Doctor Who: Steven Moffat ‘Proud’ Of New Titles, Praises Online Fans
The video soon came to the attention of Moffat and the BBC, who then contacted Mr Hanshaw with an offer to work with the show’s producers to create the new-look titles. Mr Hanshaw, who currently works as a freelance animator for advertising but hopes to move into film and television, spoke to BBC News about his disbelief when executive producer Brian Minchin got in touch:
“I had to pinch myself because I didn’t know if it was really happening. It’s one of those stories about people putting something on YouTube – it’s usually a musician this happens to. They put a performance on there and they get picked up by a label. It’s a similar kind of story. I thought, these things don’t generally happen.”
Mr Hanshaw collaborated with the BBC’s visual effects team to create the final result, which keeps his initial concept but with a few tweaks:
“There’s a genius stroke that they’ve pulled. I can’t tell you what it is, but it gets me every time I’ve seen it. It’s wonderful and it’s a little diversion from what I’ve done, but it works so beautifully.”
Speaking to TV Guide, Moffat said that fan interaction with the show was ‘important’ and ‘unique’:
“The most important thing is that [there is] an extraordinary creative response to Doctor Who that is almost unique to Doctor Who, and that’s all we should look at. It has turned people into actors, it has turned people into writers, it has turned people into scientists. That’s an extraordinary thing. And that title sequence which I’m so proud of is a result. That’s online Doctor Who. That’s the real part of it, that’s the real story.”