Russell T Davies - Recognition

Recognition

Saving it from extinction. —Frank Cottrell Boyce, when asked his opinion on Davies' greatest contribution to British television drama.

Davies has received recognition for his work since his career as a children's television writer. Davies' first BAFTA award nominations came in 1992 when he was nominated for the "Best Children's Programme (Fiction)" Television Award for his work on Children's Ward. Children's Ward was nominated for the Children's Drama award in 1996 and won the same award 1997. His next critically successful series was Bob & Rose; it was nominated for a Television Award for Best Drama Serial and won two British Comedy Awards for Best Comedy Drama and Writer of the Year. The Second Coming was nominated for the same Television Award in 2003. His work on The Second Coming also earned him a nomination for a Royal Television Society award.

Most of Davies' recognition came as a result of his work on Doctor Who. In 2005, Doctor Who won two Television Awards—Best Drama Series and the Pioneer Audience Award—and he was awarded the honorary Dennis Potter Award for writing. BAFTA Cymru also gave him that year's Siân Phillips Award for Outstanding Contribution to Network Television. In 2006, he was awarded the accolade of "Industry Player of the Year" at the Edinburgh International Television Festival. In 2007, he was nominated for the "Best Soap/Series" Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award—along with Chris Chibnall, Paul Cornell, Stephen Greenhorn, Steven Moffat, Helen Raynor, and Gareth Roberts—for their work on the third series of Doctor Who. He was again nominated for two BAFTA Awards in 2008: a Television Award for his work on Doctor Who, and the Television Craft Award for Best Writer, for the episode "Midnight". Under his tenure, Doctor Who won five consecutive National Television Awards between 2005 and 2010. He has also been nominated for three Hugo Awards, all in the category of "Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form": in 2007, the story comprising "Army of Ghosts" and "Doomsday" was defeated by Steven Moffat's "The Girl in the Fireplace"; in 2009, the episode "Turn Left" was defeated by Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog; and in 2010, all three of his scripts which were eligible for the award, "The Next Doctor", the Davies–Roberts collaboration "Planet of the Dead", and the Davies–Ford collaboration "The Waters of Mars", were nominated: the award was won by "The Waters of Mars" and the other episodes took second and third place.

Davies' work on Doctor Who has similarly been recognised by the public. During his tenure as executive producer, only Steven Moffat's "Silence in the Library", which was scheduled against the final of the second series of Britain's Got Talent, failed to win in its timeslot. The show's viewing figures were consistently high enough that the only broadcasts to have consistently rivaled Doctor Who for viewers in the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board's weekly charts were EastEnders, Coronation Street, Britain's Got Talent, and international football matches. Two of his scripts, "Voyage of the Damned" and "The Stolen Earth", broke audience records for the show by being declared the second most viewed broadcasts of their respective weeks, and "Journey's End" became the first episode to be the most viewed broadcast of the week. The show currently enjoys consistently high Appreciation Index ratings: "Love & Monsters", regarded by Doctor Who fans as his worst script, gained a rating of 76, just short of the 2006 average rating of 77; and the episodes "The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End" share the highest rating Doctor Who has received, at 91.

Among Doctor Who fans, his contribution to the show ranks as high as the show's co-creator Verity Lambert: in a 2009 poll of 6,700 Doctor Who Magazine readers, he won the "Greatest Contribution" award with 22.62% of the votes against Lambert's 22.49% share, in addition to winning the magazine's 2005, 2006, and 2008 awards for the best writer of each series. Ian Farrington, who commented on the 2009 "Greatest Contribution" poll, attributed Davies' popularity to his range of writing styles, from the epic "Doomsday" to the minimalistic "Midnight", and his ability to market the show to appeal to a wide audience.

Davies' work on Doctor Who has led to accolades out of the television industry. Between 2005 and 2008, he was included in The Guardian's "Media 100": in 2005, he was ranked the 14th most influential man in the media; in 2006, the 28th; in 2007, the 15th; and in 2008, the 31st. The Independent on Sunday also recognised his contributions to the public by including him on seven consecutive Pink Lists, which chronicle the achievements of gay and lesbian personalities: in 2005, he was ranked the 73rd most influential gay person; in 2006, the 18th; in 2007, the most influential gay person; in 2008, the 2nd; in 2009, the 14th; in 2010, the 64th; and in 2011, the 47th. He was awarded an OBE in the Queen's 2008 Birthday Honours list for services to drama, and an honorary fellowship by Cardiff University in July 2008.