Spoilers Russell T. Davies Returns to Doctor Who as New Showrunner

[Marc]

Frankly, I would have loved either as the Doctor. That's not to say that I didn't love Gatwa, but I can definitely envision Stephens or Bernard, just as I could envision Ben Daniels, Capaldi's runner-up, as the Doctor.

Haven't seen much of Daniels outside of Law & Order UK (and as Herod in a production of Jesus Christ Superstar recorded live for tv a few years back) and after reading that he'd been in the mix losing out to Capaldi wished we'd gotten the chance to see him as the Doctor.

As Daniels is openly gay, I wonder if we would have seen the some of the comments directed towards the show because of Gatwa being queer or whether it's simply a sad sign of the times.

 

[Saul]

Even if that made sense, the interviews released after the episode aired with Davies and Piper had them both go out of their way to not call her the Doctor with Piper specifically raising the question of who it is she's playing.

They might be just leaning into the hype this question creates.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

They might be just leaning into the hype this question creates.

Here's the thing -- they need to be careful with that, because there's bound to be some disappointed people when their preferred outcome to the question of who Piper is playing isn't borne out by the story.

I don't know if RTD is a good enough writer to tell a story in which Piper is the Doctor and the TARDIS consciousness and Rose and "Bad Wolf" simultaneously. I'd trust Philip K. Dick to do it, though.

 

[Mr Awe]

Filming for The Time of the Doctor started in September 2013 and was ready for Xmas that year.

It's possible...

Funding is the real issue now. Disney's delay in deciding has made funding uncertain. Hence, Bad Wolf had to let people and resources go. That's why insiders have known about the hiatus for awhile now.

Even when the funding situation has been settled (whether with Disney or some other partner pitching in or the BBC deciding to pick up the entire the cost), it'll take a bit to get the production pieces back together.

So, alas, no it's truly impossible this time.

But I do think that Piper is a reaction to this gap. They couldn't cast a lead so early without the funding. Yet they could do a bit of temporary stunt casting to keep excitement up over the interim without locking themselves and the potential lead into that kind of uncertainty.

In short, the gap forced them to either go with an unfinished regeneration or some sort of place holder "Doctor" (or whatever). Clearly, the way they went was designed to maximize hype and interest.

 

[Mr Awe]

Here's the thing -- they need to be careful with that, because there's bound to be some disappointed people when their preferred outcome to the question of who Piper is playing isn't borne out by the story.

I don't know if RTD is a good enough writer to tell a story in which Piper is the Doctor and the TARDIS consciousness and Rose and "Bad Wolf" simultaneously. I'd trust Philip K. Dick to do it, though.

He's not judging by his most recent story! Not by a long shot!

 

[Saul]

More gas to the fire. I'm reading comments online that are quoting 'The Day of The Doctor' with The Moment saying she is a form from the Doctor's past. Or possibly....his future...

I don't know if RTD is a good enough writer to tell a story in which Piper is the Doctor and the TARDIS consciousness and Rose and "Bad Wolf" simultaneously. I'd trust Philip K. Dick to do it, though.

10 or 15 years ago I'd have been more confident of RTD. But now... as comments I've read online say, this is just RTD living his golden years.

 

[Rich Watson]

Disney Lays Off Several Hundred Employees in Cost-Cutting Measure

The teams impacted include marketing for film and television, as well as TV publicity, casting and development and corporate financial operations.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

Hmm, if they're in that bad a need for cost cutting getting nine episodes of TV for less than what they were spending on one episode of a Star Wars* or Marvel Show seems like a bargain.


*Andor cost $650 million (!!!) for 24 episodes.

 

[Samurai8472]

Apparently the tweet came from..........Ian Levine. People are calling him out on it as fake

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[The Nth Doctor]

Meh. It's on random internet speculation from nobodies. Get back to me when we have a semi-reliable source, someone who might actually be privy to any kind of real information.

 

[Starkers]

More gas to the fire. I'm reading comments online that are quoting 'The Day of The Doctor' with The Moment saying she is a form from the Doctor's past. Or possibly....his future...


10 or 15 years ago I'd have been more confident of RTD. But now... as comments I've read online say, this is just RTD living his golden years.

There's maybe an argument that RTD isn't always the best sci-fi writer, but anyone who's seen Years and Years and It's a Sin knows he's a fucking good writer.

 

[Sketcher]

I do wonder, if Christopher Eccelston was still on good terms with RTD, if he would've been used in the regeneration sequence to bookend 20 years of NuWho vs Piper.

 

[BillJ]

There's maybe an argument that RTD isn't always the best sci-fi writer, but anyone who's seen Years and Years and It's a Sin knows he's a fucking good writer.

Being a good writer doesn't mean he's the right showrunner for Doctor Who in 2025 and beyond.

 

[Starkers]

Being a good writer doesn't mean he's the right showrunner for Doctor Who in 2025 and beyond.

Absolutely, though truth be told I think he has a pretty decent hit rate of enjoyable episodes to rubbish ones.

I wish he'd let someone else start and finish a season through! More 73 Yards and The Well please!

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Yup, Davies's best work for Doctor Who has been his solo episodes, and not the grand finales/premiere/specials, which have a high fail to success rate (in my eyes, only "The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End" are the only truly good ones in those sets).

 

[David cgc]

More gas to the fire. I'm reading comments online that are quoting 'The Day of The Doctor' with The Moment saying she is a form from the Doctor's past. Or possibly....his future...

Which seems to be just forgetting context (or more charitably, re-contextualizing). The line is literally true in the episode; the Moment tried to appear as someone the War Doctor would respect, but accidentally picked someone he hadn't met yet because it was bad with linearity.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Yup, Davies's best work for Doctor Who has been his solo episodes, and not the grand finales/premiere/specials, which have a high fail to success rate (in my eyes, only "The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End" are the only truly good ones in those sets).

Come on, not the Bad Wolf one?

 

[Mr Awe]

The first RTD era was very good. I prefer the Moffat era but they were very, very close.

But this second RTD era is a big step below in my eyes. And this finale was just plain awful. As a story, it's structure was atrocious. And he really doesn't know how to build up a mystery and intrique over a season.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Meh, no worse than the absurdity that is "The Last of the Time Lords." Excellent set-up from "Utopia" and "The Sound of Drums" completely flushed down the drain. Further proof that Davies has always been great with set-ups but terrible with the follow-throughs.

Come on, not the Bad Wolf one?

Eh. I've never cared for that one. Probably because I was tired of the Daleks even in 2005.

 

[Mr Awe]

Meh, no worse than the absurdity that is "The Last of the Time Lords." Excellent set-up from "Utopia" and "The Sound of Drums" completely flushed down the drain. Further proof that Davies has always been great with set-ups but terrible with the follow-throughs.

But it just wasn't the finale. The writing throughout the two seasons was a step down.

I know, different strokes and all. I'm glad you enjoyed it so much. Truly!

But for me it was not as good as RTD1 and by a good amount.

 

[JD]

Only thing I see on the horizon for Billie Piper from IMDB is as an audio narrator for Doctor Who: Ninth Doctor Adventures.

Billie Piper | Actress, Producer, Writer

Known for: Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Doctor Who, I Hate Suzie

www.imdb.com

Just to clear up a bit of confusion here, she's not the narrator for this, it's an audio drama series where she's playing Rose alongside Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor.
Which brings up an interesting question, if they do multiple seasons of The Ninth Doctor Adventures and she sticks around and it overlaps with her time as whatever form of the Doctor she's playing on TV, would she be the first actor to appear in regular roles on both the Big FInish audios and the TV series?