Queer as Who

Russell T Davies talks about Queer as Folk.

Back, back in the mists of time, one Russell T Davies wrote a controversial Channel 4 drama series called Queer as Folk which featured a devoted Doctor Who fan as one of its main characters. In those dim, distant days of 1999, the Cult site interviewed Mr T Davies, then thought nothing about it and filed the result away in an e-drawer.

Then, after Mr R T Davies suddenly became the most important man in Doctor Who, we rediscovered it. And here it is now!

Queer as Folk contains numerous references to Doctor Who, especially through the character of Vince Tyler (played by Craig Kelly, later to appear in Scream of the Shalka), a supermarket manager and Doctor Who fan, who is perhaps the series' most sympathetic character.

Russell admits that the role is partly autobiographical. "I'm not a huge Doctor Who fan, but I really love television. I'll stay up to five o'clock if something like The Vanessa Show is on. I thought, if I'm going to write a character who's obsessed with television it might as well be a Doctor Who fan, partly because the character is true-to-life, and partly because it meant that I didn't have to do much research! If he'd been a Juliet Bravo fan, I'd have had to go and watch loads of episodes of that!"

Almost every episode mentions or feature Doctor Who. Two clips are shown - the climax of episode one of Pyramids of Mars and Ronson's extermination from Genesis of the Daleks - in episodes one and five respectively.

In one of the later episodes, K9 makes a cameo appearance, when Vince is given a full-sized replica as two potential suitors try to outdo each other with the ultimate present. "It was great!" says Russell. "We had the real K9, operated by [BBC special effects maestro] Mat Irvine."

Russell says that the BBC were very co-operative: "Obviously we had to pay to use the clips, and the theme music, but they were very helpful. They could have just refused. I mean, it's a late night series, full of sex and swearing, but they read the script, liked what we had done, and were very supportive. It was just as well, because by then I'd written it into the first three or four scripts!"

Russell reveals that, "although there are all these little references throughout the series, the climax of the last episode all hinges on which of two men can correctly name all the actors who have played Doctor Who.

"We were watching that scene at a screening the other day, with the head of Channel Four. We started to worry that this chap wouldn't be the sort of person who'd get it, the sort of person who'd never watched Doctor Who in his life, but he absolutely loved it."

Queer as Folk has another Doctor Who connection in script editor Matthew Jones, another New Adventures book author, and regular contributor to Doctor Who Magazine.

"Matthew's checked the Doctor Who stuff for me, because, although I really love the show, I'm not a walking encyclopaedia", laughs Russell.

Russell says that the character will strike a chord with Doctor Who's sizeable gay following, and hopes that fans won't be upset or disappointed: "It is nice to show Doctor Who fans in a different context. Usually when they're shown on television it's as scarf-wearing lunatics, so this will be something different."

The series is likely to shock viewers with its frank look at the gay lifestyle. Russell is expecting some complaints, and warns faint-hearted viewers "Look, it's on at half past ten, it's Channel Four and it's called Queer as Folk. What do you expect? The signposts are very clear!"