Doctor Who - Collateral

Synopsis

George is a young boy who likes to solve mysteries, such as the mystery of the monster living in his bedroom, the mystery of the absent father, and the mystery of the strange man in the white suit at the bottom of the garden.

At St John's Children's Hospital something greatly disturbing is happening, something which dares to question the fabric of reality... but what's that in the mirror? or the corner of your eye? What's that footstep following, never passing by? perhaps its something waiting until we're all dead... out they'll come the monster from underneath the bed!


Writers Notes


Christopher Cribb: "Coming up with a story idea is never easy. I think it's down to knowing what you think makes a story good and what doesn't and then relaying that in your script. In the case of 'Collateral' it was interesting because it's a doctor who story where the doctor is one of the undermined characters in it.  He's hardly in it at all. The main character in 'Collateral' is George and his story. I thought that was very important that Steve and I made sure that the listener's focus was on George at all times. 


It was a lot of fun to write for George, for a one off he's a very interesting and complicated boy to write into a story based on what we've come up with. I think what me and Steve tried to do in a deliberate attempt to diverge from the more scary aspects of the threat in the story 'the monster' was to add in light humour and make the listener want to laugh with George rather then laugh at him.

We used other characters like The Doctor and Dad and Mum to show how George reacts to other people and vice versa. It's very much like the Capaldi doctor's interaction with child characters like Courtney or Neve in Series 8.  It's that kind of interaction we wanted to not exactly coy because there's not much point to that, but more relate to.


We decided quite early on that we were going to have the children's hospital in it, and it was going to have a creepy monster in it. 


We rather intentionally wanted to create an impulse in the listener providing the power of suggestion into the concept of cultural anxieties and nightmares... what better to do than 'The Monster under the bed' it's a classic story that lots of children believe or the boogy man or whatever.


I think either we've done our idea any justice, we'll have to see when the story airs. But I for one am very proud of it."

CHRISTOPHER CRIBB, 16th of MARCH 2015.

Stephen Hynes: "Chris and I always had brief ten minute discussions every day about concepts for potential stories. Stuff like story concepts, story propositions not plots but just ideas; things that would get our brains in gear.

The idea or should I say ideas that eventually became 'Collateral' were a concept from me and a proposition from Chris. Chris had the idea of the curios little boy very much like if not exactly like 'Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time'. My idea was a ghost story and it was set in a children's hospital and it was based on the reading of Robert Westall's - 'The Scarecrows' and 'The Turn of the Screw' by Henry James and I remember thinking 'Oh yeah! that's a good idea'. 

Trouble was neither of these ideas had enough story in them to succeed on their own, they'd be fine as short stories but we realised that by combining both ideas together we could have Chris's balance of comedy and my balance of Horror'. That's why we work so well together, we both have ideas and we're good at compromising. 

I know there will some people out there who won't like the story. It's inevitable. If everyone liked the same concepts that me and Chris like it would be very boring. I personally like it when people are confused or don't get the concept, because then it leaves things open for debate and people can talk about it. I personally like the sort of drama's with a strange plot that no one quite gets and go 'Oh no it's too confusing I don't like it'. those are the ones that sort of drive my influences forward and I think any thing that I write would eventually revert back to that... but not without Chris's help.

STEPHEN HYNES, 16th of MARCH 2015

Technical Details


Written By : Christopher Cribb & Stephen Hynes

Directed By : Daniel Bury

Episode : 11 out of 13

Air Date : Friday the 20th of March 2015

Sound Design : Colin Jackson

Music By : Helen Fitzgerald    

Duration: 30 mins approx

ISBN : DWS1EP10-1-78180-323

Production Code: F20Mar15