Davies's Next Project: Aliens vs. Wizards

Although its title suggests that the cowboys gave up and Harry Potter stepped in (or perhaps Harry Dresden?), Aliens vs. Wizards is actually a children-oriented series about a fight to control Earth's magic that happens to be the next endeavor for star writer-producer Russell T. Davies.

The 12-episode series, created by Davies and his frequent writing partner Phil Ford and produced at BBC Cymru Wales, will air on the BBC's children's channel, CBBC.

Davies has spent a good deal of his career developing children's series like Dark Season, Children's Ward, and The Sarah Jane Adventures, and strove to make his reboot of Doctor Who as family friendly as possible—though the same could hardly be said for some of his other efforts, like Casanova and Queer as Folk. Nonetheless it's clear that offering intelligent entertainment for youngsters is of longstanding importance to him.

"Writing for children is the biggest challenge of all," Davies said, "and I think CBBC stands right at the heart of broadcasting. We're joining genres too—the show's a wild, funny, thrilling and sometimes scary collision of magic and science fiction."

Aliens vs. Wizards, slated for a debut this fall, depicts the clash between young wizard, Tom Clarke, and aggressive aliens, the Nekross. It's being backed by BBC and the growing international drama and reality series producer FreemantleMedia Enterprises; FME, which also handles Merlin internationally among many other titles, will distribute the show outside the UK.

What Davies isn't working on right now, apparently, is Torchwood, which is "still very much on hold" according to star Eve Myles. (Good news and bad news: it's not active but it's also not dead.) Davies was in LA to oversee Torchwood: Miracle Day, but returned to the UK to be with his partner, who's reportedly been diagnosed with cancer; Aliens vs. Wizards represents the kind of project that can keep him close to home.

That said, both Myles and co-star John Barrowman are willing and ready to make another Torchwood season whenever the stars align. "John is very much on the same page as me," she said, "in that if and when they need us, they can just pick the phone up and we will be there before they've even put the phone down, because it's something we love doing."

"Every series we've changed our format," she added. "We've always had a gap in between, so fingers crossed, because we've got such an outstanding loyal fan base. They deserve Torchwood to go ahead with something else to draw a line under it, for the fans to have a bit of closure.
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Tags: Aliens vs. Wizards, Russell T. Davies, Phil Ford, Eve Myles, Torchwood Follow me on Twitter  |  Follow me on Facebook