Behind the Scenes of Fear Her - Part Six
Excerpt from David Darlington's interview with writer Matthew Graham for Doctor Who Magazine:
David Darlington: Talking of the Doctor – how early in the process did you become involved? Were you, at any stage, writing for the ninth Doctor rather than the tenth?
Matthew Graham: No, it was always... when I started, I don't think David Tennant was officially attached. It was the worst kept secret in television, everyone knew about it, but no-one was officially acknowledging it. And there were rumours going round about Alan Davies, Stephen Fry, Bill Nighy, Richard E. Grant – but everyone knew it was going to be David Tennant. So right from the start I was writing with David in mind, and fairly soon after that it was confirmed. And that made it so much easier – watching Casanova, you just thought "Yeah, yeah, yeah! This is going to be great!" He is so good... and of course he's a fan, as well. He grew up with Doctor Who. I was talking to him the other day, and he said "When I was a kid I used to play at Doctor Who – I used to play at being the Doctor and now I am the Doctor!". What are the chances? That's another reason why I enjoyed the process – how could you possibly want to sully this experience? Why would I ever want to look back and think, "Doctor Who – that was the programme where I had all the rows with people"? The only thing I did, was when I started I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to do it and that Russell would have to rewrite it. And I didn't know how I would handle that, and I was very concerned. I was so concerned I phoned Russell and said "I'm really worried I'm going to mess this up, and you're not going to be able to tell me how I'm messing up, and you're going to have to rewrite it." And he was great - he said, "It's not going to happen on this show because you love it and you're coming at it with enthusiasm - that's the best weapon you've got." And he was right, because it was never a painful process...
Other parts of this set: [ one ] [ two ] [ three ] [ four ] [ five ] [ List of all Doctor Who Behind the Scenes photosets ]
