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Russell T Davies on The Christmas Invasion - Radio Times, December 2005 |
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Russell T Davies, the writer who magically regenerated Doctor Who, sets the scene for The Christmas Invasion…
"A killer Christmas tree! Deadly
Santa assassins! Alien
spies disguised as a brass
band, complete with
flame-throwing trombone! What else
could this be, but Doctor Who? For me,
that's always been its speciality - taking
the ordinary world and twisting it,
finding nightmares in the everyday.
And with a surplus of tinsel, elves and
jollity, what could be more sinister
than Christmas itself?
2005 turned out to be a remarkable
year, even for a Time Lord. Way back
in January, the production team was
cowering in the caves of BBC Wales,
dreading a big, loud, public failure. It
seemed like some grand folly - an old,
dead sci-fi show, revived in primetime?
Madness!
But to everyone's
surprise, people seemed to welcome
back that rarest of things, a genuine
TV hero. The Tardis came home.
Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper
burnt their way across the screen,
reinventing the concept of Doctor
and companion.
As a result of all this, I got my
Christmas present early - a commission
for a brand-new, 60-minute Doctor Who
special. It took zero-point-six seconds
to think of the title, The Christmas
Invasion. Those three words just sum up
the whole thrill of Doctor Who - the
familiar and the dangerous jammed
together to make something new.
For the cast and crew, Christmas came
in July. Which meant that our production
base, Cardiff, had no choice but to join
in. They're getting used to us now in old
Caerdydd. They barely blinked as we
decked the city centre with tinsel and
then, in true Doctor Who style, blew it
all up.
Passers-by smiled and trudged
happily through the fake snow. And
here's a funny thing - people see snow
and think it's cold, even in summer. They
shiver and stamp their feet! But
then the aliens arrived on set, and you
can guarantee that as soon as some poor
actor steps forward with his face covered
in suffocating latex - take a bow, Sean
Gilder, as Leader of the Sycorax - the
temperature will rocket. Oh, he sweltered
inside that suit!
But for all the monsters, stunts and
scares, right at the heart of this new
episode there's that most Christmassy
of elements: home. If the Doctor lacks
one thing in his remarkable life, it's
family. But beyond the family you're
born with there's the family you invent,
cobbled together out of lovers, mates
and kindred spirits.
And now the
Doctor has created exactly that, on a
London council estate, with Rose Tyler,
her mum Jackie and Rose's on-off
boyfriend, Mickey. It's a daft, strange
alliance of ordinary folk, who all rise
to the occasion because their lives
have been touched by a Time Lord.
Mind you, I can't guarantee that
this rackety group of humans and their
regenerated friend will survive to see
Boxing Day. This December, we're
going to need the Doctor more than
ever before, as hostile eyes turn towards
the Earth. So good luck, everyone.
Watch the skies. The invasion is coming!"
**
Now take a look at our full Doctor Who guide.
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