So, Phil, how did you get into writing?

(Laughs) To be honest, it was the only thing I ever could do.

Writing was the only thing I was ever any good at.

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Very Ray Bradbury.

(Laughs) Very!

Anyway, I wrote that and then I wrote my first novel when I was eleven!

Never published, of course.

How long did you do that for?

Unfortunately, when I tried to write on it…I got writers block!

A slight problem for a writer.

Was Taggart (Mark McManus) still in the show at this point?

But while I was still working onTaggart, I gotCoronation Street.

Howd you get Corrie?

Now that series never happened, but later on Paul moved toCorrieand never hired me!

How long were you onCorrie?

I did eighty-six episodes between 1997 and 2002.

Oh, it varied.

How many times a week was the show airing then?

I think it was three times a week when I started and then it went to four.

Its a real sausage machine for writers, isnt it?

It is, but because its a sausage machine its a really good proving ground.

Writers have to be able to get this stuff right within a couple of drafts.

And two-to-three drafts is generally as much time as you have because of the turnaround.

Interestingly, Russell T. Davies once referred to you as someone who can nail the format of a show.

Do you think that comes from your soap background or your journalistic/advertising experience?

I think its a bit of everything.

(laughs)

There are no wasted years!

Parallel to Corrie you were also working onBad Girls, right?

When did Gerry Anderson come calling?

So when did you first meet Gerry?

Were you a big fan of his work?

I heard so many stories like that while working with Gerry.

People whod gone into film and TV, people whod become pilots…some whod even joined NASA!

All off the back of watching the shows that Gerry made.

Which is also why making shows for kids is really important.

So when wasCaptain Scarletfirst mooted?

It was probably mooted in 2002.

John and Gerry had been trying to get the rights toScarletfor some time.

But the series was eventually CG animation?

And I think it was a much better way of doing it.

We managed to make twenty-six mini-movies as a result of doing it that way.

Am I right in saying you wrote twenty-three of the twenty-six episodes?

(laughs) Id been sacked offCorrieby then and I got on really well with Gerry.

I can remember watching the show as it aired and thinking it was really well written.

And not only compared to the original show, but to contemporary kids shows at the time.

Thankfully, Gerry was more than up for that.

Also, being a CG show meant we had a bigger canvas for action and scale.

Was Scarlet always your favourite Anderson property?

And thats what we tried to deliver on.

Howd that come about?

So did you meet him at that screening?

Yes, I introduced myself and he knew me immediately!

He and Julie both lovedCaptain Scarletand I was basically there to beg him for a job onDoctor Who.

Which finally happened some time later.

Some considerable time later!

But anyway, Russell said that we should find something to work on together which was nice!

Were you initially only brought onboard for a single story?

Yeah, as far as I was aware it was just for one story.

Which they never used.

Howd you go from writing a single episode to writing the first season finale?

It was great to do and a really fantastic story…even if I do say so myself!

(laughs)

So clearly they liked what you did enough to ask you back for series two.

Was that a surprise?

It was a shock.

It literally came out of the blue.

I was with my wife having lunch in a garden centre!

(laughs) And I thought for a nano-second about doing it before saying yes.

How involved were you in the process of casting Rani?

I wasnt involved in the casting and I dont really remember expressing a viewpoint.

Obviously, I saw tapes, but Anji was so brilliant it was never a contentious decision.

For me, Ranis character doesnt seem that distinctive in series two.

Almost like the scripts were written with Marias character in mind.

Hmmmm….Im not sure Id agree.

I always had a good idea of who Rani was and where she was coming from.

I think what Im trying to say is that those differences really become apparent in subsequent seasons.

I think the thing is you become more comfortable with the character and the actor playing the part.

And she had much longer to develop the character, which always makes a huge difference.