Comments on: An Open Letter To Russell T. Davies

By: Carter

Carter — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 04:38:30 +0000

Yeah I mostly agree with kate I think John needs a little perspective but I also think that although Russel was an amazing producer I think the show will e in good hands with Steven Moffat considering he wrote the scripts to most of what I consider the best episodes with the exception of Fathers Day.

By: kate

kate — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:24:45 +0000

I think John should get his priorities right. First he says Doctor Who, quite frankly the highlight of most people’s week, is a time filler, then he says it has wonderful undertones, and then he says that Russel T Davies should stop writing for the show!!!!! Excuse me, but I think you are mad. Very, very, very mad. Without Russel, the entire show would slowly but surely start to become an old peice of clog in a beautiful and fast flowing river. No offence to other writers, but Russel makes the show what it is, as one of the most-watched and best-loved programme in the UK. Making Pick of the week much more often than East Enders, the show is truly magical and if Russel took your advice, I must say at least a million viewers would stop watching, including me.
Thank you.

By: Me...

Me... — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 08:11:44 +0000

This was a terrible letter. Poorly written and ill informed. Mark Gatiss hardluy alludes to the original series, and paul cornell is a much better novellist then screenwriter. RTD has done some truly fantastic episodes and has come up wiht some great ideas. The series two finale was all down to him and it was bloody fantastic. And if you look intothe history behind Tooth and Claw you’ll relise that it is an epic in itself; the way it wraps up true events wiht a classic fictional idea into one hell of a story. And to top it off it starts the huge Torchwood story arc tha spawned its own series. RTD is a brilliant man, with a brilliant mind. Although, his allusions to homosexuality are annoyingly common, but that’s part of his charm. I hope he stays on as a writer and producer for a long long time.

By: Tracy

Tracy — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 13:07:29 +0000

We’ve just finished watching the end of series 3 in Australia. We wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of the variable quality of the episodes – excellent with moffat and cornell; disappointing and annoying with RTD. love your letter. do you think we can turn it into a petition to stop RTD from scriptwriting? shall we all send a copy to the BBC? anyway, thanks for the awesome letter. great to have like-minded reviewers out there.

By: Ted Shatner

Ted Shatner — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 22:40:35 +0000

Cornell once more stands out with Father’s Day – another remarkably emotional and evocative episode, made all the more impressive by using the dreadfully cast and constructed family Rose was surrounded by, and somehow making them tolerable, let alone engaging.

I never thought much of Jackie Tyler (or the actress who played her) but I always liked Peter Tyler and Shayn Dingwall was certainly not ‘dreadfully cast’ (he performed well alongside Don Warrington, not chewing up the scenery like Trigger did). I also grew to genuinely like Mickey as well.

And Russel T. Davies can write decent, solid episodes – “The End of the World” was one of the better episodes of Season One, there was nothing wrong with the two Christmas specials that he penned (Davies actually made f**king Tate watchable), “Doomsday” was superior to 90% of other season finals from other sci-fi shows, “Love & Monsters” was far darker than it’s camp reputation would suggest (well you are sewing silk purses out a pig’s ear if you script involves a monster drawn by a eight year old) and “Gridlock” was the best episode of the first half of Season Three.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 10:13:05 +0000

*coughs* I mean hear hear!

By: Rachel

Rachel — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 10:11:51 +0000

Here here!!

By: Andy Krouwel

Andy Krouwel — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 12:52:01 +0000

Hurrah! Blink was indeed excellent.

By: afray

afray — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 13:43:25 +0000

I had stopped watching Who, but by pure chance I caught Saturday’s second part. I was amazed by how good it was (although I thought it got cheesy-bad with the memorial ending, but maybe I don’t have a soul).

However isn’t this the same feeling you get the day after having the flu, where the cold, tiredness, and mild headache are so much better than the hours of self-pity you just spent tucked up in bed?

By: John

John — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 20:56:24 +0000

Yeah I saw. And the appalling Helen Raynor has somehow got another two-parter. What exactly would it have taken for her to /not/ get given another script?