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‘Doctor Who’ writer Pete McTighe discovers witches

Pete McTighe.

Pete McTighe.

Pete McTighe’s career is flying like the Tardis since he wrote an episode of the 11th season of the BBC’s iconic Doctor Who.

The Aussie writer is based in Cardiff serving as an executive producer and multiple writer on the second season of the Sky/AMC/BBCAmerica supernatural drama A Discovery Of Witches.

Teresa Palmer, Matthew Goode, Alex Kingston, Owen Teale and Lindsay Duncan star in the show which is shooting on locations in Italy, France and the UK.

The originating writer of Wentworth whose credits includes episodes of Glitch, The Doctor Blake Mysteries, Winners & Losers and Nowhere Boys, he is also working on a new show for Netflix, a BBC series and a sci-fi adaptation, all under wraps.

McTighe got the gig on A Discovery of Witches, which screens here on Fox8, through its executive producers, Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner, the founders of production company Bad Wolf, who served in the same capacity on Doctor Who.

“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,” he tells IF.

“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.

“Working alongside the incredible Bad Wolf team to realise these ambitious stories has been a fantastic experience. We have a brilliant writing team, a world class cast and crew, and the series is already a massive international success.”

The first series of eight episodes – three each directed by Alice Troughton and Sarah Walker – screened in the US on AMC’s streaming services Sundance Now and Shudder, on the former setting a record for most views and accounting for more than half of the platform’s streaming activity.

Palmer plays Diana Bishop, a reluctant American witch and historian who attempts to decipher a bewitched book that holds secrets about magical creatures. The book triggers pent-up magic within her, causing a fierce reaction and flings her back into the world of witchcraft, steeped with demons and vampires.

She forms an unlikely but sexy alliance with British geneticist and vampire Matthew Clairmont (Goode), who has been looking for the book all of his undead life.

Together, they attempt to protect the book from falling into the wrong hands while trying to solve the mysterious riddles within and dodging magical threats.