Russell T. Davies Returns to Doctor Who as New Showrunner

How do you figure? According to The Writer's Tale, RTD knew about Moffat taking over well in advanced of when it was publicly announced, and the book contains an e-mail exchange between RTD and and DWM writer talking about Moffat taking over as showrunner dated six months before it was revealed to the public. Why wouldn't RTD and Chibnall have been discussing the matter before it was public?

I mean hell, Tennant knew Moffat was taking over a year before it was made public, the two of them even had conversations about it on set while filming the Library story.

 

He's making an assumption.

 

Moffat and Chibnall's selections as showrunner were both 'promotions from within'.

This time, the BBC conducted a months-long external search to find Chibnall's replacement, and Chibnall would have had no part in that process.

 

^ I guarantee you that RTD was on the short list. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the list was so short that RTD was the only name on it. I do think that without RTD, we wouldn't have new DW so soon after Chibnall's departure. There would've been time to rest the series. (That's a guess on my part but very likely true given how difficult it is to find showrunners for DW.)

Clearly, it was going to be RTD's role if he wanted it. His track record of quality DW on a timely basis is unparalleled. When he left, the BBC wasn't even sure if DW would continue without him.

In a nutshell, I doubt it was a month's long search. Perhaps it took a bit to hammer out the details of how the new production arrangement would work. But, no, picking RTD was the easy part. And, yes, he would've been in touch with Chibnall.

 

Some sources to back up these assertions would be greatly appreciated. Otherwise it's just presumptions and opinion presented as fact.

 

How could they be "promotions from within?" Neither were employed by BBC in the traditional sense prior to becoming showrunners. Moffat was a freelance writer during RTD's era as was Chibnall under RTD and Moffat. When they became showrunners, it was very much the result of an "external search" by the BBC. Indeed, we know BBC pursued Toby Whithouse to take over from Moffat, but Whithouse refused.

Wait, did you think RTD personally selected Moffat to take over, and Moffat personally selected Chibnall to take over? Oh my no, you really don't understand any of this at all, do you?

Do yourself a favor. Read The Writer's Take. It will educate you as to how Doctor Who is actually run as well as British television in general.

 

…the show gets to continue, even though the lead is leaving/has left.

How much screen time did Pertwee get in War Games?

 

So who do you want to be the 14th Doctor?

 

Seyan Sarvan

 

No. I'm not as ignorant with regards to the behind-the-scenes workings of Doctor Who as you think I am.

I know that RTD had no say in picking Moffat and Moffat had no say in picking Chibnall, but because both of those men (Moffat and Chibnall) had an open association with the property at the time they were chosen to take over the duties of making it (which is what I meant when I said they were 'promoted from within'), there would have been an informal 'information conduit' that could have resulted in their selections being an 'open secret' and led to RTD and Tennant possessing the knowledge that you've indicated that they did.

No such 'information conduit' would have existed in the case of RTD being selected to replace Chibnall, though, and NDAs would have barred RTD himself from indicating to anyone, even his friend Chibnall, that he was in consideration for a return to the property as Showrunner.

 

I'm not sure "open association" is an entirely accurate description of Chibnall's involvement with the franchise at the time he was selected. When Chibnall becoming showrunner was announced publicly, it had been over three years since the last Doctor Who episode he had written had aired and at the time he was showrunner on an ITV show, BBC's rival. If hiring someone currently employed by the rival doesn't count as "external" what the hell does?

 

Ok.

Knowing that only highlights the differences in real-world timelines between what happened with RTD coming back and what had happened previously, though, and might also expose evidence that NDAs were broken in the case of Moffat replacing RTD (depending on how lenient you want to be).

 

^^^At this point

At this point it does not really matter as we can only go up.

 

So the latest round of gossip from GB is

-Doctor 14 isn't Tennant, and will be announced in early May ahead of filming that month for the 60th. It remains to be seen in what capacity Tennant will feature.

-Doctors Five, Six, and Seven will appear in the Centenary special

 

I was about to say this is getting sad now, but really it was always sad.

 

This I really doubt because the likelihood of their presence on set not leaking while the Centenary Special was being filmed 4 months ago is extremely small.

 

Tom Baker's cameo in Day of the Doctor stayed secret until a few days prior to it airing when Baker himself revealed it in an interview.

 

No real effort was made to keep anything from the production shoot of the Centenary Special secret, so there's no way that the Bakers, Davison, and McCoy being on set would've gone unnoticed.

 

...and with the firm proclamation, I fully expect to see at least one of them appear in the Centenary Special now.

 

I’m filing certain quotes here in the “will age like milk left out in the sun” category