Andy Murray (2)

As a Doctor Who fan, I am grateful to Russell T Davies for bringing back the show and making it as great as it always deserved to be. But as a British television viewer, I am also grateful to Doctor Who for introducing me to the work of Russell T Davies, who has gone on to be one of my favorite writers, as I've enjoyed everything from his pen that I've seen. Casanova is great. The Second Coming is powerful and dramatic. Bob & Rose contains the one scene in television guaranteed to make me show more well up. And someday I'll sit down and watch Queer as Folk. He has an ability to be both funny and heartbreaking, to create characters who seem utterly real and to present great cosmic ideas. Appropriately enough, his life is also hugely entertaining. I annoyed my wife to no end by reading her out anecdotes from this book, a biography of Davies from beginning to around the end of Doctor Who's fourth season.

T is for Television is more a biography of Davies's career than his life per se, which can be frustrating-- Davies's depression and other such problems are only alluded to, as is his relationship with his long-term boyfriend. Most of the book shows Davies moving from show to show as his career develops-- and so does his authorial voice. Mark Aldridge & Andy Murray provide a great overview of ever television program he ever worked on, drawing from media reports as well as interviews with Paul Cornell, Nicola Schindler, Gareth Roberts, and the man himself. His shift from a writer of children's telefantasy to soap operas to gritty dramas to operatic sf is detailed with an overview of every show and Davies's own creative process. Now I want to see the Davies shows I haven't seen already even more. It's a good biography; the only part that doesn't work for me is when Aldridge & Murray make attempts at textual criticism, as they're so brief that they feel insubstantial and unsupported-- as well as out of place. Also: I'd really have liked it if the book had come out in 2009 or 2010, as I really wonder what they would have made of Davies's move from king of British television to BBC representative in Los Angeles. But I'm sure that had they waited, a newer development would have come up, and the book would have become out-of-date anyway. As the book shows, Davies keeps on writing, keeps on working, keeps on wowing us with brilliant television. show less

Television writers in modern times are largely unfamiliar and anonymous, a line in the credit to most. Few would even be considered as promising suggestions for biographies, even if, like Paul Abbot and Jimmy McGovern, they’d likely be fascinating subjects. With the combination of critical acclaim (Queer as Folk, The Second Coming), popular success (Doctor Who) and flamboyant personality Russell T Davies is perhaps the only truly obvious candidate.

It’s largely a straightforward run show more through Davies’ life, from his early life in Swansea to the end of his time on Doctor Who. Like many other Who biographies the background details are run through as quickly as possible to get to his career history. Whilst Davies’ own input gives these sections some insight the lack of detail can be frustrating at times – for instance, there’s a reference to a dating incident in which Davies nearly died but which gets not so much as a brief detail (it led me to wonder if episode 6 of Cucumber contained some autobiography). But the book does shine when it moves to Davies’ career, demonstrating how luck, bravery and chutzpah are big factors in any writing career and examining the fine lines between success and failure. Davies’ self-analysis of his work is as intelligent and candid as you’d hope and expect after The Writer’s Tale. A good basic overview if you’re interested in Davies’ career but as it stands this shares the general faults of so many Who biographies in reducing potentially fascinating subjects to no more than career achievements. show less

Lordy does it need an edit and proofing. Very much worth the read, however.