19 MAY
42
In 42 minutes and 27 seconds’ time, the stricken SS Pentallion will fall into an alien sun. Start the clock…
By ALAN BARNES
42 = 24
Torchwood lead writer Chris Chibnall (right) made his Doctor Who debut with 42 – its ‘real-time’ storytelling gimmick having been inspired by the US thriller series 24. “Real-time is just an easy thing for people to understand, and it gives you a hook,” he said in Doctor Who Magazine’s preview of the episode. “The moment it was mentioned that this would be a 42-minute real-time episode,
Russell [T Davies] said, ‘That’s the title: 42!’ Three steps ahead of us, as usual.”
Davies wasn’t ahead of the curve in one respect: that director Danny Boyle had a sci-fi movie called Sunshine ready for release just weeks before 42 was scheduled to air – about a group of astronauts on a mission to save the dying Sun in a spaceship called Icarus II.