How did you come to write Dark Season and Century Falls?
I was working in the Manchester branch of Children's BBC, where we made all sorts of comedy and entertainment programmes... but by some weird, ancient BBC law, the Manchester dept wasn't allowed to make children's drama. Which was the one thing I was dying to do. So I wrote the script of Dark Season ep.1 - the first full-length script I ever wrote - and, instead of sending it in as an unsolicited submission, to sit at the bottom of the slush pile, I sent it via the BBC internal mail to Anna Home, head of Children's BBC. So it went straight to her desk! And as I was a producer in her dept at the time, I think she read it quicker than she might have done otherwise. And then it was rather simple - we had a couple of meetings, she asked me to write ep.2, which I did. And then a few weeks later, she said yes! God, that takes me back, it was a great time. But I owe Anna Home everything, I wouldn't be writing now if it wasn't for her.
When Century Falls came around, again I wrote ep.1 unsolicited. I'd then left the BBC and was working at Granada, producing Children's Ward. But I got a letter from Colin Cant, the director of Dark Season, who said that he's been assigned to direct a new children's serial, but - naming no names - it was absolutely dire, and didn't I have anything they could replace it with? So I dashed off CF ep.1, sent it off. And it was commissioned!
There's a number of playful references to cult TV in Dark Season, such as the joke about escaping up the ventilation shaft, and Marcie's 'Doctorish' qualities. What TV shows do you admire, and which - if any - do you feel were influences on Dark Season and Century Falls?
Well, Doctor Who obviously. I wasn't consciously writing a children's version of DW, but all those years of watching had seeped into my skin. But really, I wanted to capture the thrill of all those kid's SF shows I'd watched as a child - Children of the Stones, Sky, the Tomorrow People (when it was good). Nothing on CBBC seemed to be that scary - I think they'd just done Aliens in the Family, which was good in its way, but didn't have that sheer level of drama which I'd always enjoyed. As for Marcie's Doctorishness, the subconscious aside, that really was a coincidence - I was just fed up with the lead characters in Children's drama being so SLOW, it would always take them ages to work out what was going on, and the audience was streets ahead of them. So I invented a character who sort of *knew* that she was in a SF drama, who wasn't remotely surprised by the weird events around her, just so the plot could move much faster. Making her that omniscient then seemed a bit Time Lord-ish, I suppose; but it was a dramatic device, rather than a reference. As she says herself in ep.6, "I watch a lot of TV." (Which was the producer's favourite line!)
Dark Season effectively falls into two linked three part storylines. Did you ever consider writing a sequel concerning further adventures for Marcie and co?
Oh yes, definitely. The novel ends on a third adventure just about to start. But Dark Season was only commissioned - quite suddenly - because Tony Robinson was taking a year off from Maid Marion, so a gap opened up in their schedule. The next year, Maid Marion was back, so no more Dark Season! Also, the actress playing Marcie was already 19, so right at the start of production, they had doubts about ever doing any more. (These days, with 29-year-olds in Dawson's Creek, they probably wouldn't worry so much...) Incidentally, when DS was first commissioned, I didn't tell them it was going to be two 3-parters - in case they told me not to do it! So they were a bit shocked when ep.3 suddenly ended. There were a few frantic phonecalls, with me reassuring them there was more to come.
In addition to a young Kate Winslet in Dark Season, both series feature a number of well known British actors. How much input did you have into casting, and were there any portrayals you were particularly pleased with?
No input at all in those days. These days, you can't get a barmaid with two lines on screen without my approval! But that just takes time and experience - by coincidence, I already knew Colin Cant before he worked on DS, so I knew he'd do a brilliant job. I think, looking back, I'm pleased with all the casting. Meeting Jacqueline Pearce was fantastic, obviously. Such a camp woman, and actually, hugely talented. And now and again, I still bump into Brigit Forsyth around Manchester, she lives just outside the city. I didn't get to know the CF cast so well, because I was busy on Childen's Ward at the time. Bernard Kay gave a brilliant performance, I thought. And I do remember that the actor playing Ash - was it Alex Mollo? - had the best arse I've ever seen on any human being. That made rehearsals a lot more interesting.
You turned Dark Season into a novel for BBC Books, and you've also contributed a nicely provocative novel to Virgin Publishing's Doctor Who New Adventure range. Which medium do you prefer?
Oh, scriptwriting any day. Prose is such hard work. Just describing someone walking into a room is hard work. Though I do love both those novels, just for the achievement of finishing them. I'd love to tackle prose again one day, though God knows what.
The process of transferring a script to screen often involves compromises and changes during the production process. Were you happy with the finished versions of Dark Season and Century Falls, and how faithful were they to your original vision?
Hugely faithful. Strangely, in all these years, I've never been disappointed with a screen version of a script, I think I've been very lucky. Though bear in mind, I'd worked in TV production for years, and know very well what is and isn't achieveable. And I always talk things through with directors in great detail, so we both know what we're talking about. I have to say, both Dark Season and Century Falls contain stuff I *never* thought would look so good. Like, the Behemoth rising through the floor. When I walked on to that set at Ealing, the underground chamber, I couldn't believe the size of it. And Century appearing in flames, out of the waterfall. I thought Colin did the most fantastic stuff on that, it looked *better* than I ever thought it would. Of course, you still can't help wishing for an infinite budget - like, I wish a two hundred villagers could have marched on the Manor House in ep.5 of CF - but you expect that sort of compromise. You're mad if you don't.
Century Falls is arguably lot darker in tone than its predecessor. There are less one liners, a more awkward relationship between the central trio, and the general theme seems to be how people deal with difference - eg the villager's pyshic powers, Tess's weight issues - in a world that's not necessarily that kind. What sort of restrictions did you have to work within writing for Children's BBC?
No restrictions at all. They just let me write what I wanted to write. The day after CF ep.1, it got a review in the Daily Mail, of all papers, praising me for having the nerve to use the word 'fat'! They wondered how I got that 'past the BBC thought police'. But in truth, there was never any fuss. The only line they did worry over was Esme, describing how Mrs Hunter would be 'fused' with her unborn child. The producer actually said in rehearsals that the line was too grim, they'd probably cut it. But they never did!
Do you think a third series for Children's BBC might have continued this trajectory of exploring emotional issues?
I did have a third series planned, vaguely, and yes, it did have even more emotional weight. I wanted it to take place over the six days between Christmas Day and New Year 1999 - this was in 1993, years before all the other millennium dramas! I seem to remember it was about a psychic schoolboy, with his own TV show where he predicted the future, though he was just a puppet for some take-over-the-world regime. And street gangs of homeless kids run by a public-school dropout. Oh, and a father who was out to murder his daughter! Very, very dark. I think it was going to be called The Heat of the Sun. But I never even wrote a word of it, or mentioned it to anyone, my career just took other paths. Who knows, one day. Though it's much too dark for today's CBBC.
The main UK broadcasters seem happy to buy in sci-fi and fantasy shows from America, but reluctant to make their own. Would you like to write another sci-fi series for TV now?
Absolutely, yes. But I think it would have a hard time getting an audience, sad to say. The minority-scheduling of SF stuff on BBC2 and C4 over the years has accidentally made it *feel* like minority viewing. Having said that, next year I'm writing the Second Coming for ITV, about the return to earth of the Son of God. Technically, that would come under the category 'religious drama', but since it contains epic special-FX miracles, and devils galore, it certainly feels like SF to me. Or perhaps more accurately, horror. So it can be done!
Russell, thank you very much.
September, 2001
NB Since this interview The Second Coming has been broadcast on ITV.