Recently in Writing for Television Category

Dialogue is one of the most challenging skills a writer has to develop. Producing words that sound natural and - above all - human, takes real talent and hard work. As discussed previously when analysing The Assassination of Jesse James, people rarely say what they actually mean, necessitating the writer to imbue dialogue with subtexts and subterfuge.

"Change my dear. And not a moment too soon!"

So said Colin Baker's Sixth Doctor having just regenerated from Peter Davison on the floor of the TARDIS. For the long-running sci-fi series ‘Doctor Who’, regeneration means a lot more than adding a new name to the opening credits. Change is at the core of the series format, and it is this constant transformation and evolution that has kept the series going for 45 years.

In fiction, there are no limitations on the worlds you create. But once you establish a fictional world for your characters to inhabit, it becomes fixed. The rules of this fictional reality have to remain constant. Once your reader or audience has constructed an understanding for your world in their minds, changing the rules later on can shatter the fiction.

I came across the whole " 'Doctor Who' is a kid's show" argument again this week. Personally, I thought Warren Ellis was more supportive of the show than he recently indicated on his own forum boards. But by placing the kid show label on Doctor Who, he perpetuated a pop culture myth that really has had its day.

“Personally, I think DOCTOR WHO is a kid's show, and I watch it with my daughter. If I didn't have a daughter, I doubt I'd be watching it. Not being a kid and all.”

Warren’s argument seems to be that if a show is enjoyed by children as well as adults, it is a kid’s show. If he had merely said that he wasn’t that interested in the show and probably wouldn’t watch it without his daughter, it would be a different argument. But clearly he relates his disinterest to an identification of the show as purely kids stuff.

Riayn, in her blog ‘Dancing with Architecture’, recently posted about children’s books that stand the test of time. Which novels and characters are still going to be published thirty or forty years from now? Will our children still be reading the same books we grew up with? This post got me thinking about quality children’s writing, in books, films and television, meaning you may see a few posts on this broad subject over the next few weeks.