In a guest appearance on BBC’s The One Show, former Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies revealed that the very first Doctor Who script he ever wrote will be adapted into a Big Finish audio adventure.
“It’s a strange thing. I reached into one of those boxes I have at home full of old paper and old bills and I found this which is a Doctor Who script I wrote in 1985 on an electric typewriter in a bedsit in Cardiff and I think someone’s going to make it! They’re going to make it and my friend Scott Handcock is going to make an audio version of this with a company called Big Finish.”
It would appear that some Big Finish news has leaked… luckily, I don’t think anyone noticed, as it was on an obscure web forum… oh no, wait a minute! pic.twitter.com/RCoU7wp4nH
— Big Finish (@bigfinish) January 18, 2021
He tweeted some pages of his script during a watch-along of The Runaway Bride.
HERE IT IS. In preparation for today’s tweetalong, I went through some old papers to find the script and found… the VERY FIRST DOCTOR WHO SCRIPT I ever wrote!! On a manual typewriter! In 1985! 1986? Sixth Doctor and Mel! #SantasARobot pic.twitter.com/Kq4IEph25K
— Russell T Davies (@russelldavies63) December 18, 2020
Davies successfully brought back Doctor Who two decades later starring Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper with the premiere of Rose but before that, he sent an untitled script, a sixth Doctor adventure he now calls Mind of the Hodiac, to the Doctor Who production office.
MIND OF THE HODIAC. I think I sent this to the Doctor Who production office. I’ve always said in interviews that I sent in a rough version of The Long Game… but think I misremembered, I think it was this. Must have been. I’s not bad, I like it! #SantasARobot pic.twitter.com/H2WTQFamUp
— Russell T Davies (@russelldavies63) December 18, 2020
But it wasn’t to be.
“When the show closed down in 1989, I had a letter from Andrew Cartmel saying ‘Thank you for your idea, I liked it and put it to one side for consideration but now we’ve closed down…’,” Davies stated in a tweet which contained a page for the script.
— Russell T Davies (@russelldavies63) December 18, 2020
I think I sent this to the Doctor Who production office. I’ve always said in interviews that I sent in a rough version of The Long Game… but think I misremembered, I think it was this. Must have been. It’s not bad, I like it! #SantasARobot pic.twitter.com/8k3cJIg3LG
— Russell T Davies (@russelldavies63) December 18, 2020
When the show closed down in 1989, I had a letter from Andrew Cartmel saying ‘Thank you for your idea, I liked it and put it to one side for consideration but now we’ve closed down…’ (Contrary to what he says in next month’s DWM, fact fans) #SantasARobot pic.twitter.com/VI2UTBuvST
— Russell T Davies (@russelldavies63) December 18, 2020
OKAY, it’s not the Doctor Who rarity you wanted. It’s not a missing episode, it’s a never-episode. But it’s the first script by the man who went on to relaunch the show in 2005, that’s not too bad! #SantasARobot pic.twitter.com/McMSfyrnwm
— Russell T Davies (@russelldavies63) December 18, 2020
I won’t post the whole thing – this story could still work! But it’s very much my Doctor Who, even in 1985, great big cosmic events all focusing down on an ordinary Earth family. Come and bid, Big Finish! #SantasARobot
— Russell T Davies (@russelldavies63) December 18, 2020
That’s the end of the script pages Russell T Davies tweeted. For the rest of the story, we’ll need to wait until Big Finish records, produces and distributes Mind of the Hodiac.