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Paul Cornell interview - Radio Times, May 2005 |
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Paul Cornell tells Nick Griffiths about writing poignant Doctor Who episode Father's Day.
On avoiding the pitfalls
"Time travel is one of the most extraordinary traps for science fiction. A lot of old Doctor Who fell into it - there's a fandom saying that any story with 'Time' in the title is a bad one. So you can do a show about time travel, but we wanted to do one about Rose meeting her father. To do that you have to get past time travel quickly."
On writing Father's Day
"One of Rose's great depths is her inquisitiveness. Previous scripts have indicated that she's been thinking about seeing what happened to her dad for a long time, because she never knew him and [mum] Jackie has built up this amazing picture. She initially just wants to be there when he dies, get some closure. Then she opens up this whole can of worms."
"My previous Doctor Who work has been about tear-jerking, about getting an emotional response from the audience. I think Russell [executive producer Russell T Davies] realised that and gave me the real three-hankies job."
On creating the monsters
"Initially I thought of cloaked figures, but then went for animals. I was thinking about snatching claws, like those piggy banks where the hand flashes out and grabs the coin - a scary predator-like motion. The Mill [computer animators] have done a fantastic job. The Reapers look like a mixture of pterodactyl, squid, bat and a mad sort of crow."
On attention to detail
"Inside [the church] is 1987-specific down to a particular prayer book they used for about two years - which is down to my wife being a trainee vicar. I hope people write in to Radio Times having noticed that!"
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Read our 2007 interview with Paul Cornell - or take a look at our full Doctor Who guide.
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