Unfortunately, I don't think I'll ever be able to look at or think of this book without remembering Black Saturday. It was a birthday present in January and I'd read a fair chunk of it by 7 February. As we sat with our aircon on on that 46-degree day, I was reading the part of the book that included the script for the 2008 series finale. The part where the Doctor and co. look out at the sky and are horror-struck by what they see. It made for uncomfortable reading when the sky outside was pinky-grey, like a scene from Armageddon. It took me another two weeks before I could pick the book up again and finish reading it.

All that aside, this is a great book if you are a) a Doctor Who fan and b) if you've ever written any fiction. It consists of a series of emails between Russell T. Davies and journalist Benjamin Cook, written between February 2007 and March 2008. The emails include plenty of discussion of the 2007 Christmas special and the 2008 series (series 4) and also some of Russell's ideas for the 2008 Christmas special. Often he attaches a draft of the script he's working on (either writing from scratch or rewriting - he does a lot of rewriting of other script writers' work), and it's fascinating to follow his thought processes as he drafts, writes, rewrites and edits. And so many things impact upon his original ideas - like an actor having to drop out of the series because of ill health, or Catherine Tate signing up for a full series thus forcing Russell to abandon the new companion he'd spent weeks creating. And the budget. There's a lot about the budget - or lack of it. For anyone who's ever wondered why The Doctor doesn't get out of London one Christmas and perhaps spend the festive season here in Australia ... the answer is the budget. Or lack of it.

There are so many points he brings up that makes you think, "Yes, that's so right." Like how some writers have their characters make remarks that you never hear in real life, but that the writer has heard other characters say on television before, so think that must be how screen-people have to speak. I know I've found myself making that mistake in my own writing - having a character say something that I've never actually heard a real person say, but that I've 'heard' lots of characters in books saying. Another one was where he said that when people are having a conversation, often they're not really listening to each other, they're wrapped up in their own world and that the best scriptwriting reflects this. A series that managed this very well in the past was Tenko (that's my opinion, not his) - the 'two monologues' form of dialogue was used often there and to excellent effect.

What else? Ah yes. You hear a lot about the various guys Russell fancies. Russell Tovey is one, but there are quite a few others, including the guy who plays Maria's dad in The Sarah-Jane Adventures. I did wonder whether, had Russell been straight and gone on and on about a young female actor's bum the way he did about Russell Tovey's, the female actor might have claimed sexual harrassment. As to that, I wonder how Russell Tovey feels about it, that this middle-aged guy has the hots for him. Others whose reaction I wonder about are the various movers and shakers at the BBC that Russell blasts (quite fairly, in my opinion, as they do seem to have the competence of some of the CEOs we've all been reading about in recent times). It's quite amusing to have a BBC Books book that declares some of the decision-makers at the BBC to be fools. Oh yes - and how do some of those scriptwriters feel about Rusty's comments on them? Like Gareth Roberts, when Russell wonders in the email if he'll be able to manage the Agatha Christie story. I wonder if Steven Moffatt (whose scripts Russell thankfully never rewrote, because Moffatt is by far the better writer of the two) will be as much of a control freak on the show as Russell?

You can't help liking Rusty, though, as you read this book. He is so enthusiastic about the show. I somehow can't imagine him never coming back to it.