Featured on next month’s “Special Edition” DVD release of The Visitation is a documentary looking at audio adventures, Doctor Forever – The Apocalypse Element. In the film former showrunner Russell T Davies laments that he didn’t approach voice of the Daleks, Nicholas Briggs to pen a story for Doctor Who. Davies said:
“Looking back I think, to be honest, I always regret that we never asked Nick Briggs to write a Doctor Who script. He writes cracking Big Finish stories.”
Big Finish are a company that produce exclusive Doctor Who audio adventures that feature past Doctors. Davies went on to talk about how their license for the show was unaffected by its return to television in 2005; the writer reveals:
“I swear to god, if Mal Young [Doctor Who Executive Producer at that time] had found out about Big Finish, he would have canceled them. He would have axed their license.” Describing a meeting with BBC Worldwide when the topic of Big Finish and their license was broached, Davies said, “I remember leaning across the desk and went, ‘That’s fine. Mal, I’ll take charge of that. You don’t have to worry about it. It’s fine, let’s move on.’ I literally stopped it being discussed.”
The Visitation: Special Edition is released on May 13 in the UK – full details HERE.
Thanks to BBC Worldwide
I may have problems with some of RTD's stories and tropes, but by God that man is a hero for every fan of Doctor Who.
He's just being nice about one of the subjects of the documentary. If he actually wanted Briggs to write for the show, he would've gotten him! Is there seriously a groundswell of fan support for Briggs writing mediocre scripts for the new series?
[…] Adam: “I swear to god, if Mal Young had found out about Big Finish, he would have cancelled them. He would have axed their license… I remember leaning across the desk and went, ‘That’s fine. Mal, I’ll take charge of that. You don’t have to worry about it. It’s fine, let’s move on.’ I literally stopped it being discussed.” http://www.blogtorwho.com/rtd-regrets-not-askng-nick-briggs-to/ […]