Miracle on Oxford Street - Introduction (By The Genie)
SYNOPSIS:
When the Doctor crash lands into the life of Robin Moon, he leaves his TARDIS and all he owns in ruins. As he gradually putting the pieces back together, the countdown to Christmas begins... But the countdown is something be feared. On Christmas Eve, something deadly is going to happen on Oxford Street. Going undercover in a department store, the Doctor discovers that an unexpected arrival is on its way to Earth; a malevolent force which works against our own understanding of science, and the truth about the modern world is about to emerge. Yet far darker, far crueller and more uncompromising, is the worst secret of all. A secret held by none other than the woman under the Doctor's own roof... |
PREVIEW:
“I’m not going to get you to leave, am I?” “Well…” he swallowed. “You could call the police, but if you go upstairs you’ll find a little ‘police’ sign, so best not. What’s your name?” “Robin. Robin Moon.” She opened a round tin and found herself a rich tea biscuit. “Nice to meet you Robin. I’m-“ Time slowed as the man scanned his surroundings. His eyes flashed across the room in less than a second, taking in everything they saw: the photograph and what was on it; its age and its position in the room, where upon the surfaces the dust had collected and which items of clothing had been hung over the coat-stand in the hall. I can’t exactly call myself ‘the Doctor’, can I? |
“The Eighth Doctor Chronicles”, said DoctorWhoTV reviewer, John Hussey, when he was first discussing the ideas for his upcoming fan-series. He then sent me a plan of the series, all thirteen episodes outlined. At the time I was penning one multi-part story (because all episodes were serialised), The Quest Through History. The episode featured a chase through several historical periods, Pythagoras himself, a space-nun and a stray Ood. I was also, rather bizarrely, in charge of the artwork.
A few episodes were completed. One about giants, one in a scientific laboratory. The Quest Through Time, obviously. A noir-themed episode by Adam Cuthbert was started but, sadly, never finished. Yet, on the whole, people didn’t meet the deadlines. John emailed me saying he’d cancelled the series because no one bothered to hand in their scripts. Which I thought was quite disgusting. Yes, it’s a fan-series, but if you sign up to do something, you put in the time and you do it. Poor John had worked so hard on the series but it all came to nothing. The Eighth Doctor Chronicles was cancelled.
Then I drafted up another, about eighteen months after the cancellation of the original. This one featured a different companion, Elizabeth, who was a Victorian from a parallel version of Earth. This take got even further than the last. Admittedly, I just gave up because I couldn’t be bothered with it.
Even further down the line, and I’m not even sure of the exact time-scale now, I decided that this thing was going to go ahead. And I was going to make it something I was happy about doing. You know how we all have our planned Doctor Who series’ in our head that we’d never share with anyone? That’s this. I’m finally unlocking all those ideas I came up with yonks ago. And this series is going ahead. The writers are reliable and I’m managing the rest of the production too.
But this one is nothing like The Eighth Doctor Chronicles. All they share is the Eighth Doctor. This one is instead structured with the conventional New Who format of a Christmas Special and thirteen episodes making up a series.
And Miracle on Oxford Street is the Christmas Special. The only other Christmas Special I’ve ever done was Haunted’s Prisoner of Love, and this one is the most Christmassy I’ve ever written. I’ve been wanting to tell this story for years. I remember telling people about the idea when I first joined DoctorWhoTV three and a half years ago, and I even had it before then.
It’s like a mix of Miracle on 34th Street, A Christmas Carol and Elf, with aspects of The Santa Clause 2 and even Kill the Moon. It’s not got masses in common with Miracle on 34th street, but the central ideas of belief are there, and there is a miracle that takes place on Oxford Street, so, well, no cheating there.
The most difficult thing has been the Eighth Doctor himself. I only know him based on the TV Movie so the rest was guesswork. Of course, the beauty of fan-fic is: if it doesn’t work, you try again and you’re not damaging anything. I’ve used what I know and focused on the romantic side to the character. Not romantic in an eros way; but in his whole demeanour. He’s got charisma, and he can be quite human.
The most fun has come from characterising Robin Moon, initially the coldest protagonist I’ve ever written for. If this were a TV show and I had input in casting, Suranne Jones all the way.
It’s nice to finish a story and say honestly that you’ve enjoyed writing it. I did, this time. I had an awful lot of fun with Miracle on Oxford Street, and I can only hope that pays off in the end result.
Miracle on Oxford Street will be up on Wednesday 24th December
A few episodes were completed. One about giants, one in a scientific laboratory. The Quest Through Time, obviously. A noir-themed episode by Adam Cuthbert was started but, sadly, never finished. Yet, on the whole, people didn’t meet the deadlines. John emailed me saying he’d cancelled the series because no one bothered to hand in their scripts. Which I thought was quite disgusting. Yes, it’s a fan-series, but if you sign up to do something, you put in the time and you do it. Poor John had worked so hard on the series but it all came to nothing. The Eighth Doctor Chronicles was cancelled.
Then I drafted up another, about eighteen months after the cancellation of the original. This one featured a different companion, Elizabeth, who was a Victorian from a parallel version of Earth. This take got even further than the last. Admittedly, I just gave up because I couldn’t be bothered with it.
Even further down the line, and I’m not even sure of the exact time-scale now, I decided that this thing was going to go ahead. And I was going to make it something I was happy about doing. You know how we all have our planned Doctor Who series’ in our head that we’d never share with anyone? That’s this. I’m finally unlocking all those ideas I came up with yonks ago. And this series is going ahead. The writers are reliable and I’m managing the rest of the production too.
But this one is nothing like The Eighth Doctor Chronicles. All they share is the Eighth Doctor. This one is instead structured with the conventional New Who format of a Christmas Special and thirteen episodes making up a series.
And Miracle on Oxford Street is the Christmas Special. The only other Christmas Special I’ve ever done was Haunted’s Prisoner of Love, and this one is the most Christmassy I’ve ever written. I’ve been wanting to tell this story for years. I remember telling people about the idea when I first joined DoctorWhoTV three and a half years ago, and I even had it before then.
It’s like a mix of Miracle on 34th Street, A Christmas Carol and Elf, with aspects of The Santa Clause 2 and even Kill the Moon. It’s not got masses in common with Miracle on 34th street, but the central ideas of belief are there, and there is a miracle that takes place on Oxford Street, so, well, no cheating there.
The most difficult thing has been the Eighth Doctor himself. I only know him based on the TV Movie so the rest was guesswork. Of course, the beauty of fan-fic is: if it doesn’t work, you try again and you’re not damaging anything. I’ve used what I know and focused on the romantic side to the character. Not romantic in an eros way; but in his whole demeanour. He’s got charisma, and he can be quite human.
The most fun has come from characterising Robin Moon, initially the coldest protagonist I’ve ever written for. If this were a TV show and I had input in casting, Suranne Jones all the way.
It’s nice to finish a story and say honestly that you’ve enjoyed writing it. I did, this time. I had an awful lot of fun with Miracle on Oxford Street, and I can only hope that pays off in the end result.
Miracle on Oxford Street will be up on Wednesday 24th December