Here’s something you probably didn’t expect but controversial Drive director Nicholas Winding Refn is a big fan of Doctor Who.
Winding Refn, who’s latest film, The Neon Demon, a surrealist, scathing look at Hollywood’s obsession with youth and beauty – with the odd bit of cannibalism thrown in for good measure – is out this Friday, told the Metro that he had expressed an interest in helming an episode…and was turned down.
“They wouldn’t hire me”.

Speaking generally about Doctor Who, Winding Refn added:
“I love Doctor Who. I like the imagination…I guess I’m a fan of the old Doctor Who. I haven’t really seen a lot of the new one. I like Tom Baker.”
Good man!
If we were looking to further connections between the worlds of Doctor Who and Winding Refn’s good taste adverse odysseys then our tendrils would ensnare 2014’s Lost River – the directorial debut of frequent Winding Refn collaborator Ryan Gosling which featured Matt ‘look at my muscles!’ Smith.

The Metro also mentions that Winding Refn would like to tackle a big screen adaptation of Doctor Who but there’s no quote to verify his interest. So we’re going to assume telepathy was involved.
Perhaps even more bizarrely, Winding Refn isn’t a stranger to British TV. He directed two episodes of Agatha Christie’s Marple back in 2007. Speaking about the gig to Empire Magazine issue 325, Winding Refn said:
“I felt like a has been […] A used-to-be. A failure. A casualty of the arts. But it was a time when I needed to step away from my own ego and just be a director for hire”.
It doesn’t sound like the happiest of times but we’ll bet our bottom dollar he’d have a much better time on the set of the TARDIS.
The Neon Demon is released in UK cinemas on Friday.