Russell T Davies lambasts diversity fixation of ‘rubbish’ new TV writers
Doctor Who’s showrunner has criticised a new wave of “rubbish” TV screenwriters who are more interested in diversity than television.
Russell T Davies, the award-winning writer who is overseeing future episodes of the long-running sci-fi favourite planned by the BBC, has decried the quality of emerging creatives.
Many script writers are in the television industry to “increase representation”, Davies has claimed, and their work is “rubbish”.
He said: “I do a lot of mentoring, and there are voices wanting to be heard – of any gender or ethnicity – who consider themselves invisible.
“They hate the media that ignores them, and they’re trapped into wanting a job in that medium purely to increase representation. I read their scripts and they’re rubbish.
“They don’t actually love television, so they don’t know how to write for it.”
‘Go and work on the bins’
Doctor Who has itself been criticised for pushing a perceived political agenda with its recent storylines, which have included a time-travelling episode taking in the bus protest of Rosa Parks, and moves to make the main cast more diverse.
Davies, who revived the series in 2005, has returned as showrunner to oversee future episodes after the most recent run suffered a mixed reception, with a new series set to launch in 2023.
Fellow creative Mark Gatiss, speaking to The Sunday Times, also shared his concern about the quality of emerging TV creatives, saying: “Sometimes I think I’m like Pollyanna because I’ve met so many people over the years who hate making television.
“It seems to make them so miserable. Go and work on the bins or something. It’s hard work – it gives you ulcers – so you have to love it.”
Davies has suggested a method of increasing enthusiasm for television would be to make the entire back catalogue of Doctor Who available on iPlayer, saying that the programme is “our heritage” and “deserves to be there so kids can fall in love” with the series.
