The BBC News website is reporting on revelations in the forthcoming The Writer’s Tale: The Final Chapter today, including that Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus from ABBA were lined up for a musical version of Doctor Who spin-off show Torchwood. Yes, really!

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From page to screen and back again! In The Independent today, Kate Youde reports on the new crop of festive TV adaptations that are luring in new readers, including this month’s updated edition of The Writer’s Tale.

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“For anyone, including myself, who has wondered exactly what it is a ’show-runner’ does, The Writer’s Tale offers a blow-by-blow account… I did come away with an increased appreciation for the process of creating a world out of thin air, and how a collaborative art can somehow remain a personal one…

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The Stage newspaper’s Douglas McPherson has interviewed Russell about The Writer’s Tale: The Final Chapter (It might sound in some of the e-mails as if I’m moaning away at three in the morning, but actually I’m loving it”), a Doctor Who feature film (“I’d like to give it a whirl”), and the qualities he looks for in new writers (I’m looking for handsome ones!”)…

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EXCITING NEWS! BBC Books has announced the forthcoming publication of Doctor Who: The Writer’s Tale: The Final Chapter by Russell T Davies and Benjamin Cook. It will be published in paperback on 14 January 2010 (with a RRP £16.99). The cover is pictured above, and features David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, Russell T Davies, and John Simm as the Master.

For this new and thoroughly updated edition of The Writer’s Tale, Russell T Davies and Benjamin Cook expand their in-depth discussion of the creative life of Doctor Who to cover Russell’s final year as Head Writer and Executive Producer of the show. Candid and witty insights abound throughout two years’ worth of correspondence, covering David Tennant’s last episodes as the Doctor and the legacy that Russell and David leave behind as a new era of Doctor Who begins. This edition will also include new, never-before-published photos from behind the scenes of David Tennant’s final adventures.

With over 300 pages of new material (that’s over 130,000 words, spread across 13 brand new chapters!), and taking in events from the entire five years since the show’s return in 2005, The Writer’s Tale: The Final Chapter will be the most comprehensive - and personal - account of Doctor Who ever published.

The original The Writer’s Tale was first published in September 2008, to critical acclaim. Boyd Hilton of Heat magazine described the book as “a funny, revealing insight into the workings of the genius who puts the show together”. Veronica Horwell of The Guardian said: “It’s the Doctor Who Annual for adults, and it’s not nearly enough, should have been 1,001 pages, because Davies doesn’t need to be writing fiction to be a storyteller. He’s the Scheherazade of Cardiff Bay.”

Albert DePetrillo, Editorial Director at BBC Books, commented: “Russell and Ben’s book is the ultimate behind-the-scenes account of Doctor Who, and a brilliant piece of writing, a book about drama that reads like great drama. I think fans will really respond to this new edition – the generous amount of new material brings the story bang up to date, and provides closure to the adventure Russell and Ben started two years ago.”

PRESS INFO
Review copies will be made available on 4 January 2010. To request a review copy, interview or further information, please contact Ed Griffiths at Ebury on 020 7840 8628 or at egriffiths@eburypublishing.co.uk

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Exciting news! The nominees for the 2009 British Fantasy Awards have been announced, and The Writer’s Tale has been shortlisted in the Best Non-Fiction category. First awarded in 1971, the annual BFAs are voted on by members of the British Fantasy Society, and the winners will be announced at FantasyCon 2009 in September.

The other nominees in the Best Non-Fiction category are: Basil Copper: A Life in Books (Ed, Stephen Jones), Doctor Who: The Writer’s Tale (Russell T Davies & Benjamin Cook)journal.neilgaiman.com (Neil Gaiman), Mutant Popcorn (Nick Lowe) and What Is It We Do When We Read Science Fiction (Paul Kincaid).

Meanwhile, Doctor Who is nominated in the Best Television category, alongside Battlestar Galactica, Supernatural, Dead Set and Dexter.

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Doctor Who Magazine readers have voted The Writer’s Tale the Best Non-Fiction Book of 2008, in the publication’s annual Merchandise Awards. It won with a staggering 40.3% of the vote, almost 25% ahead of the closest competition. The full results are:

1 - The Writer’s Tale: 40.3%   
2 - The Time Traveller’s Almanac: 15.8%
3 - Starships and Spacestations: 14.5%
4 - The Official Annual 2009: 12.9%
5 - Monsters Within: 5.3%
6 - Others: 11.2%

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Robert Colvile interviews Russell in The Telegraph today (read it here), while the unedited transcript, including a plug for The Writer’s Tale (which Colvile calls “remarkably open”), has been posted online and is well worth a read:

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Scotland on Sunday has published an interview with Russell, in which he discusses his final Doctor Who script, handing over to Steven Moffat… and Stephen Gately’s arse! Of course, The Writer’s Tale gets plenty of mentions, too.

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“An absolutely brilliant book… You get to see what goes through the mind of the man presiding over what’s arguably the greatest triumph of modern British television…”

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Copyright BBC Books 2008

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