How ‘Doctor Who’ Exec Producers Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner Helped Transform South Wales Into a Buzzing Hive of Production
variety.comLeo Barraclough International Features Editor The renaissance of “Doctor Who,” which started its latest season this week, is a 20-year journey that is entwined with the establishment of a thriving TV production scene in South Wales, where it shoots, and the meteoritic rise of the production company Bad Wolf.
This dates back to 2003 when writer Russell T. Davies was asked by the BBC’s then head of drama, Jane Tranter, to revive the show and to base the production in South Wales, an area hitherto known for coal mining and heavy industry.
It was produced in 2004, overseen by BBC Wales head of drama, Julie Gardner. When Tranter and Gardner relocated to Los Angeles to lead BBC Worldwide Productions and Adjacent Productions, they produced “Da Vinci’s Demons” for Starz, and again located the production in South Wales.
In 2015, Tranter and Gardner set up Bad Wolf, which takes its name from an episode of “Doctor Who,” and in 2017, they built Wolf Studios Wales, a production facility in Cardiff, with the financial support of the Welsh government.
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