Mark Gatiss has given a new interview to the Islington Gazette where he speaks on a number of Doctor Who and Sherlock topics, ranging from the show’s inherent Britishness to new star Peter Capaldi.
Mark, who writes Episode Three of of the forthcoming Series 8, says that the success of both Doctor Who and Sherlock lays in their Britishness:
“Every time I have a meeting with someone who’s trying to water down a British element, I just think, ‘look at the facts’. If you tried to make James Bond a mid-American man he wouldn’t have any of his charm, so it seems silly to me to try and bland things out to make them more palatable when in fact it’s the most distinctive flavours that people respond to. It’s like an Indian meal!”
While Sherlock is said to take up most of his time, Mark has penned another episode for Doctor Who’s Series 8, unfortunately one of the five scripts leaked to the internet by accident this past month:
“It’s annoying, but not the end of the world because the only people who will read those are people who will spoil it for themselves.”
Despite any hiccups there have already been with the new series, Mark is enthused by Capaldi’s performance, joining the near universal praise as the buildup to the debut of the show this August continues:
“I’ve seen quite a bit of him and he’s absolutely fantastic. Peter’s just got this amazing, fierce, funny, slightly alarming quality to him – he reminds me a lot of Alastair Sim, actually. You’re not quite sure where you stand with him; he’s very funny, but he’s got this glint in his eye and I think it’s a terrific run of episodes.”
Gatiss also echoes Ben Wheatley who compared Capaldi to Troughton, Pertwee and Baker in this month’s Empire Magazine, highlighting the alien in the new Doctors performance:
“The brilliant thing about Doctor Who is that it’s always changing like the central character – not just the face of the actor, but the direction of the show. David and Matt were both wonderful, but both were very human Doctors and I think it’s time to remind people that the Doctor isn’t always like that. He’s that sort of Tom Baker, Jon Pertwee and even Christopher Eccleston style actually: it’s someone who’s not immediately going to be your best friend and can be quite abrupt and rude.”
With the success of both Doctor Who and Sherlock, not to mention the likes of Game of Thrones (Mark stars in Series 4 as Tycho Nestoris), the Marvel and DC Universe and the resurgent popularity of Star Wars and Star Trek, Mark is left to conclude that the geek has truly inherited the Earth…
“I always find it weird to hear people talk about Sherlock or Doctor Who as a cult TV show – I don’t know how much more mainstream you can get. It’s been said before that the geeks shall inherit the earth and it’s amazing how all the big American films – the genre films, superhero films – they’ve gone completely mainstream. Now you’re almost in a cult if you don’t like them.”
Mark Gatiss’ as yet officially unnamed episode of Series 8 will guest star Ben Miller and Tom Riley and is scheduled to be broadcast on BBC One and BBC America on September 6, 2014.
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