Russell T Davies
Russell T Davies, OBE (sometimes spelled Russell T. Davies, born Stephen Russell Davies, 27th April 1963) is a successful television writer and producer responsible for the revival of Doctor Who and the creation of Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. In 2004, Davies was given the position of Executive Producer and head writer of Doctor Who for its revival. Davies has written the majority of Doctor Who episodes.
Biography
Previous work
Russell's first major success was the CBBC fantasy adventure serial Dark Season, which contained strong similarities to Doctor Who. Davies would go on to create a further children's supernatural drama series, Century Falls. He then went on to create the award-winning original Queer As Folk (later adapted into an American version) and an supernatural drama for adults entitle The Second Coming which starred the future Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston as a re-born Christ.
Revival and work on spin-offs
Davies' first proffesional involvement in Doctor Who was in 1996, when he wrote the New Adventures novel Damaged Goods. He wrote Rose, the debut episode of the 2005 revival, made him the first writer of original licensed spin-off fiction to also write for the official TV series and he would go on to commission other colleagues in this area to write for the show, including Mark Gatiss, Robert Shearman, Paul Cornell, Gareth Roberts and Steven Moffat.
As the newly revived franchise flourished, Davies created two spin-off series: Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures, writing or co-writing the debut episodes of both, but unlike Doctor Who his writing involvement in these two shows has been minimal (in Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale, however, Davies writes that he was to have written the opening episode of Torchwood Series 2, which he ultimately did not. Davies is also a regular contributor to Doctor Who Magazine, for which he writes a regular column in which he often drops hints about upcoming stories, usually in the form of random snatches of dialogue or listing words that will appear in the script.
Departure
On the 20th May, 2008, Davies publicly announced his departure from Doctor Who. He will continue to be Executive Producer for the 2009 specials before being succeeded by staff writer Steven Moffat for Series 5 in 2010. He is also executive producing the 2009 series of Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. He has has stated that he will not write for Doctor Who again after the 2009 specials. As of January 2009 it has not yet been confirmed whether he will continue to be involved with future seasons of Torchwood or Sarah Jane Adventures after 2009.
Inclusion of LGBT characters
With the exception of his work in children's television (as even he knew his limits), he has written a proudly and openly gay character in all his work, and Doctor Who is no exception. He became the first writer to write about transsexuality (The End of the World) and male (Aliens of London) and female homosexuality (Gridlock), Steven Moffat holds the distinction of being the first writer to write about bisexuality (The Doctor Dances) but Russell T Davies was the one who created Captain Jack, the first openly bisexual character in televised Doctor Who.
Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale
In February 2007, Davies and Doctor Who Magazine writer Benjamin Cook agreed to begin exchanging e-mails with the intent of creating a series of articles for DWM on the creation of select episodes from the then-upcoming Series 4. This correspondence soon grew well beyond the confines of a magazine and in the fall of 2008 the 512-page Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale was published.
Significant additions to the Doctor Who Universe
Russell T Davies came up with the concept of the Torchwood Institute, the Slitheen, the Judoon and the Cult of Skaro. He also created the Doctor's companions Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness Martha Jones, Donna Noble, Astrid Peth and Mickey Smith. He devised the concepts, formats and regular characters (other than those originating in Doctor Who) for Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. He decided on the casting of Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant as the Ninth and Tenth Doctor (respectively).
Other information
- In 2008, Davies was awarded an OBE, the second Doctor Who producer to receive one (Verity Lambert received an OBE in 2002). [1]
- In an interview he stated the Christmas episode slot was his favorite of the year.
- Davies is also a skilled cartoonist, and many Doctor Who-related examples of his work can be found in Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale.
Selected credits
Writing
Television
Doctor Who
Series 1
- Rose
- The End of the World
- Aliens of London
- World War Three
- The Long Game
- Boom Town
- Bad Wolf
- The Parting of the Ways
Series 2
Series 3
Series 4
2008 Chrismas Special
2009 specials
- Co-written with Gareth Roberts
- The Waters of Mars
- Two more specials have been announced, all to written or co-written by Davies (titles and dates TBA)
Mini-episodes
- Children in Need Special (2005)
- Music of the Spheres (2008)
Torchwood
Series 1
Series 3
The Sarah Jane Adventures
Premiere
- Co-written with Gareth Roberts
Prose
Fiction
Novels
Virgin New Adventures
Nonfiction
Other
- Regular column in Doctor Who Magazine.
- Davies has also written short pieces for the various Doctor Who Annual and Doctor Who Storybook published from 2005 onwards.
External Links
Footnotes
