Television's lord of prime time awaits his next regeneration

John Inman's death moved Russell T Davies to write a typically ebullient letter to the Guardian last week, pointing out that for all the po-faced talk about perpetuating homosexual stereotypes, Mr Humphries, the character Inman portrayed in Are You Being Served? was 'essentially happy'.
'As a young gay viewer, back then, I loved that character,' Davies wrote.
The man who helped to rejuvenate the BBC's Saturday evening schedule by reinventing Doctor Who, has undeniable creative clout. But Davies's views also carry weight because professional success has bought a degree of celebrity, and status as a de facto spokesman for the gay community. Like Inman, Davies is becoming something of a 'national treasure', and that would be apt enough, since 'treasure' is a word you are likely to hear tripping from Davies's lips with increasingly frequency the longer you spend in his presence - along with other epitaphs such as 'sweetheart' and 'darling'.
That would suggest Davies is an archetypal luvvie, but there is far more to him than that. As Queer as Folk, the uncompromising breakthrough drama he penned for Channel 4, demonstrated, Davies is made of sterner stuff. Its graphic depiction of gay life in Manchester outraged some, but cemented his reputation as one of television's most talented writers, along with his old colleague Paul Abbott.
He and Abbott are now among the most powerful men in television. Davies has done more than any other writer to revitalise the BBC's output, placing a witty, daring and imaginative Doctor Who at the heart of a revamped Saturday night schedule. It's a crucial slot, drawing in tea-time audiences that tend to stick with BBC1 for the evening.
The success of Doctor Who was a pivotal moment for an organisation stung by criticism from its governors, legislators and, yes, even viewers, that it was screening too many lifestyle shows. Doctor Who proved the perfect riposte, despite audience research that suggested it would not be popular. BBC executives ignored those findings and trusted their instincts; the show was a hit, and the channel has oozed confidence ever since.
There are other innovative programmes too, of course. Spooks, to name but one, preceded it. But somehow Davies's Doctor Who has defined the channel, providing a creative spark that has encouraged more risk-taking and emboldened programme-makers and executives alike. How ITV, much in need of a creative catalyst despite an improved line up this year, would love its own Russell T Davies.
Davies will not be writing Doctor Who forever, of course, and that is a major headache for the BBC. 'I'm not going to go on and on,' he says, from his spacious flat overlooking Cardiff bay, where the series is filmed. 'I wouldn't want to do series seven. There are other things I want to do.'
As the third series begins the Saturday after next, Davies won't be packing up his typewriter until the turn of the decade, a date too far into the future to worry even the most nervy time-traveller, but one that will worry BBC executives.
The show has survived the departures of both Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper, but it couldn't outlive its re-creator.
Quite what Davies would like to do next is not clear, but he wouldn't be short of offers. America is a temptation for any writer determined to make his mark, and his fortune, in the world's largest and most powerful television market, but it is one that Davies is likely to resist. 'I feel too old and too knackered. I'd have to start all over again', he says.
Exercising creative control over Doctor Who - he is also the show's executive producer and oversaw its spin-off series Torchwood and Sarah Jane Investigates - is time-consuming and exhausting. 'I have considerable creative control but no sole creative control,' he emphasises, but his position means he sometimes can't start writing until well after lunchtime.
He tries not to complain about beingstuck in Cardiff from Monday to Friday, 'but it's not home.' That is in Manchester, and he tries to get back for the weekends. But for the moment he's too busy even to watch much TV. He hasn't seen The Wire, the US drama that has been hailed as one of the greatest ever, and hasn't watched much of The Sopranos. Writing for TV doesn't leave much time for putting your feet up in front of the box.
Davies was born in Swansea in 1963 and went to Oxford University, but he cut his teeth in BBC children's television, which he left with no job to go to but a vague aspiration to work for Granada. 'I came down the road where Granada was. I left to go on the dole and bugged them until they gave me a job. I look back now and think I must have been very determined when I was young.'
He concedes he was wary of writers, despite the fact he had always aspired to be one. 'I didn't know any writers and I wasn't from a family of writers. You think writers are almost mystical but they eat and drink and go down the pub like everyone else.'
His own working methods are unremarkable enough: 'I sit down at the computer and I treat it like homework. I do it as late as I possibly can. You have to let it stew.'
He dreams up Doctor Who scenes while he's doing his shopping or wandering around Cardiff. 'If I'm stuck I'm more likely to go out to Tesco than go for a long walk,' he says, adding that he 'writes very quickly'. The stories 'are more or less fully formulated by then'.
There may be a few more series of Doctor Who to come, but Davies is obviously pondering his next project. He is a big fan of soaps, and confesses: 'I've always loved Coronation Street. I still think its wonderful. [Its creator] Tony Warren created a whole world. The tone of voice has not changed.'
ITV boss Michael Grade may be short of a few quid after axing his lucrative quiz show channel, but he should dig deep into ITV's budget regardless - and make Davies an offer he can't refuse.