farewell to the tardis

(from 18/10/14)

In early 2004 my agent managed to get me a meeting. They were rebooting Doctor Who apparently, had read a spec script of mine and wanted to chat.

While I was waiting in reception at the BBC, Christopher Eccleston wandered in and stood talking to one of the receptionists. He hadn't yet been announced as the new Doctor but I'd loved him in Cracker and considered saying something to that effect.

I weighed it up for a long minute, but in the end did nothing, bottling it and rationalising that he was probably sick of exchanges like that.

I was eventually called into my Doctor Who meeting. I didn't get the gig.

Ten years and three regenerations later I finally cracked it. I got asked to write for Doctor Who. Twice.

I've had an absolute ball writing these scripts. If you enjoy watching them half as much as I did writing them, then I've plainly done something wrong. And at every step of the way I've had the support of a wonderful team of smart people pointing out when I'm not. Smart, that is. Which is quite handy, because it turns out that's fairly often.

And astride it all like the Who colossus that he is, Mr Steven Moffat, whose notes have fixed so many glaring errors and added so many cool aspects to the episodes that someone should really put him in charge of the show or something. No seriously. He's that good.

So I hope you've enjoyed my two week tenure at the helm of the Tardis. Or as Steven refers to it: 'The Jamie Mathieson era.' Thanks to everyone both in front of and behind the camera for making my words come alive.

It's been a blast.