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Interview: Blair Mowat on the “Secret Diary of a Rhodian Prince”

Blair Mowat talks returning to the world of “Class” as writer and producer

By Ted RyanPublished about a year ago Updated about a year ago 14 min read
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Blair Mowat has composed well over two hundred scores for film, theatre and television, with clients ranging from the English National Ballet and The Royal Shakespeare Company to the likes of the BBC and ITV. He is a BAFTA nominated, 4Talent short-listed, award-winning composer with over 15 years experience, and is consistently in high demand. His work includes Class an acclaimed 8-part Doctor Who spin-off series on BBC One, ITV’s hit show McDonald & Dodds and The Amazing Mr Blunden.

With his musical talents spanning across screen and audio and currently working between projects, it was a pleasure to interview him about his return to the Doctor Who spin-off Class in the fifth anniversary special Secret Diary of a Rhodian Prince at Big Finish.

When we previously spoke, it seemed Queen of Rhodia may have been a finale for Class on audio — how does it feel to be back in this series again?

BM: Well, I can’t remember exactly when we spoke but I had an inkling we might go again, but only if I were to step into the producer role. I actually commissioned something for the five-year anniversary from another writer but it all fell through for various reasons, and so I realised I’d also have to step up again as a writer too, to guarantee getting the next release out there. But, of course, It feels great to be back writing and playing in that universe again. I’ve spent so much time with those wonderful characters Patrick created, that it feels like home!

What was the inspiration behind Secret Diary of a Rhodian Prince?

BM: It’s an odd one because it’s basically an anniversary special, a retelling of some of the story from season 1 and then also an advert for a potential season 2. What I’d commissioned before for the five-year anniversary was VERY different, based on another idea I’d had (more on that one day in the future). However, when it came round to announcing something on the five-year anniversary, so much time had passed it was felt we needed a refresher to bring us back up to speed – something that, if we did a season 2, you could just listen to that and not feel like you had to watch all 8 episodes of the TV show again. The danger with that though, was making sure people who did know Class inside out didn’t feel cheated listening to it. So, it’s always told from a different perspective than in the show, or adding something new. Plus, there’s loads of little revelations and secrets hidden away in there – Charlie’s name, the Doctor teasing him about maybe having met him before, the inaudible response on the phone call at the very end. I wrote the other side of that phone call, I know exactly what he’s talking about… I’ve been thinking about what happens next for a while now, when I’m on a walk, or on a train journey. But the main attraction behind it was developing the start of Charlie and Matteusz’s relationship and also getting inside Charlie’s head and understanding a bit more about why he behaves the way he does.

Audio drama is usually quite dialogue heavy. What made you want to challenge the format with a diary format?

BM: Well, Charlie’s not very good at expressing himself, and as I was just saying, this allows us to see what he’s really thinking by giving us his internal dialogue. What goes on in someone’s head can be completely different from how they act. Because it’s set over a long-ish period of time, you see him change and become less entitled and, bizarrely, you see him become happier, despite the tragic circumstances this situation was born out of. I think there’s an aspect of Charlie’s character that can come across as a little unlikeable, to viewers or his fellow characters in the show and I think by the end of this you might empathise a lot more with what he’s had to go through and why he might behave the way he does at various points. He was a royal prince on an Alien planet! There’s a lot of drama and internal conflict to be had there. I mean, gosh, princes on our own planet are having a pretty dramatic time of it recently and they haven’t had to deal with relocating to a different solar system! The timing of Prince Harry’s book being released was a complete accident – I had no idea that was coming out around the same time. I haven’t read it but it would be an interesting counterpart to this I imagine.

As this drama is centred on the beginnings of the relationship between Charlie and Matteusz, what scenes were you interested in exploring?

BM: People loved their relationship on screen but I always thought it was a shame that we never got to learn how they met. As far as I can tell that was just a quirk of production – Matteusz wasn’t meant to be as main a character and then when they saw how brilliant Jordan was, he started getting written in more and more. So I wanted to hear their ‘meet cute’! What did they say to each other!? I know people are invested in their relationship already, but I think you can invest in it even more when you’ve experienced how they started falling in love with each other. Greg and Jordan have such natural chemistry, and Patrick very cleverly wrote them as a sort of odd couple dynamic – there’s a comedy, and drama, in that (almost everything between them has the potential to be lost in translation). Whilst there’s great potential for farce there, there’s also a genuine sense that these two are soul mates – they were destined to meet each other. I think they deserve a beginning and now they have one. Whatever happens next means even more now, because you’re further convinced that these two people complete each other.

As this script primarily focuses on Charlie, how important was it to explore his character’s struggles with his anxieties/mental health which has been hinted at in previous episodes/audios?

BM: That was very important to me, and I know Patrick empathised with elements of Charlie’s character – Patrick’s very frank on social media that he’s also suffered from anxiety. I’ve suffered from depression and anxiety in the past myself, particularly in my mid-twenties where I ended up in a very dark place. A huge amount of people have experienced similar things - it’s far more common than people realise. I’d be more surprised for someone not to experience some kind of mental health issue in the first thirty years of their life. The more we can talk about that, normalise that and encourage people to seek help when they need it, the better in my opinion. There’s no easy fix but treatments do help enormously. Talking about your problems might be the last thing you feel like doing when you’re depressed but beginning treatments such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy save lives. I know of five men I grew up with who are no longer with us as the result of suicide. That’s horrific. I used to play football with them in the playground, and it breaks my heart that suicide is as common as it is. We need to normalise men (and everyone) talking about their feelings. Sorry, I know that’s a bit heavy, but talking about it is something we shouldn’t shy away from, because it’s life and death. Charlie comes from a very repressed society, and I hope that anyone, regardless of gender, listening to this audio can see the journey of a character who finds it very hard to open up, but then finds some solace in the idea that help is available during those darkest of times. Please do reach out for help if anyone is struggling. No matter how bad things seem, there’s always a way through it.

How would you describe the arc of Matteusz and how his character has developed?

BM: One thing I wanted to flesh out a bit more is why Matteusz is so opposed to Charlie using The Cabinet. For me, to get a bit philosophical, it was always a question of Kantian ethics versus Utilitarian ethics. Immanuel Kant believed there was no excuse for immoral behaviour, where as philosophers such as Jeremy Bentham subscribed to Utilitarian ethics (the idea that doing something immoral can be okay if it results in the greater good). It’s something dramas play around with a lot – Jack Bauer in 24 was always coming across situations that tested his morals like that. Genesis of The Daleks is absolutely about that conflict of whether an act of genocide can be for the greater good. By exploring how Matteusz had intergenerational trauma as recent as World War II, I think it helps to explain why he’s so dogmatically against using The Cabinet – he’s been brought up his entire life being told of the darkest time in recent history where people found ways to justify mass murder. Then suddenly, he’s faced with the person he loves contemplating doing that very thing – an enormous act of violence. I think most people would empathise and understand Charlie’s choice at the end of the TV series but hopefully they also now have further insight into why the emotional part of Matteusz’s brain finds it very hard to forgive such an act, no matter what the intended greater good. We also learn a bit more about The Cabinet, and that Charlie interacted with those souls and started to see them like his family and friends, because according to Rhodian history, they were exactly that. There just isn’t time to cover all of that in the TV show but I hope this helps people can appreciate the further significance of that incredibly difficult choice Charlie had to make.

How was it working with Scott Handcock, Greg Austen and Jordan Renzo?

BM: Thank goodness for Scott Handcock. He took on Class straight away and allowed it to have a life at Big Finish. He was so busy with Doctor Who last summer, but we had a small window when he was on holiday where we could record it. So instead of putting his feet up in the Canary Islands, he came to a studio in North Acton and spent those precious hours with us, because he loves this show, he loves those boys and he just couldn’t help himself. He’s so experienced now, he’s directed hundreds of these and he knew exactly what it needed in terms of pacing and performance because it’s not easy to direct an audiobook alongside vignettes of conversations. It’s quite an odd format and you need someone who just ‘gets it’ and knows exactly how to go about it. Jordan and Greg, I’ve always adored - we were all in it together on that show which I think was a bonding experience. We were incredibly excited about the potential of it and aware that it was a step-up for us career-wise. Then we all grieved its demise together - the lack of promotion, the Monday late-night graveyard slot that meant no one even knew it was on, and that horrible period of limbo where no one told us it was cancelled until it was announced publicly, almost by mistake because of a question the RadioTimes asked in an interview. It felt like Doctor Who in the late 80s all over again! We’re all very angry about that and we have every right to be, but the truth is it wasn’t just one person’s fault: yes, there are various people you could point the finger at but it was mainly just a victim of bad luck. It slipped between the cracks of two eras of Doctor Who with no one senior who believed in it enough to champion it. Oh, look at that, you asked me a nice question about those lovely boys and I’ve just given you a rant. I’m sorry, but yes I love those men – they’re very generous to Class because they adore it just as much as those who will be reading this.

That's quite alright - I think you summed up the universally felt emotions the Class fandom experienced perfectly. What are your thoughts on fans hearing Class get a second season through Big Finish?

BM: It was the most Class thing to do ending this story on a cliff-hanger wasn’t it? It’d be even more Class-esque to not resolve it but fear not, I wouldn’t have done that unless there was a palpable chance we could continue on past that cliff-hanger and finally give you all some answers. I’m not saying it will definitely happen but we don’t ‘want’ to leave you hanging. We’re not teasing you or being cruel – we’re clearly setting up plot threads for what comes next. Why are all those children going missing at Coal Hill? I haven’t been told what the sales have been like but judging by the social media response I can’t imagine it’s been a failure - so that’s encouraging. Now there’s the hurdle of looking into cast and crew availability/willingness, and of course making sure that everything is in place to deliver something good. Everything has got very busy for me in the last few years - I’m now at the point with my composing where I have to turn stuff down and that’s always hard! But I want to be involved in Class, I want to see this through – it’s personal for me, it’s a passion project. We need to try and rectify that wrong, don’t we? We need to resolve that story. I’d say there’s an 80% chance of us doing something more. Not bad odds… but not a certainty sadly, because it relies on a lot of things coming together. It is being worked on, in as much that I think about it when I can. I know exactly why those children have been going missing. And trust me, I’m aware we can’t let it drag on forever. The larynxes of our cast are slowly dropping and if we leave it too long they’ll start sounding older! Though the beauty of audio means we can continue on right now, without anyone having seemingly aged a day. You can’t do that on TV. I know it’s very sad for everyone but it’s been seven years now, and picking up where they left on TV would be incredibly jarring. But luckily, we have Big Finish!

Any new productions viewers or listeners should keep an eye or ear out that you’re involved in?

BM: Yes! You must all watch Nolly, Russell T Davies’s latest drama starring Helena Bonham Carter, which I finished the music for recently. Pay for ITVX for a month if you can afford it, and watch it without adverts for the best experience – you also get access to all of Classic Doctor Who! There will be a soundtrack release for Nolly coming shortly after its release, so I’d encourage people to listen to the music in isolation too, because I’m really proud of it and it was a lot of work. You pull out all the stops when RTD calls! I’ve always loved Russell’s work - I remember watching Dark Season on BBC1 back in the early 90s and being instantly captivated by it. I was too young to understand that the DNA of Doctor Who was pulsating through its veins, pretty much on purpose, but it was, wasn’t it? Then that same writer would bring back that very show, my favourite TV programme, twice! So what an utter joy it was to work with him, and that whole team. The absolute best in the business. I won’t list them all or I’d be here all day but it’s a good day to shout out Peter Hoar who directed all of the episodes because he also did episode 3 of The Last Of Us which aired recently – people are hailing that as one of the greatest episodes of TV ever made. He’s one of those rare trifectas of insanely talented, an utter pleasure to work with and very handsome to boot. No wonder everyone wants him to direct their show! He won the directing BAFTA for It’s A Sin and I’m so glad he got that. He deserves all the recognition he’s been getting, so that’s been lovely to see. Then next up I’m about to start work on Doctor Jekyll, a feature film starring Eddie Izzard for Hammer Horror. Joe, the director of that, is encouraging me to be really bold with the score – so that’ll be fun! It’s an exciting time, I’m being sent scripts for all sorts of stuff and after 15 years of plugging away at composing for film and TV, the dam has suddenly burst with a plethora of exciting opportunities. It feels like this is where it starts to get really interesting, and I can’t wait to see what comes next!

To keep updated on Blair's current and upcoming projects, make sure you follow him across his socials - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Sound Cloud!

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About the Creator

Ted Ryan

When I’m not reviewing or analysing pop culture, I’m writing stories of my own.

Reviewer/Screenwriter socials: Twitter.

Author socials: You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Goodreads as T.J. Ryan.

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