Russell T. Davies could've made anything in the wake of his zeitgeist-snatching HIV dramaIt's a Sin, but he landed on quite the surprising passion project,Nolly. Another '80s period piece gurgling with the social upheaval of the era, it centres on the tragic downfall ofCrossroads star Noele Gordon, once considered the epitome of TV royalty, now largely forgotten to a generation wherein soaps no longer reign queen. Davies, a self-professed soap opera superfan, was an 18-year-old budding TV writer at the time; now comes the full-circle moment.

AfterNolly, of course,Davies will make his much-anticipated return to the sci-fi series that shot him to international fame,Doctor Who, with beloved ex-starsDavid Tennant and Catherine Tate in toe — plus a new doctor to follow inSex Education's Ncuti Gatwa. Here, Davies speaks toGQ about his love of soaps, his earlier works, and all things Davies-Who v2.

GQ: Last time we spoke, you told me that the script forIt's a Sinwas sat in your drawer for five or six years before you finally got it commissioned…

Russell T. Davies:It's a Sin? Yes, yes yes yes yes, it was turned down — you've got to play a long game in this business. 

WasNollythe same, or a product of your success withIt's a Sin?

It's interesting,Nolly's something I've spoken about to friends for years and years, I've been fascinated by since I was eighteen, when she was sacked, when I was a student—

Youdid the trial script for them, thenCrossroadswas taken off the air five days later.

Yes! So this time around, when I finally got intoCrossroads, it was like an act of revenge — punching the air, finally got to do it. Writing is revenge. Discuss! [Laughs.] The more you think about that the more interesting it gets: you writeQueer is Folk because you're fed up with every version of a gay man on television, you writeDoctor Who because you think it's never been done properly, and now you're doingNolly because you want to bring a bit of class back to an old soap. Is it revenge…?

Maybe! Maybe. What I was getting at — did you write it before or afterIt's a Sin?

No, I didn't have anything written beforehand. Then the lockdown came, and that was very much like a writer's life for me, just sitting at home on my own. It wasn't particularly different. So I kept on working on like I always had. And let's be honest,Nolly is an unusual idea to get commissioned.It's a Sin was so successful, it's one of those rare moments in your life where you stand a chance of getting things made.

But you've had such a conveyor belt of hits—

They're not, though.Years and Years died a death.

Years and Yearswon awards, no?

It didn't win any awards! It wasn't nominated for any awards. It wasn't nominated for a single BAFTA. Go and check.

Maybe I'm projecting my own experience, but I recalleveryonewatching that show when it aired.

It wasn't even nominated in the National Television Awards for Best New Drama, never mind Best Drama. It wasn't even on the long list. So we asked, and they said “we're really sorry, but we've got a threshold for viewing figures, and you fall underneath it…” [Laughs.] We went under one million [viewers] on that show. It was phenomenally unsuccessful. Genuinely. Not nominated for anything, ever. I think it won something in France.

I think what you've done very successfully, then, is you've cultivated a very specific and loyal audience demographic in the UK — the gays! We all watch your stuff.Queer as Folk,It's a Sin,Cucumber…

And we're chatty! ButCucumber was a disaster. The viewing figures were absolutely disastrous. That was well under a million — 800 thousand an episode, thereabouts. Terrible figures.

You have such an affection, real reverence, for the soap as a genre. I'm curious about why.

Oh, absolutely, I love them. And I think the world is changing now — it's part of the reason I was interested to writeNolly. As they say in episode two, the events of her sacking are six months after “Who shot J.R.?” And that's when all the soaps became supercharged. It's a fascinating period. That's when you had — I'm not sure about the dates, very soon afterwards — Ken and Deidre, and Mike Baldwin inCoronation Street, when they started taking all the front page headlines. That lasted about twenty years. It's gone now. The decline of the soap is equally fascinating. Who has a conversation about soaps anymore?

How long had you considered coming back toDoctor Who?

Well honestly, it wasn't a plan of mine, although I have to issue a massive caveat there and say as a massiveDoctor Who fan since the age of three, I think about it all the time. And when I wasn't producing it, people would always say, Oh, you know, are you going to writeDoctor Who again… And it was a bit rude while there were other people in the job, to say ‘Oh yes, I’ll think about it now.' It's like, there were other people running the show!

Remind me, then, for my benefit — why'd you leave in the first place?

Other things to write. Simple as that.Cucumber, actually. And then my husband was ill. So I left in 2010, that was my last episode. And we both went to America, theCucumber script was written there, and then he fell ill so everything got delayed by about five years. ButCucumber was burning in my head. IfDoctor Who hadn't come along, I would've written that back in 2004 — what would it have been like then? Oh my god, how would we have had that conversation then? Would it have been more explosive or more strange? Because it would be the same script! Nothing changed in terms of what happened to that couple, I was thinking about them as early as into the '90s.

So why return now? Like we say, in the immediate aftermath ofIt's a Sin, you could probably write anything you want. 

You're right, you're right. Partly, it's simply that I love it and always have loved it. But the world has changed. And we're now in the age of the streamer. I watch theStar Trek empire with vast envy: the way that's turned itself from an old archive show into something fantastic. The cast is so progressive, so good, so beautiful. And very cleverly I thinkStar Trek is reaching out to making something like fifty-two episodes a year. So that's your yearly show, genius. And there's a problem with the BBC, it's a public service broadcaster, so there's only so much they'll ever commit to.

So I thought — with no criticism whatsoever towards the people who were running it at the time, because they were running it within the BBC's measures — it was time for the next stage forDoctor Who. I thought the streaming platforms are ready, the spin-offs are ready; I always believed in spin-offs when I was there. I didTorchwood as a spin-off,The Sarah Jane Adventures as a spin-off. Those spin-offs declined when I left, and I can see why. And I very much left after 2008, when the money became scarce, I think that's fair enough for the public service broadcaster that the money is spent on other things.

But now, it wasn't my idea, it was the BBC's notion to go for a streamer [Disney+] to invest in the show worldwide, which I completely agree with. We're not on the budget level withStar Wars and theMarvel shows—

You're working withmillions of dollarsmore than you usually world, right?

It's better than it was, yes yes yes. I mean any piece of television costs millions. We're not allowed to talk about budget, and we're not on thatStar Wars orStar Trek level, but it's more than I've ever had to work with.

There were reports that it could be upwards of ten million dollars an episode…

Honestly, read my column inDoctor Who magazine, as [executive producer] Jane [Tranter] tried to very clearly say, it's not ten million an episode. It's absolutely not. I wish it was, it'd make my life easier. But we're very clever at spending money, I thinkDoctor Who has learnt more tricks over the years than other shows have, perhaps.

Has the larger budget changed your creative approach?

Yes, I think it does, it's one of the reason I've come back — you can tell stories on a bigger scale. It's the same old problems, I still have to cut scenes because they're too expensive, and I still have to reduce the number of monsters, and things like that. But my imagination feels more free, a lot more free, actually. It's just a joy to write anyway. I'm really proud of it. Oh my god, there are some strong episodes coming up.

Would you have come back if David [Tennant] and Catherine [Tate] hadn't?

Oh, probably yes. I mean, that's just an added delight. Their willingness to do it was part of the reason I picked it up in the first place. They said ‘Wouldn’t it be a laugh to do something for the sixtieth?' So I went to the BBC, not knowing that they were getting ready to makeDoctor Who bigger anyway. So it's like I walked into a trap. [Laughs.] No, everything coincided at the right time.

Last night we had Ncuti [Gatwa]'s first read-through. He's so unbelievably stunning. I can't wait for you to see him. He just lifts your hair off your head. He's beautiful. Absolutely beautiful, in every sense. So, very excited. But, to have David and Catherine doing three hours as well is extra joy. That's a big party. You're gonna love it.

Any truth to thespeculation around Edgar Wright?

Oh, no. Was there speculation?

Well, there was some cryptic Instagram posting last year, and fans thought that he'd be directing an episode as a result.

Yes please! No, we wouldn't have kept that secret, would we? If he's readingGQ please get him to do it. I love him. 

Nollywill begin streaming on ITVX from 2 February.