★★★★★

“The back of this updated version of The Writer’s Tale provides a helpful capsule of our original review. ‘You can douse all the other books on new Who in lighter fuel and spark up your Zippo,’ our quote raves, ‘this is all you need!’ What sluts. We were right, though…”

The back of this updated version of The Writer’s Tale provides a helpful capsule of our original review. “You can douse all the other books on new Who in lighter fuel and spark up your Zippo,” our quote raves, “this is all you need!” What sluts.

We were right, though. There’s never been a book like The Writer’s Tale before – partly because no-one ever wanted to read a year’s worth of some bloke’s e-mails until now, and partly because it’s the first to come close to answering that dreaded question: “Where do you get your ideas from?”

This new softback edition adds another year of exchanges between the Who showrunner and journo Cook, 352 pages’ worth. Familiarity with the format makes it less surprising this time around, even when Davies is being startlingly candid. The most fascinating passages concern unused ideas. For instance, one of this year’s specials could have been “The Doctor Onboard the Enterprise”, and the Daleks almost returned, allied with the Time Lords, in The End of Time.

With “only” the specials to write about (and Torchwood, and SJA), there’s less focus on writing and more on the surrounding rigmarole. The editing could have been more ruthless. There’s too much about planning Tennant’s departure announcement. And do we really need to know that Cook’s mate is getting an octopus tattoo? Probably not. But then, it’s these tangents that provide the satisfyingly voyeuristic feeling that you’ve hacked into someone’s inbox.”

Ian Berriman