Posted in: BBC, Doctor Who, TV | Tagged: deadpool, grant morrison

Grant Morrison Planned Out A Season Of Doctor Who With Ben Wheatley

During a recent Reddit AMA, Grant Morrison discussed planning out a whole season of Doctor Who with Generation Z's Ben Wheatley.

In 2022, Grant Morrison wrote on their Substack newsletter, Xanaduum, about the possibility of writing Doctor Who for television, decades after they had written a few short Doctor Who comics for Marvel UK, publishers of Doctor Who Magazine. They told TechRadar, "Well, it kind of did happen. I did pitch a couple, but it didn't work out. One of these days, I've got a whole season worked out, so I'm sure it'll happen eventually." Then posted far more details to their Substack. It turns out it was just as Matt Smith was to leave, though before Peter Capaldi had been named as his successor.

"At the start of 2013, I went down to London to pitch a bunch of ideas to Steven Moffat and his team…  I think there were two potentially great stories out of the five or so I pitched – one was a 'timey-wimey' story designed to work as a high concept Doctor Who feature film and the other a heart-wrenchingly emotive Railway Children episode set in World War 2 – nevertheless, even after a few attempts at refining the first idea, I didn't make the grade. Having now worked at all stages of TV production, I know exactly where I went wrong in emphasising certain aspects of the story over the ones the BBC were keener for to have in foreground.

"One of my stories involved meeting the Doctor as a child, which then happened in a very different way in the episode Listen. I'd also created some new monsters they really liked so while unwilling to commission any scripts from me, the BBC did offer to buy out my baddies! As an offer, it left a lot to be desired and I'd have got more busking Oasis songs for an hour, so I declined and kept the characters in the event I ever got another shot."

"A few years ago, I befriended my personal favourite UK auteur, who also did a few Doctor Who episodes. Following many chats, we ended up with a whole fantasy season of Doctor Who adventures which can only be described as revolutionary! We have big, mad ideas for the Doctor, the Companions, the Daleks, the season arc, the TARDIS and everything else, that not only fit with canon and are blindingly obvious but have never been done before! So there does exist what I can only describe as an ultimate Doctor Who pitch, poised to materialise, awaiting the day Russell Davies tires of the Time Lord!"

Bleeding Cool's Adi Tantimedh speculated that this might have been Alan Garner or possibly Paul Cornell. But in this week's Reddit AMA to promote the Batman/Deadpool crossover from DC Comics, a few of which Bleeding Cool has compiled with this handy tag, Grant Morrison wrote "I'd love to write for Doctor Who!… I have a whole total revamp season worked out with Ben Wheatley… but they'll never let us near it…" Ben Wheatley wrote the Deep Breath and Into The Dalek episodes for Steven Moffat and Peter Capaldi's Doctor Who, and more recently, the excellent zombie social satire, Generation Z for Channel 4. And whom Adi has already tipped at the next Doctor Who showrunner.

As for other television possibilities, they posted "I'd like to see Seven Soldiers done as a TV show but I'd want to write it!… I loved Peacemaker and Eyes of Wakanda. Like fools, the DCU didn't offer me anything to write! Even though I've created and developed three seasons of television in the last ten years! Imagine an Animal Man show! Or Seven Soldiers!"

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