Article about author Justin Richards writing for Eleven
From the Coventry Telegraph:
Writer Justin knows all the secrets of Matt Smith's Doctor Who
By David Bentley on Mar 11, 10 10:20 AM
JUSTIN RICHARDS knows all about the new Doctor Who, played by Matt Smith.
The fifth series of the hit sci-fi show arrives on our screens at Easter, with Karen Gillan as the Time Lord's new companion Amy Pond.
While viewers are eagerly waiting to find out what 27-year-old Matt is like as the newly-regenerated Doctor and what adventures are in store from new showrunner Steven Moffat, Justin has already had a sneak peek at some of the upcoming episodes.
That's because Justin (pictured right), who lives in Warwick, is the Creative Consultant for BBC Books' range of Doctor Who books. He advises on all Doctor Who titles and has written about 30 books himself, starting with Theatre of War in 1994, an adventure featuring the 7th Time Lord, played by Sylvester McCoy.
He has just penned one of the first novels to feature Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor. It's called Apollo 23 and comes out on April 22.
He also wrote the final book to feature David Tennant's Time Lord. Doctor Who: Code of the Krillitanes was published last week as part of the Quick Read campaign to promote literacy.
Being in charge of all the books means Justin has to consult with BBC bosses to get approval for every adventure he and other writers have in mind. He also has to know what's going on in the TV show, so in order to write about Matt Smith's character he has to see him in action.
"I've read scripts for the new series and watched rough versions of some of the episodes in a darkened room in Cardiff", he admitted. "We're all sworn to secrecy of course but I'm confident viewers won't be disappointed."
When asked which Doctor is his favourite, Justin gives some indication we are in for an exciting ride when the new series arrives at Easter.
"David Tennant was absolutely brilliant", he says, "but what I have seen of Matt Smith is very good so it will be a very interesting new direction for the show."
Justin, who studied at Warwick University and then worked at IBM computers before his career as a sci-fi and children's writer took off, explained that creating stories about each new Doctor has been a different experience.
"It's not like James Bond where there is a different actor playing exactly the same role", he said.
"The Doctor's underlying behaviour and beliefs do not change but with each regeneration his style and mannerisms and mode of speech do alter and I and the other writers have to be familiar with all of that.
"You can only get so much of that from reading scripts - particularly when the actor's performance is as rich and multi-faceted as Matt Smith's."
The BBC has final say on all the books and sometimes asks for changes if show bosses don't like part of a story or want to use it in a TV script instead.
"I once put forward a story from one of our writers with a young Winston Churchill", says Justin. "But they asked if I could do something else because they might want to do one with that character in the future.
"And sure enough, a couple of years later and the new Doctor is set to meet Winston Churchill in one of the early episodes this year."
He was also asked by Russell T Davies to change the name of a device - and book - he'd called the Genesis Casket, because Russell liked it so much he wanted to use it himself.
Justin changed the name to the Resurrection Casket, with the book coming out in 2006, and Davies ended up using the name Genesis Ark for an artefact imprisoning millions of Daleks in the TV episode Doomsday that same year.
In one of Justin's stories featuring Matt Smith and new companion Amy, he reveals he wrote some dialogue in which Amy makes a comment about an aunt. He was asked to alter it from aunt to teacher because show bosses didn't want to be tied down to including an aunt who matched that description in any TV stories.
It's all part of the rich and evolving Doctor Who mythology that has grown over many decades and Justin is well-placed to be one of its storytellers and custodians.
He's been a fan of the show since he was just two - with Patrick Troughton's Doctor a favourite from the classic series - and has also written several non-fiction guides to Doctor Who's countless monsters and aliens.
And he has his own advisers on hand for all his stories - his two sons Julian, 16, and Chris, 12, read his proofs and are "forever giving me ideas", he says.
So does he harbour any wishes to write for the Doctor Who TV show? "It's a very different discipline and focus", he says, "but I'd love to do it."
Justin's new children's book - The Chamber of Shadows - is out on April 1.
Writer Justin knows all the secrets of Matt Smith's Doctor Who
By David Bentley on Mar 11, 10 10:20 AM
JUSTIN RICHARDS knows all about the new Doctor Who, played by Matt Smith.
The fifth series of the hit sci-fi show arrives on our screens at Easter, with Karen Gillan as the Time Lord's new companion Amy Pond.
While viewers are eagerly waiting to find out what 27-year-old Matt is like as the newly-regenerated Doctor and what adventures are in store from new showrunner Steven Moffat, Justin has already had a sneak peek at some of the upcoming episodes.
That's because Justin (pictured right), who lives in Warwick, is the Creative Consultant for BBC Books' range of Doctor Who books. He advises on all Doctor Who titles and has written about 30 books himself, starting with Theatre of War in 1994, an adventure featuring the 7th Time Lord, played by Sylvester McCoy.
He has just penned one of the first novels to feature Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor. It's called Apollo 23 and comes out on April 22.
He also wrote the final book to feature David Tennant's Time Lord. Doctor Who: Code of the Krillitanes was published last week as part of the Quick Read campaign to promote literacy.
Being in charge of all the books means Justin has to consult with BBC bosses to get approval for every adventure he and other writers have in mind. He also has to know what's going on in the TV show, so in order to write about Matt Smith's character he has to see him in action.
"I've read scripts for the new series and watched rough versions of some of the episodes in a darkened room in Cardiff", he admitted. "We're all sworn to secrecy of course but I'm confident viewers won't be disappointed."
When asked which Doctor is his favourite, Justin gives some indication we are in for an exciting ride when the new series arrives at Easter.
"David Tennant was absolutely brilliant", he says, "but what I have seen of Matt Smith is very good so it will be a very interesting new direction for the show."
Justin, who studied at Warwick University and then worked at IBM computers before his career as a sci-fi and children's writer took off, explained that creating stories about each new Doctor has been a different experience.
"It's not like James Bond where there is a different actor playing exactly the same role", he said.
"The Doctor's underlying behaviour and beliefs do not change but with each regeneration his style and mannerisms and mode of speech do alter and I and the other writers have to be familiar with all of that.
"You can only get so much of that from reading scripts - particularly when the actor's performance is as rich and multi-faceted as Matt Smith's."
The BBC has final say on all the books and sometimes asks for changes if show bosses don't like part of a story or want to use it in a TV script instead.
"I once put forward a story from one of our writers with a young Winston Churchill", says Justin. "But they asked if I could do something else because they might want to do one with that character in the future.
"And sure enough, a couple of years later and the new Doctor is set to meet Winston Churchill in one of the early episodes this year."
He was also asked by Russell T Davies to change the name of a device - and book - he'd called the Genesis Casket, because Russell liked it so much he wanted to use it himself.
Justin changed the name to the Resurrection Casket, with the book coming out in 2006, and Davies ended up using the name Genesis Ark for an artefact imprisoning millions of Daleks in the TV episode Doomsday that same year.
In one of Justin's stories featuring Matt Smith and new companion Amy, he reveals he wrote some dialogue in which Amy makes a comment about an aunt. He was asked to alter it from aunt to teacher because show bosses didn't want to be tied down to including an aunt who matched that description in any TV stories.
It's all part of the rich and evolving Doctor Who mythology that has grown over many decades and Justin is well-placed to be one of its storytellers and custodians.
He's been a fan of the show since he was just two - with Patrick Troughton's Doctor a favourite from the classic series - and has also written several non-fiction guides to Doctor Who's countless monsters and aliens.
And he has his own advisers on hand for all his stories - his two sons Julian, 16, and Chris, 12, read his proofs and are "forever giving me ideas", he says.
So does he harbour any wishes to write for the Doctor Who TV show? "It's a very different discipline and focus", he says, "but I'd love to do it."
Justin's new children's book - The Chamber of Shadows - is out on April 1.