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

[Captaindemotion]

IIRC, JK Rowling wanted Gilliam to direct the first Harry Potter movie but unsurprisingly WB wouldn’t have it. I would imagine that the BBC would probably have felt much the same, though I think he could’ve made a gloriously bonkers DW movie if he’d ever been allowed to do so in the 70s or 80s.

Funny enough, I’ve long thought that if they ever did a DW theatrical movie then Danny Boyle is the man to direct it. He’s done comedy, sci-fi, thrillers, horror and films that defy easy categorisation. And he’s probably a more realistic - ie cheaper - option than Nolan or the like.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

JK Rowling wanted Gilliam to direct the first Harry Potter movie but unsurprisingly WB wouldn’t have it.

I can kinda imagine what Gilliam's Sorcerer's Stone would have looked like, assuming Gilliam was able to bring it in on time and on budget, but I have a feeling it would not have been the movie WB hoped for.

 

[Rich Watson]

Has there ever been a proper recounting of David Yates' Doctor Who movie plans that (I think) were revealed in the Sony email hack of many years ago?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Has there ever been a proper recounting of David Yates' Doctor Who movie plans that (I think) were revealed in the Sony email hack of many years ago?

Not that I'm aware of.

I don't know you need to go to the Sony email hack, though. Yates talked publicly about working on a Doctor Who film (in the sense that it was on his plate), and Steven Moffat stamped his feet a lot and said no, not without him involved and he wasn't going to do it. So, there's stuff in the public domain on it.

My working theory is that the Beeb shopped the movie rights. Warners expressed interest and bought an option. Yates was brought on board as part of the development process. Moffat was out of the loop because he handled the television side of Doctor Who and threw a hissy fit when he found out, and the project was allowed to quietly die to keep Moffat happy. In short, that's typical Hollywood -- lots of meetings, some money is spent, and sometimes movies happen, or in this case, don't.

 

[Cicero]

Tennant should come back and we see him regenerate into the first American Doctor. It's time to try a American in the role. It would breathe new life into the franchise.

In the tradition of The Next Generation, she should be played by Marion Cotillard.

 

[Marc]

Sydney Newman was Canadian, so we get the first shot at it.



I would be surprised. Terry Gilliam is 85 years old and hasn't made a movie in several years, much less a big budget one. The BBC can't do a big budget theatrical release, so you're pretty much looking at Hollywood, and they're probably aware that Doctor Who didn't deliver what Disney expected. They're not likely to find that a good basis for spending a couple hundred million dollars.

I wonder how many people either didn’t watch objecting to suddenly have to pay to view a show they’d watched for years or resorted to other viewing means?

 

[jaime]

Sydney Newman was Canadian, so we get the first shot at it.



I would be surprised. Terry Gilliam is 85 years old and hasn't made a movie in several years, much less a big budget one. The BBC can't do a big budget theatrical release, so you're pretty much looking at Hollywood, and they're probably aware that Doctor Who didn't deliver what Disney expected. They're not likely to find that a good basis for spending a couple hundred million dollars.

Lol.
Well in that case, we should get an Indian because Waris Hussain.
But we already used one of the best actors for the job as the Master… saying that, I bet Sanjeev Bhaskar would do a sterling job.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Lol.
Well in that case, we should get an Indian because Waris Hussain.
But we already used one of the best actors for the job as the Master… saying that, I bet Sanjeev Bhaskar would do a sterling job.

Sanjeev and Nicola Walker as the Doctor and companion. Or the other way round, either option would be great.

 

[jaime]

Sanjeev and Nicola Walker as the Doctor and companion. Or the other way round, either option would be great.

She might be getting a little long in the tooth for a companion role, and we’re just nicking another shows cast setup at that moment. But I take your point.

 

[Captaindemotion]

She might be getting a little long in the tooth for a companion role, and we’re just nicking another shows cast setup at that moment. But I take your point.

Well, it was very much a deliberate theft of another show! They had great chemistry together. No, I don’t expect that to be a realistic TARDIS team, though Nicola has been a companion in the audios, IIRC, and she is a little younger than Catherine Tate and a decade younger than Bradley Walsh.

 

[Marc]

Sanjeev and Nicola Walker as the Doctor and companion. Or the other way round, either option would be great.

Would Nicola Walker work as tv companion?

She's well established as Liv Chenka with the 8th Doctor so we know there's no issue with her in the role but more Liv is who's she's associated with.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Would Nicola Walker work as tv companion?

She's well established as Liv Chenka with the 8th Doctor so we know there's no issue with her in the role but more Liv is who's she's associated with.

People who’ve heard those are a minority of viewers, though. But I think she’s too big a name to be a companion on tv - she’s been the lead in at several tv shows by now.

I wonder if they ever would bring in a companion who was new to (most of) the tv audience but reveal that she or he had in the past traveled with a doctor like Eight?

 

[oktay]

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[Allyn Gibson]

I wonder if they ever would bring in a companion who was new to (most of) the tv audience but reveal that she or he had in the past traveled with a doctor like Eight?

I like this. Someone who has a past with the Doctor, albeit a Doctor who was an entirely different person at the time. Maybe it's been a dozen years since they travelled with the Doctor, so they're in their mid-thirties. They already know the Doctor and their bullshit, and they can be a voice of sanity. And the Doctor is like, "I don't need to bring you up to speed, you already know this."

There's potential. I see it. Donna in the Specials if we hadn't see her previously.

 

[Zombie Cheerleader]

What if the new Doctor is the 8th Doctor? Timey Wimey enough? Not a 10/14 situation by the the actual 8th.

 

[Judge Death]

Nicola Walker has been one of my top choices to play the Doctor for a very long time.

 

[The Gatekeeper]

What if the new Doctor is the 8th Doctor? Timey Wimey enough? Not a 10/14 situation by the the actual 8th.

I did make a joke about that earlier in this thread.

I got it all figured out. I's all clever misdirection. The panel starts off with a bunch of apparent nobodies droning on about where they thing the future of the franchise is headed, and then about halfway through, Paul McGann suddenly walks up on stage and announced his return to Doctor Who in four specials that will air throughout 2026, in which though he plays the Eighth Doctor these specials will also somehow set up for the new Doctor officially taking over the role in 2027.

The sad part is, this post is probably more interesting than the panel itself actually will be.