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impulse
Can RTD Save the BBC
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Russell T Davies is the talented TV maestro tasked with lifting Doctor Who to the standard he once set. More importantly though, he may be the key to ensuring the BBC meets the standards it once set. Words by Gregor McRae
I
t was just after tea-time on a Spring 2005 evening when my five-yearold self ’s mind was blown. I’d just watched Rose, a regular shop girl from London, being whisked off her feet by a mysterious alien to travel across time and space. Having adventures, battling monsters, saving planets. It was only the first episode of the revived series of Doctor Who, and I was already completely hooked. Russell T Davies, the man behind the rebooted show, wanted to create event television that whole families would sit down to watch every weekend. Talking from childhood experience, he succeeded. It was the talk of my primary school after each new episode. Later in the week, I’d excitedly discuss the latest instalment with my grandad when he came round for tea. It was one of those rare programmes with a real cross-generational appeal. Davies had successfully taken a cheesy, cheap, cult sci-fi show from yesteryear and turned it into a cultural phenomenon. It had big ratings and rave reviews, but it was also so much more than that.
He had created a drama with relatable, likeable, flawed, and well-rounded characters that reflected people in modern Britain. Characters firmly rooted in reality, despite the outer space setting. Rose was a young working-class girl from a council estate. Martha was a medical student trying to pass exams while also dealing with family problems. Donna was a gobby but loveable woman trying to find a job during a recession. Real, relatable people. Through Davies’ writing, the show also taught its often young audience valuable life lessons without being patronising. It was unashamedly antiwar, with the Doctor being written as a pacifist due to the horrors he had witnessed and taken part in previously. The mood of the nation was reflected when the New Labour government of the time and the invasion of Iraq were satirically represented by horrific green farting aliens inhabiting Downing Street that wanted to start an intergalactic war, because of “weapons of mass destruction” that didn’t exist. I’d love to see what creatures Davies would create to represent the current bunch in charge of the UK. Other episodes during Davies’ tenure in charge of the show addressed topics such as racism, homophobia,
bullying, religion, slavery, and sexism. There was open discussion about - and representation of - various sexualities, races, and backgrounds. Quite the feat for a family show in the mid-2000s. This line from Rose in the season one finale, brilliantly performed by Billie Piper, encapsulates the overall message the show was aiming to get across. “You don’t just give up. You don’t just let things happen. You make a stand. You say no. You have the guts to do what’s right when everyone else runs away.” It was recently announced that Davies, or “RTD” as fans affectionately refer to him, will return as show-runner of Doctor Who in 2022, beginning a new era more than a decade after he left. Since his departure, the show has steadily lost viewers. During his time away, Davies’ reputation has gone from strength to strength. He created the critically acclaimed show Years and Years about an ordinary English family trying to survive a dystopia in the not-too-distant future, as well as the mega hit It’s a Sin, an emotional series loosely based on his experiences as a gay man during the AIDs crisis in the 1980s. In recent years, the BBC has been constantly looking over its shoulder
