Gaiman Open to Writing for Doctor Who

When news of the first series of the revived Doctor Who hit the Internet, it seemed that everyone and his uncle and aunt was being approached to write an episode for the new series. The rumors ran rampant from any number of writers for the on-going novel series to best-selling author J.K. Rowling.

One of the most intriguing rumors was that author Neil Gaiman was interested in writing an episode for everyone’s favorite Time-Lord. Unfortunately, while Gaiman was interested, there was never a happy meeting of the production schedule for Doctor Who and Gaiman’s prolific writing schedule.

But now it appears the rumor that Gaiman could write an episode of Doctor Who have surfaced again and this time, there may be more than a kernal of truth to the rumor. According to Comic Book Resource, Gaiman has been approached to write an episode of Doctor Who for 2010’s fifth series.

Gaiman has been asked about the possibility on his blog and would only say, “I’m really excited about Steven Moffat taking over — always assuming that it’s not just a publicity stunt on his part to try and get “Blink” a Hugo” and “what Russell Davies did over the last few years was remarkable: as a writer and as a show-runner he brought Doctor Who back, sure-footed and smart and with a heart.”

So far, nothing has been confirmed nor has a story by Gaiman been commissioned. Genre-fans will recall that Gaiman has written for television before, penning Babylon Five’s “Day of the Dead” as well as the scripts for Neverwhere. We’ll keep our ears open, but since the fifth series won’t debut until 2010, it could be a bit before we have anything official on this story.

In a related story, writer Rob Shearman, who wrote series one’s “Dalek” is also in talks to write an installment for the fifth series.