Thread by @scribblesscript

The moment we've all been waiting for... THE CHRIS CHIBNALL INTERVIEW AT GALLIFREY ONE

#gally1

This is his first Doctor Who convention since 1988!

"The first memory of my life is Doctor Who". One of his earliest memories was Pertwee omnibus reruns.
"It gets its hooks into you and here we all are"

#gally1

"What I learned from Doctor Who was watching the credits and realizing who wrote something... oh, that's what people do, you can be a writer or be a director, but I never thought I would be able to do it." Chris Chibnall at #gally1

"You just keep going, you just give it a go, and don't get discouraged." Chris Chibnall's advice to people looking to work in media #gally1

Chibnall started the writers room on series 11 because "from the start, I didn't want it to be about me." It "felt important" to get diverse talent in. This despite it was a legal and contractual nightmare to set up. #gally1

"I wanted everybody to feel like a team, I wanted them to make professional friendships, I wanted people who could make the show and continue to make the show across three seasons." Chibnall on the writers room set up. #gally1

The plan was to create a bench of people who could write scripts across the era, not just series 11, and some of the series 12 writers were from the series 11 room, according to Chibnall at #gally1

"It's an ongoing train, and once the train starts filming the first episode, it doesn't stop until you finish your last." Chibnall on Who production.

"It's sort of the same, sort of entirely different, is the unhelpful answer to the question" Chibnall on Who vs Broadchurch #gally1

The big production difference is the constant change of settings etc, which "is the fun of it."

On Doctor Who, Chibnall says "you're flying on instinct."

On the first Torchwood season, a lot of the ideas were Russell. The second was the most Chris Chibnall's vision. #gally1

"It's nice going into new territory, and sometimes you need to build new territory and sometimes you need to break walls to find it and go 'oh, there's new territory'"

Chibnall on the excitement of working on Torchwood #gally1

"The last three episodes I wrote... that trilogy was what I felt that show was and I felt free to write that now." Chibnall on Adrift, Fragments, and Exit Wounds for Torchwood #gally1

Chibnall wrote 42 in the six weeks between Torchwood s1 and 2. It needed to be mostly set in corridors because the money ran out.

"Your sort of didn't have time to go 'oh, it's Doctor Who." He didn't get to celebrate it. #gally1

The real time aspect of 42 was RTD's idea.

"I had a meeting with Steven Moffat... and he said 'I've got four words to say to you: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. Off you go.'" Chibnall at #gally1

"We're all eight years old, that's why we're in this room...and we're still eight years old. That's what Doctor Who does to you." Chibnall at #gally1

"Steven was like, can you do another one, Amy and Rory before they go, and just spend time with them." Steven said to the cube idea, "are you sure you want to go with this? Because that's a movie and you could sell this to Hollywood for a lot of money."

Chibnall at #gally1

"Let's talk about Star Wars"
"I have no idea what you're talking about, I'm legally bound"

Chibnall on the lost Star Wars show at #Gally1

About 200 writers were searched and they decided on about 7 for Star Wars, including Cbris Chibnall and Matthew Graham to work with George Lucas. "They wanted to do an HBO version of Star Wars."

"It's one of those things where I'm like, I'm not sure if I dreamt that." Chibnall on his Star Wars experience #gally1

"It was an incredible experience. We're all lifelong friends, that group of writers." Chibnall says he wouldn't have missed his unmade Star Wars experience for the world. #gally1

"I want to do a female Doctor" came before Chibnall choosing Jodie. There was a very competitive list of potential options. #gally1

"It was 'why not', actually. It was not why." Chibnall on having a woman as the Doctor. "It's insane to think there can't be a female Doctor, it's just wrong." #gally1

"Why shouldn't women and young girls have the Doctor to look up at in the way we have had?" Chibnall at #gally1

There was a "deluge" of emails from parents of daughters when Jodie was leaving devastated to be losing her, according to Chibnall at #gally1

To "where are the role models for young boys" Chibnall says "you look up to the women!" #gally1

"The Timeless Child stuff, that season arc, was always in my head", says Chris. The Fugitive Doctor was added later to set up where they were going. #gally1

He credits Nida Manzoor who directed Fugitive for the casting. She had worked with Jo Martin before. "Really easy casting when people come in and are amazing." #gally1

"It was just, we can go further with this, we can be pushing this... the more people who can feel seen as the Doctor, that's what we wanted to do." Chibnall on following up casting Jodie with Jo Martin #gally1

"As showrunner you're not carrying a vase across the room, your job is to keep building it and disrupt it and change it." Chibnall quoting Moffat. He says the continuity changes "come from a place of love". #gally1

"When you write any show, you're trying to find the person within it... it wasn't about having that adgenda, it was about oh this fits and I understand it. The idea of the Doctor being a foundling shines with the Doctor being a mystery and an enigma" Chibnall on the adoptee story

Chibnall identifies the Thirteenth Doctor as "about positivity and about you can create the life in front of you and own your own trajectory" #gally1

"He carries the whole episode's emotion in his face." Chibnall on Walsh in Rosa #gally1

"It was there as a possibility but it very much evolved over time. You can see it being tested in the first few episodes." Chibnall mentions Arachnids as an example of early Thasmin, but also the "ex boyfriend" in Rosa as an example of how "it was very much open." #gally1

"Are you doing there what I think you're doing?"
"Yes, I am."
"Oh, alright, I'll give it a go."

Chibnall describing his interactions with Alderton re: Diodati Thasmin moment

"I felt a responsibility to everyone who's eight years old and couldn't bear there not being a season due to covid." Chibnall on Flux #gally1

"I think the subtext was we just need a bit of time to get our next thing in line" says Chibnall on being offered the slot for an extra centenary special with a sizeable budget #gally1

"What it gave us was Tegan and Ace" says Chibnall about the centenary slot. If he hadn't got that run time there wouldn't have been space. #gally1

"What sells it is Sylvester's reaction" says Chibnall on the "I don't do robes"

Chibnall did ask Tom Baker for Power of the Doctor but he was unavailable.

@ProtagonistIvy says they should use wax Tom. She's right.

Ben Pickles did all the cg editing on the Guardians of the Edge scene himself

Chibnall was asked what the pinnacle of his time on Who was. Without missing a beat, "Oh, Jodie." #gally1

Standing ovation for Chibnall. His era was divisive and I've heard many complaints this con, but there's clearly no ill will whatsoever to the man himself, who really won over the audience.