Posted in: BBC, Disney+, Doctor Who, TV | Tagged: doctor who

Doctor Who Writer Inua Ellams' Insights on "The Story and the Engine"

Writer Inua Ellams offers some interesting insights into Doctor Who: "The Story and the Engine", which sees the Doctor and Belinda in Nigeria.

This week's episode of Doctor Who, "The Story and the Engine", is new writer Inua Ellams' first script for the series and a special episode in many ways. It's the first episode of the series written entirely through the lens of a culture other than Britain as the Doctor and Belinda stop by in Lagos, Nigeria, to face a sinister barber and his customers-turned-prisoners who have to feed him stories. Ellams was a child in his native Nigeria and grew up watching Doctor Who there before immigrating to the UK, and is now an acclaimed playwright moving into screenwriting. The BBC released an interview with Ellams about the upcoming episode – here are some of the highlights:

What is the process of writing an episode of Doctor Who? Is it different from what you've done before?

The turnover time is faster. A play takes me five or six years to write, but we had to do this in a relatively short time – in about a year. It's also very different from writing a regular drama, when much of the information and storytelling comes out through dialogue. You have to think pictorially. It took me some time to really boil down into that. I had really great script editors, particularly David Cheung, who worked with me diligently across the script. Russell's vast knowledge and experience and input was, without a doubt, viscerally important to writing it.

I really liked working with Russell. There was something the previous showrunner said to me, Chris Chibnall, which I think is true: "Doctor Who is a sci-fi and horror for eight-year-olds, but also for all ages." I kept that in mind. What would terrify an eight-year-old, but what's also fun and exciting? How do you honour as much of what has come before, whilst creating new things for a new generation? It was great to grapple with, and I had so much fun.

What can you tease about the episode you've written?

It's entirely set in mostly one location. The moral of the story is to give credit where it's due. And I took that little idea and expanded it, and really drew it out. It is a huge story, but also a very simple one that sits on a lot of social history. It's one location, a lot of fun, a lot of mythology written into it, but a new myth too.

The Buddy Cop Dynamic of The Doctor and Belinda

What was it like writing for the Doctor and Belinda?

Ncuti and Varada brought so much joy and tenderness to the script I had written. Early in the drafts, I tried to make fun of the fact that he's called the Doctor and she's a nurse, I tried to play out a sort of buddy-cop relationship, but I quickly realized there was much more at play, and something deeper between them.

The series starts off with Belinda determined to get home, the Doctor trying everything he can to get her home, and the frustrations all that causes. There's a shift in this. Compared to other companions, Belinda doesn't want to go on adventures. She loves her work, she wants to do her work; she's thrown into this adventure. Most companions decide to go with The Doctor but Belinda doesn't have a choice. Keeping that in focus really underpinned the decisions I made about how the characters talk to each other.

If you could describe your episode in one word or phrase, what would it be?

It's a call to artists and creatives to always give credit where it's due.

Doctor Who: The Story and the Engine premieres Saturday on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in the UK and Disney+ outside the UK.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!