Interested in J.K. Rowling?

Sign up for free Email Alerts

The (Almost) Case of Doctor Who and JKR

Great leaping Tardis! New reports are online tonight regarding how Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling had been favored to be a guest on the popular UK program Doctor Who for the Christmas 2007 show. The BBC is reporting that Doctor Who writer Russell T Davies had wanted Jo to star in the episode, however the star of the program, actor David Tennant (Barty Crouch Jr.) nixed the idea. “David doesn’t like the JK idea, he thinks it sounds like a spoof, so we’ve paused slightly, wondering whether to win him round or just abandon something that he’s not going to be happy with,” Davies said.

Excerpts from new book by the chief writer are detailed in the Times newspaper and we can read more of the plan for the purposed J.K. Rowling guest shot as follows in an email exchange:

From: Russell T. Davies

To: Benjamin Cook

Sunday July 29, 2007 20:21:48 GMT

I had an idea on holiday. Such a mad idea that I phoned Julie, to start setting it in motion. I was in the shower on Saturday morning (you may avert your eyes), thinking about how much I’d enjoyed that last Harry Potter book, how I’d love to write something like that, remembering that, back in 2004, I asked J.K.Rowling to write an episode of Doctor Who, though she politely declined, and reflecting that we can’t possibly get someone to star in next year’s Christmas Special who’s as famous as Kylie…when all those things coalesced. BAM! I thought, don’t ask J.K. to write a Doctor Who, ask her to be in a Doctor Who! We’ve done Dickens, Shakespeare, Agatha Christie…why should kids think that all great authors are dead? Imagine it. A cold Edinburgh Christmas Eve. J.K.Rowling walking through the snow, pursued by a journalist. “What are you going to write after Harry Potter?”

The diffcult second album…Later, J.K. sits down to write. At the same time, a Space Bug (maybe the same as Donna’s time-psych creature in 4.11), probably put there by the Rita Skeeter-type journalist, leaps onto her back. ZAP!

J.K.’s imagination becomes real! A world of Victorian magic replaces the present-day world. The Doctor arrives and has to battle through a world of witches and wizards, with wands and spells and CGI wonders, to reach J.K. Rowling at the heart of it all… That’s either brilliant or more like a Blue Peter crossover.

But worth trying. It’s different, certainly. So, Julie is trying to set up a meeting with J.K. ...Imagine those opening titles: DAVID TENNANT flying at you, then J.K.ROWLING!...Imagine the Doctor in a world of magic made real – that would be glorious. So, there we go. That’s under way.

From: Russell T. Davies

To: Benjamin Cook

Tuesday August 21, 2007 23:04:21 GMT

Christmas 2008 is steaming up on the horizon! I should be writing that in January. That’s like tomorrow! That could be J.K. Rowling, or Cybermen in Victorian London [This was Davies’s first idea]. David doesn’t like the J.K. idea, he thinks it sounds like a spoof, so we’ve paused slightly, wondering whether to win him round or just abandon something that he’s not going to be happy with. We’ve got to keep him happy. He keeps us happy. (You should see the rushes of him and Catherine [Tate] chasing Agatha Christie in vintage cars – it’s a hoot!) Plus, he might be right. So that idea has parked itself, while Julie tries to find ways to approach J.K. anyway. And I doubt we’d ever get J.K. – she doesn’t need to do it – so Cybermen in the snow are hauling themselves back into my head.

Readers will also recall of course that David Tennant has made no secret how much he does enjoy the Harry Potter series, and you can watch a clip from an episode via our galleries of Doctor Who starring David Tennant, where magical events from Harry Potter and JKR are specifically mentioned.

Thanks much Roonwit!