RTD talks to Mark Lawson

The Who maestro himself was interviewed for an hour by Mark Lawson on BBC Four this evening. It was refreshing to see Russell Davies (real first name Stephen, we learn) talk in a voice other than his fan-placating, fan-teasing one from the 'Production Notes' column in Doctor Who Magazine and his appearances on Doctor Who Confidential, although the effect was to tell me just how much of a performer he is. This was Russell Davies (he loathes the affected 'T') flattering Mark Lawson and reaching out to an audience who might be wondering when he is going to get back to the original dramas with which he made his name. We learned tonight that he hadn't necessarily expected there to be a second series of Doctor Who, reiterated that Christopher Eccleston had always only been expected to stay for one year; and that though his calling card to the BBC had been for years that he wanted to come back and make Doctor Who, he'd privately thought that the concept had had its day. Mark Lawson said that a flop was widely expected and there were people in the industry preparing to make applications for the jobs of Lorraine Heggessey and Jane Tranter. Russell said that he knows when David Tennant is leaving and when he is leaving.

Oh, and someone has finally tracked down Russell's one appearance on Play School. He was slimmer then, and looked a bit like an elongated Mark Curry. A good communicator, though; he was teaching the under-six audience about drawing cartoons and calculated it absolutely right. He made up most of the letters in Why Don't You? when producing that, he said; otherwise every single programme would have been wall-to-wall recipes for chocolate rice krispie cakes.