Doctor Who Script to Screen competition opens

BBC Learning, Doctor Who Confidential and Doctor Who, announce that the highly anticipated Script to Screen competition is now officially open for entries.

This exciting competition will give one lucky team of primary school children the chance to write their own Doctor Who mini-adventure starring the eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith, which will be filmed and then televised on Doctor Who Confidential.

Matt Smith, said: "I’m delighted to support Script to Screen because I’m very passionate about creative writing and believe it is a great skill to nurture. I’d absolutely love to write a Doctor Who script at some point in the future but it’s going to be impossible to compete with Steven Moffat who is simply a genius and his creativity knows no bounds!

"It will be interesting to see what ideas the children come up with for me – I could finally be defeated by a new enemy, or I could be exiled to a distant galaxy – who knows – that’s the beauty of a child’s imagination"

To win this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, primary school children aged 9-11 years old are encouraged to collaborate on a three-minute script that takes the resident Time Lord on a new quest travelling through space and time inside the TARDIS.

As part of the ultimate prize, the lucky winners will travel to the BBC’s studios in Cardiff where they will see their script brought to life by the Doctor Who team. Doctor Who Confidential will also be on hand to take viewers behind the scenes to show how the script gets developed from paper to TV screen – from the first script meeting, a cast read-through, and on-set filming, all the way to the final edit.

A host of specially created learning resources are now available online at the BBC Learning website to help guide teachers and pupils through the process. The Doctor and his companions, Amy and Rory, present a series of online videos, which challenge children to a range of tasks to help equip them with the necessary writing skills needed to prepare a short script for TV. These include writing Amy’s blog, writing instructions to help Rory land the TARDIS, and writing a report about a new planet.

The site also includes specially produced videos with expert advice for young script writers about character, stage directions and how to pull together a stand out script with memorable characters from members of the Doctor Who team, including BAFTA winner and lead writer of Doctor Who, Steven Moffat.

Children can be as creative and imaginative as they like in order to put together a story that’s filled with all the excitement and adventure of the popular BBC One sci-fi drama. The action packed script must be set in the TARDIS and feature the eleventh Doctor. It can include one of four fearsome aliens from the show: Ood, Judoon, Cyberman or Weeping Angel; and/or a brand new human character (a contemporary figure or a historical character) to test the wits of The Doctor.

The winning script will be chosen by Steven Moffat; Saul Nassé, Controller of BBC Learning; and executive producers of Doctor Who, Piers Wenger and Beth Willis.

Full details of how to enter the competition are available on bbc.co.uk/teachers.