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James Moran interview - Radio Times, April 2008 |
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Writer James Moran talks to Radio Times's Nick Griffiths about his first Doctor Who episode, The Fires of Pompeii.
"It may come as some surprise that the people of Pompeii had no word in their vocabulary for "volcano".
James Moran, writer of The Fires of Pompeii, explains, "There had been a big earthquake about 17 years before the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 and ever since, there had been lots of tremors, which they thought were the gods rumbling or shouting. They'd make an offering to the household gods every time there was a tremor. They just didn't know.
"If it happened now, I would think the world was ending. Back then, having no idea what a volcano was, and with their superstitions and beliefs, it must have been absolutely terrifying. They must have thought the gods had come down to rip the place to pieces."
Just in time
The Doctor and Donna arrive in Pompeii shortly before Vesuvius blows, leading to a horrible moral dilemma: does he warn the people, thus altering the course of history, or does he do nothing?
Naturally, the Time Lord's human companion will have plenty to say, and Moran reveals that, had it not been Catherine Tate's Donna, the responsibility would have fallen to an all-new character: "When I first got the job, they didn't know Catherine Tate was coming back, so they were trying to come up with a new companion called Penny. But they kept saying, 'We really loved it when Donna was in the Tardis, and that relationship,' so it was obvious they wanted to move it in a different direction; more of an adult friend than a wide-eyed younger girl."
Harder than it looks
Moran, who also scripted the archly wonderful horror film Severance and a recent episode of Torchwood, happens to have been a huge Who fan since childhood, which he imagined would make getting into the Doctor's head rather easy. Au contraire. "It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to write. They say that upfront: 'It's the hardest show to write for.' I thought, 'For everyone else, maybe; I think you'll find that I won't have any trouble!'"
Some 20 deleted versions of David Tennant's opening line later, he admits, "I went mad for a while: over 40 years of history…eight million people watching every week…the ten-year-old version of myself watching as well…I thought, 'Am I going to have to phone them up and say: I really appreciate this, but you'll have to find someone else, because I can't cope!'"
He didn't, happily, as you will see. Indeed, James Moran came up with something rather explosive…"
**
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