s a big gap between where we meet up with the ninth Doctor and when last we saw the eighth, in which some big things have happened, that we’ll be finding out about as we journey with the ninth Doctor.”

“There’s a space for everyone’s personal version of continuity to work itself out; we’re not treading on anyone’s toes. But we are going determinedly off into the future with new monsters, new characters and a new Doctor.”

Grant’s ninth Doctor promises to be an interesting new take on the character.

“Oh, he’s impatient and angry with humans; he’s caring; he’s passionate; he’s bitingly witty; he’s vulnerable; he’s brittle and a little bit of a snob!” Cornell says. “The part was written for Richard, and I think he’s done an incredible job, finding all manner of subtleties in there. In this story, he meets his new companion, Alison Cheney, and the two actors really struck sparks from each other.”

Producer Muirinn Lane Kelly has assembled a stellar cast. Acclaimed thespian Sir Derek Jacobi will star alongside Grant as his arch-enemy, The Master – proof that the BBC are taking this unconventional return seriously. Amusingly, Jacobi will also be playing the Doctor in another Who spin-off.

The new companion is played by Sophie Okonedo, who recently appeared in the Stephen Frears movie Dirty Pretty Things, and the Doctor gets a new military comrade in the form of Thomas Kennet, played by veteran Irish actor Jim Norton. Filling out the cast are Craig Kelly (who starred as Doctor Who-obsessed Vince in Queer As Folk), Diana Quick and KY-TV’s Michael Fenton-Stevens. The drama is directed by Seattle-born stage director Wilson Milam. “He’s the best director I’ve ever worked with,” Cornell enthuses. “He’s brought a sense of tremendous logic and character development to the piece, helped by this tremendous cast.”

The BBC are keeping schtum on when the finished story will be transmitted, but our bets are on November, given that Doctor Who will be celebrating its 40th anniversary on the 23rd of that month.