Writer Pete McTighe, who wrote Kerblam! for Series 11 of Doctor Who, is extending his involvement with the sci-fi/fantasy genre by signing up for the second series of supernatural drama, A Discovery of Witches.
The series, produced by Bad Wolf and Sky Productions under executive producers, Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner, is based on the All Souls trilogy of books by Deborah Harkness and centres on a reluctant witch forced back into the realm of magic, aided by a vampire.
A successful first run of 8 episodes, shown on Sky One in the UK, was also a big hit with streaming audiences in the US. Such was the network’s confidence in the show, a second and third series were commissioned before the first episode screened. McTighe has been brought on board as both writer and executive producer on the second series. He says:
“I’m a great admirer of Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner; the scale and ambition of their slate is second to none, so I was thrilled to join A Discovery Of Witches for season 2.
“I loved, the first series: I thought it was incredibly cinematic and a really beautiful adaptation of the Deborah Harkness novel. I’d already been contracted to write a significant chunk of episodes for season 2 so when the offer came to also come on board as an executive producer, it made perfect sense.”
Whether this news means McTighe will have no further script duties on Doctor Who in the near future remains to be seen, as no writers have yet been confirmed for Series 12. Kerblam! was widely considered to be one of the stronger stories in Jodie Whitaker’s debut season, and achieved second place in the Doctor Who Magazine Season Survey poll.
Writing an episode of Doctor Who fulfilled a lifelong ambition for Pete McTighe, who described his career as ‘an elaborate plan’ to get to write for the show. Such is his love for the series, he even has a sideline writing the text for the Doctor Who Blu-ray releases.
Season 2 of A Discovery of Witches has no confirmed air date yet but is expected to reach the screen in either late 2019 or the first half of 2020.
