Who's in the Hot 100?Bookmark and Share

Friday, 21 December 2007 - Reported by Josiah Rowe

Broadcast magazine, the weekly magazine of the UK's television and radio industry, has released its "Hot 100 of 2007" list, and several Doctor Who people are on the list.

In the Talent category, Billie Piper comes in at #6 (the highest-ranking woman on the list). The magazine mentions her forthcoming return to Doctor Who, as well as her roles in "The Diary of a Call Girl", "Mansfield Park" and "The Shadow of the North".

In the Writers" category, Steven Moffat gets a nod at #11. Broadcast praises his "ingeniously playful" series "Jekyll" and his Doctor Who scripts, and notes his upcoming work on the Stephen Spielberg/Peter Jackson film adaptation of "Tintin". Moffat is also quoted about his first series, "Press Gang": "I'd love to do a return visit to the characters," he says. "They'll all be sad and fat, decaying in middle age."

Russell T. Davies has previously appeared in the Writers section of the Hot 100, but this year Broadcast recognizes his contributions as a producer, listing him at #1 in that category. The magazine notes Davies' hands-on involvement in every stage of Doctor Who and its spin-offs, and credits him with turning Doctor Who into one of the BBC's biggest brands. Jane Tranter says that Davies is "brilliant, totally rooted, extremely wise, irreverent and great fun to be with. And he's incredibly kind. His non-judgmental understanding of the nature of the human condition is written large in every piece of work he's ever done." (Tranter, who as Head of Drama at the BBC in 2003 was responsible for commissioning the return of Doctor Who to BBC television, is also in Broadcast's Hot 100. Now the BBC's Head of Fiction, she's the #1 entry in the Commissioners category.)

Finally, leading the field in Craft and Post-Production is Will Cohen of The Mill. The Mill contributed 2,897 effects shots to Doctor Who in 2007, and Cohen ensured that each of them was "better than good". Cohen says, "You've got to compete with computer games, the internet and DVDs. Viewers don't care whether effects are made for the cinema or TV - the work either stands up and holds its own or it doesn't."

Broadcast also listed Doctor Who as one of the top-rated dramas of 2007, excluding soaps. Based on overnight figures, the 31 March broadcast of "Smith and Jones", with 8.2 million viewers and a 39.5% share of the audience, was the eighth most viewed television drama of 2007, and the third highest ranking for a BBC program (surpassed by "Waking the Dead" and "New Tricks").

Broadcast requires detailed but free registration to read articles.




FILTER: - Steven Moffat - Russell T Davies - Press