By Huw Fullerton

Published: Tuesday, 12 July 2022 at 12:00 am

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It’s a febrile time for David Tennant/Catherine Tate Doctor Who returns, with the fan-favourite actors set to make a comeback (under mysterious circumstances) to the acclaimed BBC sci-fi series next year.

Fans have a while to wait before they see them in action – but in the meantime they can revisit the pair’s heyday thanks to a new novelisation of The Fires of Pompeii, based on the 2008 episode that saw the Tenth Doctor and Donna take their first adventure in the TARDIS together.

Travelling to Pompeii (instead of Rome – whoops!), the newly-formed partners in time argued over the Doctor’s responsibility to help the doomed people, fought lava-monsters and met some (future) familiar faces in Peter Capaldi’s Caecilius and Karen Gillan’s Soothsayer. Now, that story comes to life again – with a textual twist or two.

Recently, we caught up with writer James Moran to find out what it was like to adapt his own script into a book, what new details he retrospectively added into the story and his thoughts on the next Tennant/Tate comeback on the way.

Plus: who knew tectonic plates were so noisy?

Hi James – I have to ask, what was it like adapting your own script for prose? What was the process like?

It’s tricky, because I’m so used to scripts now, and I’m not used to prose. I find it a lot harder than scripts. Obviously, the story’s already worked out, so that part is taken care of. It was just trying to figure out all the things I wanted to put back in – all the places where it needed to be expanded, and some of the things that I couldn’t really do.

In a TV episode, you can cut back and forth between scenes very quickly, but you can’t do too much of that in a book. It gets a bit confusing about who’s speaking, and whose point of view it is.

Right from the very first sentence, it was just the knowledge that people would be seeing every single word I put down on these pages, whereas in a script, most people don’t tend to read the script – they just see the episode or the film.

Was it a bit nerve-wracking?

Completely, yeah. When you write scripts, it doesn’t matter if your grammar isn’t amazing, because what matters is that you’re communicating in the stage directions what the audience see and hear. So it doesn’t have to be beautiful, flowery language. But in prose, they’re going to see every single word, and it’s terrifying.

I used to be very, very good at grammar, but I’ve developed a few bad habits over the years with scripts.

If you cast your mind back to 2007, what were the biggest obstacles you found when you sat down to write the story in the first place?

There were two main ones. The first was that because it’s a real event in history – we obviously can’t change history and say that it didn’t happen. It’s a big event that the Doctor can’t prevent. He can’t stop it from happening. So that was quite a challenge because it kind of sits right in the way of your story. That was tricky.

The other main challenge for me – because I’ve been watching the show since I was 3 or 4 years old, as long as I can remember – the very first time I tried to write the Doctor’s first line… I did a few lines, where I was like, “No, that doesn’t sound like him.” And I couldn’t figure out why it didn’t sound right.

And then I realised: it doesn’t sound right because to me, the Doctor’s a real person, and my brain is aware that I’ve just made that line up for him. So it doesn’t sound right because I’ve made it up, and he hasn’t said it. So that messed with my head a little bit.

And also doing things like… When you write “INT. TARDIS” for the first time – that is bonkers. And is it “DAY” or “NIGHT”? Because they’re in space, so it’s neither. So my brain kind of got in my own way a little bit.

You mentioned putting some stuff back in to the Target book. Was there anything you cut from the TV script that you reinstated?

Yeah, there were a couple of things to do with volcano behaviour. There was a really cool piece of research I found when I was planning it. It was just about how the Earth’s rock plates grind together under the ground. I found some recordings of that, and it’s just the creepiest sound. They slowed it down, because normally you can’t hear it. But it was terrifying.

So I took a bit of artistic license with that, and used the slowed-down version. It’s things like that where in a TV show, you make the point once, and you don’t need to come back to it. In a book, you’ve got more room to put in some more tangents and inside notes and things.

BBC

I did notice one or two bits that I think were added. You highlight Caecilius’s distinctive face, which obviously was played out in the series when the Twelfth Doctor (also played by Peter Capaldi) recognised the connection. Was it fun to retrospectively tie that together?

The concept had already been done. So it’s not like I had to think up an explanation for it. Luckily, Steven Moffat had explained it in one of his own episodes. I didn’t actually ask him. I just sort of lifted it.

I think he’ll allow it.

It was supposed to be just about what’s in the episode, but I thought, “I’ll throw that in.” I just sort of hinted at it, so hopefully he won’t sue me for royalties.

I think it’s fine. When I read Russell T Davies’ redo of Rose, he added in Jodie Whittaker and Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi to Clive’s shed. So for these Target adaptations, I think it’s a little tradition.

Yeah. I think if I hadn’t, people would have been a bit taken aback.

There’s a little reference to the Doctor Who lockdown watch-along video as well, wasn’t there? The Descendants of Pompeii?

Yeah, because I just thought that was a nice idea – and I’ve done this in a few other stories as well – just the thought that occasionally the Doctor would go back and check on people. He wouldn’t just pop into their lives, and disappear forever. I liked the idea that he would check in on people that he’s encountered, and just make sure they’re OK.