The multi BAFTA-winning writer Russell T Davies has given a Masterclass to NFTS students at which he talked about writing ‘Doctor Who’ and creating its spin-offs ‘Torchwood’ and ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures,’ as well as ‘Queer as Folk’ and the Channel 4 series ‘Cucumber,’ ‘Banana’ and ‘Tofu.’
Doctor Who
Speaking in conversation at the NFTS event, hosted at Channel 4, with NFTS Script Development tutor Angeli MacFarlane, Russell T Davies said he consciously tried to make ‘Doctor Who’ very British: “If there was an opportunity to have someone run past Big Ben, I would have them do that so that (British) children watching it can feel ‘this is happening on my doorstep!’ and help them feel they own it.”
Writing Characters
Asked about the creation of the openly gay character Captain Jack in ‘Doctor Who’ and its spin off ‘Torchwood,’ Davies said that the BBC had been “…completely open to that and never questioned it.”
His series ‘Queer as Folk’ is widely regarded as having changed the landscape of British television with TV critics praising Davies for the “…powerfully emotional punch he can pull - beautiful and haunting in equal measure.”
Speaking to students about the importance of emotional involvement with characters, Davies said: “Good writing feels like it comes from the heart,” adding “…you have to fight to get energy into your scripts because writing itself is a very passive process – you’re sedentary, and have to fight to put energy into the script so that it’s not just people talking to one another.”
‘Cucumber, ‘Banana,’ Tofu’
Also speaking at the NFTS Masterclass were NFTS Directing Fiction graduate Lewis Arnold (‘Misfits’) and NFTS Editing graduate Paulo Pandolpho who worked on several episodes of ‘Banana’ and ‘Cucumber.’ They lived together while they were working on the series so that they could continue working through the night.
“You have to take your opportunities in life & work hard. I gave everything else up, put on 12 kilos, to completely focus on it and loved it; it meant something to me. It changed my life, working on this,” said Pandolpho.
Davies said he had hired Lewis Arnold to direct episodes of ‘Banana,’ after an interview on Skype: “Most people when they do a Skype interview they have a bookcase, or their office in the background, Lewis had set his up so that you saw the whole set he was working on behind him – all these lights and things - so we were immediately impressed!”
He’d also been impressed by Lewis Arnold’s short film ‘Echo,’ and said how important short films were, but added that it was also key to see that Arnold had also directed the formatted show ‘Misfits’ “… so we knew he could schedule and look after a crew.”
Davies knew he wanted Paulo Pandolpho to edit the crucial episode of ‘Cucumber’ when the key character Lance dies. Davies told the masterclass students that he wanted the death of the character Lance “…to feel brutal,” and Pandolpho said he felt “…emotionally devastated after cutting that episode.”
Reflecting on the process of switching from dark moments to humour within a script, Davies said: “We all live on different levels all the time – here we are having a nice time, I’m really happy to be here with Paulo & Lewis, and we’re all having a nice chat, but at the same time each and every one of us has something we’re worrying about - so why should scripts fit into a single thing?”
Paulo Pandolpho gives this advice to Editors starting out in the industry. WATCH his mini masterclass HERE
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Pictured are Russell T Davies (centre) with NFTS graduates Lewis Arnold (director) and Paulo Pandolpho (editor) and current students at the NFTS masterclass.
