The Stage

Scriptwriter Davies criticises peers for hostility towards emerging talents

Published Tuesday 11 December 2007 at 11:45 by Matthew Hemley

Torchwood creator Russell T Davies has hit out at his fellow writers for the lack of “support and empathy” they show new creative talent starting out in television drama.

The lead Doctor Who writer also labelled his contemporaries “book burners” and claimed that some of them were too quick to criticise younger writers in the industry.

He said: “Writers, especially when they become successful, become book burners. They sit there saying ‘you should not write this’ and ‘you should not write that’. They have all trained on soaps and lowlier dramas but as soon as they get into a position of power they look at people doing those things and criticise them. Those are the students coming up though the ranks just as they did.”

He added: “The lack of support and empathy and sympathy from a lot of established writers is shameful - they should shut up.”

Davies was speaking to The Stage ahead of Torchwood’s second series, which begins in the New Year on BBC2, where it has moved from BBC3.

Speaking about his aim for the show’s second run, Davies said he wanted it to “be a bit more fun”.

Each episode of series two will be repeated with an edited version that can be shown pre-watershed to make it more suitable for younger viewers and families.