Doctor Who: An Interview With Writer Robert Shearman

Image: Tony Hisgett

British writer and playwright Robert Shearman, responsible for the writing of the "Dalek" episode from the first "New Who" season, granted this interview in which he discusses the show, his new show, The X-Files and more. Shearman, in NYC to put on his 1992 play Easy Laughter, will also appear at Brooklyn's Who-themed bar The Way Station for a screening and discussion of "Dalek." One question and a partial answer from the interview follows; read the rest of his answer and the full interview here.

"Q. 10 years after "Dalek" debuted, the episode remains firmly entrenched in the hearts of Doctor Who viewers. How was the episode impacted your life, and why do you think that it continues to resonate with people on such a large scale?

A. It's the weirdest thing, that it's now ten years old. And that Doctor Who is still going! I think that was my principal concern, actually, looking back - I knew that what Russell was doing was extraordinary, but I had no reason to believe that Doctor Who itself would become terribly popular again. All my lifetime it had been this little show that had been a vague embarrassment to people, it seemed - when I was a kid, it wasn't the cool thing to like in the playground. And I thought that even if we had a hit on our hands, we'd never get the chance to have a run of stories that would mean Doctor Who could have the richness of the classic series - we'd never last long enough to get a regeneration, or a new producer. We'd have 'this' version of the show, but never 'that' version of the show. And it leaves me still boggled that it's still going so strong a decade later - that it really does now seem we could give the original 26 year stint a run for its money."

Doctor Who: An Interview With Writer Robert Shearman