"I came up with an idea when we were doing The Cold Equations about what would happen next – which is why it’s seeded, at the end of The Cold Equations, what will happen next. The initial idea was to do a story that I’d come up with for one of the Benny plays, which was a two-hander with people in a prison cell thinking they were going to be executed the next day, and my idea was to have it all as dialogue rather than with narrated bits, but that became too similar to something else. We kind of re-thought it, and I based it on one of my Astronomy homeworks about radio transmissions, and how far signals from earth travel."
I think you told me once before – I can’t remember which story it was for – about talking to that bloke who appeared on Doctor Who Confidential showing Karen Gillan telescopes and things, cos you wanted to research something. How important is that level of scientific accuracy to you?
"With Cold Equations, I went out of my way to get the physics right, and as a result Marek – who was the guy at the observatory – suggested I do a GCSE in Astronomy. And I have done!"
Oh, so the GCSE came from you researching a Doctor Who story? I thought it was the other way round; that you were researching these things because you had the knowledge and the contacts from the GCSE.
"Yeah. Basically, I asked Marek if he’d look over my story, and his response was that some of it was quite complicated and he’d have to have a think about it, but other bits were really really simple and I’d just got basic things wrong, so he kind of suggested that I do the Astronomy course. Which is aimed at 15-year-olds! I’m a proper arts student – my Maths and Physics is hopeless – and I was saying this, talking about the GCSE thing, to some mates in a pub, and one of them said 'Oh, I’d like to do that', so we did it together. I’ve spent the last year going to space classes, basically, and learning all about it, which has been good fun. But really rough – it’s been a long time since I did exams."
Has doing the GCSE changed your approach to Doctor Who storytelling, then?
"I think it’s more that I just spot things. The thing I’ve been doing at the moment is Blake’s 7, for Big Finish, and I’m watching it going 'The planets they’re beaming down to are clearly gas giants, they’re based on pictures of Jupiter, they wouldn’t have a solid surface'. And with coordinates, I’m spotting–"
What you’ve done there Simon is just ruin television for yourself.
"[laughs] Yeah! I’m quite good at spotting historical inaccuracies in stuff, and in things I’ve written I’ve always tried to get those right. And now I’m a bit more aware of the science bits and pieces too. But I’d always tried to get things right before; if I’m breaking rules, I’d rather I’m doing it on purpose than because I don’t know."
But doesn’t that ever creatively limit you? What if you come up with a great idea – something that’s dramatically really rich – but then go “Oh but it wouldn’t work like that scientifically” and have to abandon or alter it?
"Most often, it’s not so much the science of stuff, because you can work round that. And actually, if you find something that limits you, you can use that as part of the story, so The Cold Equations is all about the fact that the physics is really tough. The thing that usually causes the most problems is coming up with something that’s similar to what’s been done before."
I want to talk about Oliver Harper. Cos last time we spoke on the phone was before any of his stories had come out, and you said you weren’t sure how people would react to him. Now that listeners have heard two Oliver adventures – and, I think it’s fair to say, responded incredibly well to them – how are you feeling?
"I’m delighted. In Doctor Who Magazine, [reviewer] Matt Michael was relatively unconvinced by him in The Perpetual Bond, but was won round by The Cold Equations–"
I didn't mean reviews really, they’re just one person, the enthusiasm on forums and at conventions and things is the real proof I think.
"Yeah. I’m really pleased. I’m pleased because he’s quite an old-school way of doing a companion, in that he doesn’t really wear his emotions on his sleeve. Companions now, they’ve got families and whatever, where Oliver is quite stiff-upper-lip and old-fashioned. He’s... I wouldn’t say 'cold', but he’s a bit reserved. And he’s meant to be; he’s meant to be a character that you’re a bit unsure about. But yeah, I’m delighted. It’s partly because of Tom Allen, who makes him so charming, and partly because of Oliver’s relationship with Steven, which comes out through Peter and Tom, and works really well."
But it can’t have been a complete surprise, can it? Not saying you would be arrogant or presumptuous and expect a good response, but you must have had some inkling from David [Richardson, producer]’s enthusiasm and from having seen Tom’s performance that Oliver was something special, before the plays had come out.
"Well I knew Tom’s work, from Bleak Expectations on Radio 4, so I was delighted when they cast him and thought that was a real coup. Ooh, and a top fact about Tom is that when Matt Smith was discovered by former Doctor Who companion Wendy Padbury, who became his agent, he was in a production with Tom, and Wendy signed them both! But yeah, Tom comes with a proper reputation. I was thrilled that we got him. I guess I knew that what we were doing with Oliver was quite risky. I hoped people would embrace him, because... he’s a good person, I think, and rather noble. It’s kind of weird because, writing it, you want people to like it, but you can’t really control it. You just try and make it so you can understand what’s going on in his head."
How protective are you of Oliver? If there are more stories told about him and they’re written by someone else, will you secretly be a bit gutted?
"Um... [pauses]"
Cos it’s like, this is the first time they’ve done this, creating a new companion for a sixties Doctor, so it’s unique and special. And it’s gone down really well. And if I’d created that, something as brilliant as that, I think I’d want to keep my hands on it. But then again I am a bastard.
"[laughs] Yeah, I don’t know. It’s funny, really, because just by writing Doctor Who – or any sort of series like that – you know it’s not yours. You’re picking up things other people have created and running with them. So I guess you have to be... I don’t know. That’s an interesting question. I think I’d be quite thrilled if someone else wanted to write for Oliver, yeah. Of course they’d get it wrong! But that’s part of the fun of what you do. It’s in no way the same, but if you look at Captain Jack, for example: created by Russell [T Davies] for the Christopher Eccleston series, and look where he is now. It’s interesting how a character can be created, and then written by different people, and taken in lots of different ways."
I want to talk about Steven, cos you’ve talked a lot about how abruptly companions left in sixties Doctor Who, and I know that’s something you wanted to explore in this trilogy – the fact that Katarina’s just died, and Sara’s just died, and Steven maybe feels like he’s living on borrowed time. Where do we go with Steven in The First Wave?
"Actually The First Wave was originally going to be called Borrowed Time – that’s what I pitched it as. David pointed out while I was writing it that there was a BBC Book called Borrowed Time, so we had to change that. But it was great, actually, because once I worked out that it was going to be called The First Wave, a whole load of things arrived in my head: the two episodes are called The First Wave and The Last Wave, and that gave me a sense of how to tell the story that wasn’t there before, which was nice. There are whole sequences there because of the title change!
"But to go back to your question... yeah, that came from a DVD documentary where Peter Purves pointed out that everyone left quite abruptly: Maureen O’Brien came back from holiday to find she was being written out, Adrienne Hill was suddenly killed off, and although Jean Marsh knew she was always going to have a limited run, the way her character was dealt with was still quite harsh – and he and William Hartnell were rather surprised that those contracts weren’t being renewed. And so he had this... what’s the word? Discomfort? He was a bit aggrieved about that, after all these years. Not in an upset kind of way, just that he wished everybody could have been treated a little better. But when I was listening to the episodes of The Daleks’ Master Plan, Steven actually seemed really bothered about the loss of Vicki, the death of Katarina. And then at the end, he actually had a go at the Doctor. And in The Massacre they have a huge argument! I thought that was such an interesting dynamic. How would you deal with it, if your experience of travelling with the Doctor is that everyone around you dies? And not just the people you meet on your travels, but everyone who travels with you as well? It was trying to use what was there, and trying to play up to it, like I did with Sara Kingdom, using the moment you find out that Bret Vyon’s her brother. There’s immediately some potential to tell a story once you find that way into the character."