Officially sanctioned by Who\u2019s creative team and featuring a role for Jodie Whittaker\u2019s Doctor, Redacted follows a trio of conspiracy-loving friends who find themselves swept into a dangerous crisis. Everyone in the world has forgotten the Doctor, and her friends are disappearing outright \u2013 so who\u2019s behind it? And why are Cleo, Shawna and Abby (Charlie Craggs, Lois Chimimba and Holly Quin-Ankrah) the only people who can stop it?<\/p>\n
We caught up with scriptwriter, series creator and author Juno Dawson to find out more about the series\u2019 origins, how returning showrunner Russell T Davies gave his input and what we can expect for the next seven episodes. Plus, bonus LINDA content for all you LINDA fans out there.<\/p>
Hi Juno \u2013 from your perspective, how did the Doctor Who: Redacted story begin?<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s been 84 years\u2026 <\/em>It really has. I was approached by lovely Ella Watts from BBC Sounds in the middle of 2019. I\u2019m the first to confess: I was like, \u201cI don\u2019t get it.\u201d Even though I had written for Big Finish audio on the Torchwood range previously, I was like, \u201cA podcast, but a script? I don\u2019t understand.\u201d<\/p>\n And then we did some brainstorming. I just like the idea. I like the idea of there being a podcast within a podcast.<\/p>\n And I did think, \u201cWhat if there were these three girls who love conspiracy theories, and they\u2019ve kind of clocked that something strange is happening with this blue box, and there\u2019s this legend of the Doctor, but they\u2019re way off?\u201d<\/p>\n So it\u2019s been in the works for a while?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Well we recorded the pilot in January 2020, and, of course we knew that Doctor Who: Redacted involved some sort of a viral threat. In January 2020, we were all like, \u201cThis is relevant. Snatched from the headlines. Ooh, COVID \u2013 it\u2019s a good job that\u2019s not in our country.\u201d And then, of course, it completely shut down everything. I thought that was going to be the end of the project.<\/p>\n And then, well, a year-and-a-half later, almost out of nowhere, I got this email saying, \u201cWe\u2019ve got the greenlight. It\u2019s happening. PS We need the scripts tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n And so it went from being this sort of period of huge inactivity to it being an absolute mad dash in order to have it ready for the Easter special. The run-up to April has been a lot.<\/p>\n What was the original pitch the BBC gave you?<\/strong><\/p>\n There was a very strong conviction that they shouldn\u2019t do, I suppose, the expected thing\u2013 which is, after the televised episodes, have a bunch of fans and a recognisable BBC face just dissecting the episode.<\/p>\n They knew that was a bad idea because there were so many fan podcasts doing that. So it felt like to come on and say, \u201cThis is the official Doctor Who podcast\u201d was actually quite disrespectful.<\/p>\n But BBC Sounds did want an official Doctor Who podcast. Doctor Who hadn\u2019t existed in that space before. Ella\u2019s background is massively in audio drama, and she felt there was a space for this kind of podcast within a podcast.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a long history of Doctor Who characters being riffs on Doctor Who fans, right? Like LINDA from Love & Monsters, and Clive from Rose\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, we said really early on that if Russell T Davies was bringing back Doctor Who now with that episode, Clive would have had a podcast. 100 per cent. And possibly so would LINDA.<\/p>\n There was a very, very brief chat about whether we went back to LINDA, and did the official LINDA podcast. But that would have required much more input from Russell, and obviously he\u2019s got his hands full. He\u2019s a busy man. So we went our own way.<\/p>\n Also, you want to bring something new to it. While there are lots of Easter eggs and lots of references to Doctor Who past \u2013 Shawna, Abby and Cleo and their lives, they are 100 per cent my invention. That\u2019s what gets me interested as a creator as well.<\/p>\n With that said, there are plenty of returning characters \u2013 Kate Stewart, Rani and Jodie Whittaker\u2019s Doctor to name a few.<\/strong><\/p>\n Yes, obviously, so far, on the podcast, you\u2019ve heard from Anjli [Mohindra], and you\u2019ve heard from Jodie. There are plenty more cameos to come. And each one of them was so professional, and the way they\u2019re able to just slide into these old roles was a really joyful thing.<\/p>\n Did you have a wish list for characters?<\/strong><\/p>\n Now there\u2019s a question! We did have a big, long list. I will say, Russell\u2026 There were some characters we weren\u2019t allowed to use. That\u2019s all I will say. And maybe Russell has reasons for that. This is all I\u2019m going to say.<\/p>\n Actually, I don\u2019t know that. Even I don\u2019t know the answer to that. We were just told no in some cases.<\/p>\n For me, the dealbreaker was whether or not we\u2019re going to get the Doctor. And I did want Jodie. I would have been devastated if we hadn\u2019t. And, of course, by the time we actually got to recording, Jodie had wrapped her last episode of Doctor Who. So we were kind of like: \u201cWe\u2019re basically calling a Doctor out of retirement, to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n And thank goodness, she was really up for it. She didn\u2019t even hesitate. It was just a big, old yes. You know, the day she came in was, I think, the best day of my career so far.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve mentioned Big Finish \u2013 you\u2019ve written for them before, and they\u2019re the face of Doctor Who audio drama. What makes Redacted different?<\/strong><\/p>\n Initially, there was some conversation about stepping on Big Finish\u2019s toes. I love the guys at Big Finish. I\u2019ve worked for them. They are lovely. I mean, in some ways, they were my first script commissions.<\/p>\n So there was conversations around how to make it different. At one point, we were going to use interview sections with real people, and real experts. So if the Blue Box Files girls had been studying spiders in Sheffield, we would have brought in a real-life sort of arachnid scientist.<\/p>\n And then we were like, \u201cWe are making this so complicated.\u201d Audio drama is a big, wide world. Our episodes are shorter \u2013 20, 25 minute chunks, whereas with Big Finish, you know, you\u2019re sitting down to listen to a big, hour-long instalment.<\/p>\n Also, I wanted them to be commute length. And the commute in this country tends to be about 25 minutes.<\/p>\n That\u2019s smart!<\/strong><\/p>\n That, again, took me back to the 1980s episodes \u2013 like, the last time Doctor Who was 25 minutes long.<\/p>\n I’m mostly off Twitter rn, but I can just say a great big thank you to the Doctor Who fan community? I was *quite* nervous about the reception #DoctorWhoRedacted<\/a> might get (podcast, new cast etc) but you’ve been SO warm, welcoming and ready to accept the new characters.<\/p>\u2014 Juno Dawson (@junodawson) April 25, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote>![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/04\/RT-DrWhoRedacted-00136-f4fbef7.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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